Sunday, April 18, 2010
65 hurt as bombers target IDPs registration facility
By Syed Yasir Shah
KOHAT: Two back-to-back suicide bombings at a registration centre for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Kacha Pakha area of Kohat district on Saturday killed at least 41 people, including a journalist, and injured 65 others.
It was the first attack in Pakistan on the people uprooted by the fighting in the tribal areas who were seeking registration to qualify for relief items and accommodation.
The blasts point to the vulnerability of any soft target, adding to the stark challenges the security agencies have been facing. The IDPs had fled fighting and military operations in Orakzai and Kurram tribal agencies.
Official sources and eyewitnesses said the bombers detonated their suicide jackets just minutes apart. They said the first terror incident occurred at 11:55am outside the premises where registration was being done.
“These people were either leaving the centre or coming for registration. The bombers did not enter the building and have not blown themselves up in queues,” said an official of the social welfare organisation, which was carrying out the registration.
The second blast, officials and eyewitnesses said, took place after seven minutes of the first attack. The IDPs and the local residents were removing the bodies and evacuating the injured people when the second bomber struck.
The official, who sought anonymity, said it was the second blast that caused the maximum casualties, as a lot of people had gathered after the first blast.
The twin blasts killed 41 people and injured 65 others. The dead included a journalist, Azmat Ali Bangash. The officials claimed the security arrangements were sufficient at the centre. “If security was lax, the bombers would have entered the building where a crowd of people was present,” said another official, requesting not to be named.
Most of the 65 injured were rushed to the Kohat Development Authority (KDA) and Liaquat Memorial Hospital (LMH). Ten seriously wounded victims were shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) in Peshawar due to their precarious condition.
After the incident, a heavy contingent of police reached the spot and cordoned off the area for rescue work.
In charge of the bomb disposal squad, Muhammad Akbar Khan, said they had found important evidence from the site of the blasts. Akbar Khan said eight to 10 kilograms of explosives had been used in each suicide attack.
The scene of the blasts was soaked with blood and body parts were lying scattered all over.
The police officials said the body parts of the suicide-bombers had been taken into custody and sent for the DNA tests.
Mushtaq Yusufzai adds from Peshawar: A dreaded militant organisation of Punjabi Taliban, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al-Alami, has claimed responsibility for the two consecutive suicide attacks in Kohat.
“We claim responsibility for the two Fidayee (suicide) attacks in Kohat. The Shia community was in fact our target that our two Fidayeen (suicide bombers) achieved,” explained a caller, who introduced himself as Usman Haider, a spokesman for the outlawed outfit.
The two suicide bombers were aged between 17-20 years. Both of them were clad in traditional Burqas when they entered the registration camp and blew themselves up with deafening explosions, causing extensive damage.
The spokesman for the militant organisation said they had planned the attack a few days ago and selected two of their men for the job. He claimed their organisation had attacked the Shia community in the past and would continue similar attacks on them in future as well.
APP/Online add: President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza, Chairman Senate Farooq H Naek, NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani and Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqa Jafariya leader Allama Hamid Ali Moosavi strongly condemned twin suicide blasts in Kohat.
The US embassy in Pakistan also condemned the terrorist act.
“These senseless acts of violence against innocent civilians in a hospital and in a camp for internally displaced persons are a clear demonstration of the utter disregard these terrorists have for the vulnerable and innocent civilians who were injured and lost their lives,” said a spokesman for the US embassy in Pakistan in a statement.
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Burqa bombers kill 44 at Kohat IDP camp
* 70 injured as two suicide bombers target crowd of displaced people waiting to register at Kacha Pakka camp
* Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al-Alami claims responsibility
* UN suspends programmes in Kohat, Hangu
By Abdul Saboor Khan
HANGU: Two burqa-clad suicide bombers targeted a crowd of internally displaced persons (IDP) waiting to get themselves registered and receive relief goods at an IDP camp on Saturday, killing at least 44 and injuring more than 70.
The bombers struck minutes apart at the Kacha Pakka IDP camp on the outskirts of Kohat, where the NWFP Social Welfare Department was registering those displaced amid military offensives. Locals said the IDPs were from Kalaya, Sipah and Maraye areas of Orakzai Agency. A local journalist – Azamat Ali Bangash, who worked for the APP news agency and a local TV channel – was among those killed.
Kohat DIG Abdullah Khan said the bombers walked into the crowd wearing burqas, and blew themselves up “one after the other”. He said the first bomber detonated his explosives as IDPs gathered to register and receive relief goods. “A few minutes later, the second bomber blew himself up in the middle of the crowd that had gathered at the site of the first attack.”
The AFP news agency quoted police as saying that body parts of the bombers had been recovered, and most of the victims were members from the Mani Khel and Baramad Khel tribes.
The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s Al-Aalmi group has reportedly claimed responsibility for the bombings, and cited the presence of Shias at the IDP camp as the reason for the attack.
Sources in the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) – which collaborates with the Social Welfare Department in the registration of IDPs and the distribution of relief goods – told Daily Times that the registration process had been temporarily suspended for an indefinite period. They said Kohat Commissioner Khalid Khan Umarzai would make a decision on the resumption of the process after making security arrangements.
According to the AP news agency, the United Nations has temporarily suspending its programmes helping displaced people in Kohat and neighbouring Hangu as a result of the bombings.
The UN, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani have condemned the attack.
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VIEW: Of apologies —Gulmina Bilal Ahmad
There is a need for close cooperation not just between the different intelligence agencies and the security forces but, most importantly, between the locals and the agencies. For there is no substitute for local knowledge and information gathering
The army chief has rendered an apology. The apology was made for the loss of 70 lives of Kuki Khel tribe of Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency. The people of the tribe were understandably upset when 70 innocent lives were lost when the Pakistan Air Force fighter planes, on the directives of the Pakistan Army, hit the civilians incorrectly believed to be extremist elements. In addition to the tragic loss of 70 lives, dozens have been injured too.
The army chief apologised but what is even more important is that this apology was accepted. During this week, the main English and Urdu newspapers carried advertisements by the tribesmen of Kuki Khel acknowledging the thought behind the apology, accepting it and offering assistance in terms of intelligence. This is the key to moving ahead. No amount of apologies can bring back those 70 lives that were lost. However, if we are serious about the apology and wish that such a gigantic tragedy never be repeated, we should ensure that the factors leading to this unfortunate event must be addressed.
What were these factors? Why did the army make the mistake? It was certainly not wilful. For, if it were wilful, General Kayani would not have apologised. Come to think of it, if the tribesmen even slightly suspected that this was a wilful mistake or one that was based on faulty judgement or even intelligence, they would not have accepted the apology. The fact that they accepted the apology and even ran advertisements in major newspapers is proof that the apology has been accepted in the spirit in which it was rendered.
The main factor behind this was a communication gap in intelligence sharing. In fact, it was, tragically, an excellent example of it. If we are serious about not repeating this tragedy, this gap needs to be addressed.
The army’s intelligence was that there were miscreants and the Pakistani Taliban were amongst the group. Acting on this intelligence, the army ordered the attack with tragic consequences, as we later saw. The attack was not the army following blindly intelligence tip offs. It was part of a wider operation. As a fellow columnist put it, “The Sra Vella aerial bombardment was conducted as part of a larger campaign of ground and air assaults on terrorists that began in Orakzai Agency and is called Operation Khwakh Ba De Sham.
The Pakistani military has expanded the theatre for the operation into Khyber because it offers an easy secondary position for terrorists to escape to. Khyber is the strategic depth that terrorists in Orakzai enjoy. From a classical counterinsurgency perspective, there is nothing controversial about the expansion of Pakistani military operations into Khyber.”
However, there was gap between local intelligence and the forces. The guerrilla warfare that the army is confronted with and engaged in requires intelligence sharing, which is dynamic in nature. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has, in recent months, had their key leaders taken out. Thus, now they are on the run constantly and intelligence reports of even three hours back in some cases are too old. This apparently seems to be the case in Tirah Valley. Therefore, there is a need for close cooperation not just between the different intelligence agencies and the security forces but, most importantly, between the locals and the agencies. For there is no substitute for local knowledge and information gathering. It would not be incorrect to state that previously locals were not fully on board against the Taliban. There were local communities who perceived the army to be the enemy rather than the Taliban. One would come across locals condemning the TTP for their actions against girls’ schools for instance, but remarking on the fact that the TTP provides ‘speedy justice’ through indigenous courts, etc. However, after a sea of people were displaced out of their homes at the hands of the Taliban, after their gruesome acts were experienced and recognised by the people, the Taliban have lost ‘public support’, so to speak. This has actually resulted in more cooperation with the security agencies and it is this cooperation that needs to be cultivated and enhanced.
The Taliban recognise this too. Initially, the TTP was quick to assume responsibility for bomb blasts and other heinous crimes. However, now they seem to be indulging in marketing for themselves. For instance, just this week, in the aftermath of the Qissa Khwani blasts where the Jamaat-e-Islami was holding a protest rally against frequent power outages in the country, the TTP denied having anything to do with it. In fact, it came out with a statement distancing itself from the blast. The TTP spokesperson Mr Azam Tariq, during his media interaction, actually said, “We never strike in cities and public places as we know only civilians become victims of such actions.” Communication analysts while analysing this statement would not be wrong to conclude that this statement could not have been issued by an extremist guerrilla group. For guerrilla groups are quick to assume responsibility for actions not their own, if it adds to the general fear associated with their name. However, here we have a bizarre situation where the TTP is actually distancing itself from such incidents, primarily because of the public outrage that they are increasingly faced with. The wrath of the government they can and have been dealing with. However, they seem to be retreating in the face of public wrath.
It is this public wrath that might prove to be the end of groups like the TTP. The public wrath has to be channelised towards a close relationship of intelligence sharing between them and the security agencies. This is essential so that military interventions are based on correct facts.
Speaking of correct facts, let us also refrain from confusing issues. The TTP, while denying the Qissa Khwani blast, has instead declared that Blackwater, in cohort with two political parties, was behind the blast. An atmosphere of distrust born out of such statements has to be avoided like the plague.
According to news analysis, in the first three days of the present week, about 70 people have lost their lives. Let us be clear on this: it is the Taliban who are to blame for this loss. Not anyone else.
The writer is an Islamabad-based consultant. She can be reached at contact@individualland.com
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