TIMELINE-Pakistan suffers more bloody attacks

05 Apr 2010 10:23:05 GMT
Source: Reuters
April 5 (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist militants attacked a Pakistani checkpost near the U.S. consulate in Peshawar on Monday, hours after a suicide bomber killed 38 people elsewhere in the northwest, a witness and a doctor said. [ID:nSGE63409N]

Following is a timeline of major attacks in the last six months:

Oct. 5, 2009 - A suicide bomber dressed as a paramilitary soldier attacks an office of the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) in Islamabad, killing five staff.

Oct. 9 - A suspected suicide car-bomber kills 49 people in the city of Peshawar. About 100 people are wounded.

Oct. 10 - Gunmen in army uniforms attack Pakistani army's headquarters in Rawalpindi. The next day Pakistani commandos storm the building and rescue 39 hostages. Nine militants, three hostages and 11 soldiers are killed.

Oct. 12 - A suicide bomber hits a military vehicle in Shangla district, near the Swat valley. Forty-one people are killed, including 35 civilians and six soldiers, and 45 wounded. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ (For full coverage of Pakistan click on [ID:nAFPAK] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>

Oct. 15 - Militants launch a string of attacks in Lahore, capital of Punjab province, Peshawar and Kohat in the northwest killing at least 31 people.

Oct. 28 - At least 90 people are killed and about 100 wounded when a bomb explodes in the busy Peepal Mandi market street in Peshawar's old city.

-- Hours after the blast, visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says at a news conference that Washington fully supports Pakistan's battle.

Dec. 4 - Two suicide bombers blow themselves up in a mosque in Rawalpindi and two other militants fire on worshippers near Pakistan's military headquarters after Friday prayers, killing at least 40.

Dec. 7 - Two bombs go off in a market in Lahore killing 34 people and wounding 109, hours after a suicide bomber kills nine people outside a court in Peshawar.

Dec. 15 - A blast takes place in the town of Dera Ghazi Khan in a market near the home of a Pakistani provincial government minister, killing 20 people.

Dec. 28 - A Taliban suicide bomber blows himself up at a religious procession of thousands of Shi'ite Muslims in Karachi, killing 43 people, triggering riots that destroyed hundreds of buildings in the commercial capital.

Jan. 1, 2010 - A suicide bomber blows himself up in an SUV at a volleyball game killing at least 98 people in the northwest village of Shah Hassankhel, near the town of Lakki Marwat, a town that opposes al Qaeda-linked Taliban insurgents.

Feb. 5 - A suspected suicide bomber on a motorcycle kills 12 Shi'ites in Karachi, followed hours later by a blast at a hospital where the wounded were being treated which kills another 13 people. About 100 are wounded.

March 10 - Suspected Islamist militants storm the World Vision office -- a U.S.-based, Christian aid agency -- in Oghi village in Mansehra district, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Islamabad, killing six Pakistani aid workers after singling them out and then blowing up the building.

March 12 - Two suicide bombers targeting the Pakistani military kill at least 45 people in Lahore. Those killed include nine soldiers. Almost 100 people were wounded.

April 5 - A suspected suicide bomber blows himself up at a meeting of an ethnic Pashtun nationalist political party, killing 38 people in Timergarah, the main town in the Lower Dir district. (Writing by David Cutler, and Carl Bagh, London and Bangalore Editorial Reference Units; Editing by Jerry Norton) (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/afghanistanpakistan)

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Pakistani Taliban claim attack on U.S. mission
05 Apr 2010 11:17:36 GMT
Source: Reuters
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, April 5 (Reuters) - Pakistani Taliban militants claimed responsibility on Monday for an attack on the U.S. consulate in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

"Americans are our enemies. We carried out the attack on their consulate in Peshawar. We plan more such attacks," Pakistani Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location. (Reporting by Haji Mujtaba; Writing by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Robert Birsel and Jerry Norton) (For full coverage of Pakistan and Afghanistan, click on [ID:nAFPAK]) (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/afghanistanpakistan)


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Gunmen attack U.S. consulate in Pakistan
Faris Ali
PESHAWAR, Pakistan
Mon Apr 5, 2010 8:08am EDT
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* Timeline: Pakistan suffers more bloody attacks
6:24am EDT

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PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Militants using a car bomb and firing weapons attacked the U.S. consulate in the Pakistani city of Peshawar on Monday hours after a suicide bomber killed 38 people elsewhere in the northwest, officials said.

World

Pakistani Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the attack on the consulate, in which eight people including three militants were killed but no one in the mission was hurt, and vowed more violence.

The attacks underscore the danger posed by militants in nuclear-armed U.S. ally Pakistan after a year of military offensives which have dealt the Islamists significant setbacks.

The assault on the tightly guarded consulate came hours after the bomb blast at a rally of supporters of an ethnic Pashtun-based political party staunchly opposed to the militants.

"I saw attackers in two vehicles. Some of them carried rocket-propelled grenades. They first opened fire at security personnel at the post near the consulate and then blasts went off," city resident Siraj Afridi told Reuters.

A Pakistani intelligence official described the assault as a well-planned suicide attack.

The U.S. Embassy said Monday's attacks reflected the militants' desperation.

"The coordinated attack involved a vehicle suicide bomb and terrorists attempting to enter the building using grenades and weapons fire," the embassy said, adding two of its Pakistani guards were killed and several wounded.

U.S. diplomatic missions and staff have been attacked several times in Pakistan since the south Asian country threw its support behind the United States in a global campaign against militancy launched after the September 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. cities.

Dawn television showed shaky pictures of three men, apparently attackers, holding their arms up in surrender when a blast hit the area.

The blasts threw clouds of white smoke into the sky and residents said soldiers had cordoned off the scene and ordered people to remain in doors. Helicopters hovered overhead.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq said by telephone from an undisclosed location his group was behind the attack.

"Americans are our enemies. We carried out the attack on their consulate in Peshawar. We plan more such attacks," Tariq said, while denying responsibility for the earlier blast at the political party rally.

Liaqat Ali, chief of police in Peshawar, which is the gateway to Afghanistan and has seen a string of bomb attacks over the past year, said the gunmen first attacked a security post on the approach to the consulate then set off a bomb at its gate.

Stock market dealers said the violence briefly brought some selling pressure but the main index closed 0.30 percent higher at 10,447.84 on foreign buying.

BLAST AT RALLY

Earlier, a suspected suicide bomber blew himself up at a rally of the Awami National Party (ANP), in the Lower Dir district, about 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Peshawar, killing 38 people, a hospital doctor said.

Police said the bomber tried to get into the ground where the ANP, which heads a coalition government in North West Frontier Province, was holding a meeting but he was stopped and blew himself up.

The ANP, which is also a member of the ruling federal coalition government, is a largely secular party and opposes the militants battling the state. Militants have attacked ANP gatherings before.

The meeting was called to celebrate the renaming of NWFP, which the party has long demanded. Under constitutional amendments expected to be approved in parliament this week, the province will be renamed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, in a bid to represent its dominant Pashtun population.

The long-awaited constitutional amendments, which will also transfer President Asif Ali Zardari's sweeping powers to the prime minister, are due to be taken up in the National Assembly on Tuesday.

The amendments should ease opposition to the unpopular Zardari and promote political stability, analysts say.

Zardari is due to address parliament later on Monday in the capital, Islamabad, where security has been stepped up for the session.

(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider, Zeeshan Haider, Faisal Aziz; Writing by Robert Birsel)