03 Sep 2010 12:14:16 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Delays in offensives
* Taliban under spotlight
* Attack on rally
(Adds suicide attack in northwest, analyst)
By Rizwan Saeed
QUETTA, Pakistan, Sept 3 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber struck a rally in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday, killing at least 45 people in the second major attack this week, piling pressure on a government struggling with a flood crisis.
The attack on the Shi'ite rally expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people came as the United States said the devastating floods are likely to delay army offensives against Taliban insurgents.
"Unfortunately the flooding in Pakistan is probably going to delay any operations by the Pakistani army in North Waziristan for some period of time," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in Afghanistan where he is visiting U.S. troops.
More than 100 people were wounded in the blast in Quetta.
Earlier, the al Qaeda-linked Taliban took responsibility for triple bombings at a Shi'ite Muslim procession in the city of Lahore this week, challenging the civilian government further.
Aside from its struggles against homegrown Taliban, Pakistan is under intense American pressure to tackle Afghan Taliban fighters who cross the border to attack U.S.-led NATO troops.
Pakistan has said the army would decide when to carry out a full-fledged assault in North Waziristan, where Washington says anti-American militants enjoy safe havens, at the time it considers appropriate.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
For more Pakistan stories, click
[nAFPAK] or http://link.reuters.com/kac58m
For a timeline on attacks, click [nLDE6681G8]
For a Q+A on militant attacks, click [nSGE68103X]
For a scenarios on the Taliban, click [nSGE68205L]
For a factbox on Mehsud, click [nSGE68104M]
For stories from the worst hit areas, click [nSGE68119Z]
For a picture slideshow, click http://link.reuters.com/saq97n
For a graphic, click http://link.reuters.com/zev47n
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
Wednesday's blasts in the eastern city of Lahore in which 38 people were killed was the first major militant attack since flood waters tore through the country over the past month.
"It's revenge for the killings of innocent Sunnis," a spokesman for Qari Hussain Mehsud, mentor of the Taliban's suicide bombers, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.
In another attack on Friday in the northwest, a suicide bomber killed one person outside a mosque of the Ahmadi sect, who consider themselves Muslims but whom Pakistan has declared non-Muslims.
Pro-Taliban Sunni militants frequently attack religious minorities in as part of an overall strategy to destabilise the government.
Attention has focused on the Pakistani Taliban again after U.S. prosecutors charged its leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, in the plot that killed seven CIA employees at an American base in Afghanistan last December.
The renewed violence suggests the Taliban are trying to hit the government as it struggles to cope with the floods, which have made millions homeless, destroyed infrastructure and crops and hammered the economy.
Islamist charities, some of them linked to militant groups, have at the same time joined in the relief effort for the millions affected by the worst floods in the nation's history.
U.S. officials are concerned that the involvement of hardline groups in flood relief will undermine the fight against militancy in Pakistan as well Afghanistan.
ECONOMIC CRISIS
Anger is spreading over the government's sluggish response to the floods, raising the possibility of social unrest.
"The scope and scale of this discontent will depend on the government's performance in preventing a second wave of deaths, loss of livelihood, and shortages of essential food items," said Eurasia consultancy group.
Pakistan is also faced with an economic catastrophe, with the floods causing damage the government has estimated at $43 billion, almost one quarter of the South Asian nation's 2009 GDP.
Some relief has come from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It will give Pakistan $450 million in emergency flood aid and disburse funds in September to help the country's economy cope with the devastation of the floods. [nSGE682057]
Talks in Washington with a delegation led by Pakistan's Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on the terms of an $11 billion IMF loan program left him satisfied with the country's commitment to reforms, the IMF chief said.
Under the 2008 IMF loan program, Islamabad pledged to implement tax and energy sector reforms and give full autonomy to the State Bank of Pakistan.
(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Miral Fahmy)
(For more Reuters coverage of Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/places/pakistan)
======
Bomb kills 54 in Pakistan, Taliban threatens U.S.
03 Sep 2010 22:08:24 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Taliban threaten attacks in United States, Europe
* Floods likely to delay offensives against Taliban
* Two US missile strikes in Waziristan kill 7 militants (Adds White House condemnation, U.S. counterterrorism official, State Department)
By Saud Mehsud
QUETTA, Pakistan, Sept 3 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber struck a rally in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday, killing at least 54 people in the second major attack this week and piling pressure on a U.S.-backed government overwhelmed by a flood crisis.
Pakistan's Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast and said it would launch attacks in the United States and Europe "very soon" -- repeating a threat to strike Western targets in response to drone attacks that have targeted its leadership.
In Washington, the White House condemned the Quetta attack on a Shi'ite rally expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people, saying it was "even more reprehensible" because it came during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan as Pakistan reels from disastrous flooding.
A U.S. counter terrorism official said the threat by the al Qaeda-linked Taliban against the United States and Europe could not be discounted.
The attack came just two days after Washington added the Pakistani Taliban to its list of "foreign terrorist organizations" and charged its leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, with plotting a bombing that killed seven CIA agents at a U.S. base in Afghanistan last December.
In Quetta, dozens of dead and wounded people lay in pools of blood as fires engulfed vehicles. Senior police official Hamid Shakeel told Reuters at least 54 people were killed and about 160 wounded.
Hours later, the Taliban said the bombing was revenge for the killing of radical Sunni clerics by Shi'ites, further challenging Pakistan's unpopular civilian government.
"We take pride in taking responsibility for the Quetta attack," Qari Hussain Mehsud, a senior Pakistani Taliban and mentor of suicide bombers,told Reuters.
Earlier in the day, the Taliban also claimed responsibility for bombings on Wednesday at a Shi'ite procession in the eastern city of Lahore in which at least 33 people died.
Those blasts were the first major attack since the worst floods in Pakistan's history began more than a month ago. The Taliban and its allies often target religious minorities in a campaign to destabilize the government.
ATTACK THREAT
Aside from its battles against homegrown Taliban, Pakistan is under intense American pressure to tackle Afghan Taliban fighters who cross the border into Pakistan's lawless tribal areas to attack U.S.-led NATO troops.
The United States has stepped up missile strikes by pilotless drone aircraft against militant targets in Pakistan's Pashtun tribal lands since the start of 2010.
On Friday, U.S. drones fired missiles at two targets in the North Waziristan tribal region, killing seven militants, including two foreigners, intelligence officials said.
Pakistan's Taliban has responded to drone attacks by saying it would strike Western targets.
"We will launch attacks in America and Europe very soon," Mehsud told Reuters by telephone on Friday from an undisclosed location.
The group claimed responsibility for a failed bomb plot in New York's Times Square in May and, in December 2009, a Spanish court jailed 10 Pakistanis and an Indian for attempted suicide bombings on Barcelona's metro in 2008, saying they were inspired by the Pakistan Taliban's then leader.
"No one is discounting the threat they pose and we and our partners are working hard to disrupt their terrorist activities," a U.S. counterterrorism official said on condition of anonymity.
U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the group was designated a "foreign terrorist organization" because "it is a threat to the United States but most importantly a threat to Pakistan itself."
Pakistan has said the army would decide when to carry out a full-fledged assault in North Waziristan, where Washington says the militants enjoy safe havens.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, visiting troops in Afghanistan, said the flooding "is probably going to delay any operations by the Pakistani army in North Waziristan for some period of time."
In another attack in the northwest, a suicide bomber killed one person outside a mosque of the Ahmadi sect, who consider themselves Muslims but whom Pakistan declares non-Muslims.
ECONOMIC CRISIS
Islamist charities, some linked to militant groups, have joined in the relief effort for the millions of people affected by the floods. U.S. officials are concerned the involvement of hardline groups in relief work will undermine the fight against militancy.
Anger is spreading over the Pakistani government's sluggish response to the disaster, raising the possibility of unrest.
Pakistan is also facing economic catastrophe, with the floods causing damage the government has estimated at $43 billion, almost a quarter of the south Asian nation's 2009 gross domestic product.
The International Monetary Fund will give Pakistan $450 million in emergency flood aid and disburse funds in September to help the economy cope with the devastation.
Talks in Washington with a delegation led by Pakistan's Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on the terms of an $11 billion IMF loan program left him satisfied with the country's commitment to reforms, IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.
Under the 2008 IMF loan program, Islamabad promised to implement tax and energy sector reforms and give full autonomy to the State Bank of Pakistan. (Additional reporting by Saud Mehsud, Haji Mujtaba, Zeeshan Haider and Augustine Anthony; and Tabassum Zakaria, Steve Holland and Andrew Quinn in Washington: Writing by Michael Georgy; editing by Jon Boyle and John O'Callaghan) (For more Reuters coverage of Pakistan, see: http://www.reuters.com/places/pakistan)
===========
Pakistani militants stoking sectarian rift-minister
04 Sep 2010 11:52:38 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Interior minister sees risk of more attacks
* Says TTP, al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi one group
* Death toll in Quetta bombing rises to 65
* Pakistanis worry about the fate of their country (adds details, quotes from Quetta, flood victims)
By Augustine Anthony
ISLAMABAD, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Pro-Taliban Pakistani militants are trying to create a sectarian rift, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday, as a new wave of violence piled pressure on a government already struggling with a flood crisis.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for bomb attacks on two Shi'ite rallies that killed 33 people in Lahore on Wednesday and 65 in the city of Quetta on Friday.
The attacks ended a lull after devastating floods which affected 20 million people. Pakistani officials had said before the attacks that any major violence at such a difficult time was likely to cause deep popular resentment against the militants.
On Friday, the Taliban also threatened to launch attacks in the United States and Europe "very soon", two days after the Washington added the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to its list of "foreign terrorist organisations".
Malik said al-Qaeda linked militants were trying to whip up sectarianism after taking a beating in their strongholds in the country's northwest in a string of military offensives.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
For more Pakistan stories, click
[nAFPAK] or http://link.reuters.com/kac58m
For a timeline on attacks, click [nLDE6681G8]
For a Q+A on militant attacks, click [nSGE68103X]
For a factbox on Mehsud, click [nSGE68104M]
For stories from the worst hit areas, click [nSGE68119Z]
For a picture slideshow, click http://link.reuters.com/saq97n
For a graphic, click http://link.reuters.com/zev47n
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
"Sectarianism that has been there for 62 years (since the creation of Pakistan), they stoked it again," he told reporters in Islamabad.
Warning that militants would launch attacks again "wherever there is a vulnerable situation" he said "they are using it as a weapon to terrorise people."
Thousands have been killed in sectarian violence by majority Sunni and minority Shi'ite sects in the past two decades. But Shi'ite violence has largely declined in recent years.
"These militant groups think they can create conflict through sectarianism. But that has not happened," said political analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi.
He saw little hope, however, that popular resentment against the militants could undermine them, as happened in Iraq where people turned against al Qaeda over its violent methods.
"They are not looking for support," he said. "They want to destabilise the situation. That is their only consideration."
In Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, shops shut as the city went into mourning. People said they were in despair over the many problems facing Pakistan.
"On the one hand, poor people have been stricken by the floods, and on the other hand we are having these blasts. All businesses are finished. What is going to become of this country?" said Haji Abdul Baqi, a rickshaw driver in Quetta.
Malik said the TTP, al Qaeda and the Sunni Muslim Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), one of the most violent anti-Shi'ite groups with roots in the central Punjab province, were all part of the same organisation.
"Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, al Qaeda, TTP; they are one," he said. "And the TTP are there whenever there is suicide bombing."
THIRTEEN KILLED IN DRONE STRIKE
Aside from its battles against Pakistani militants, Pakistan is under U.S. pressure to tackle Afghan Taliban fighters who cross the border from Pakistan's lawless tribal areas to attack U.S.-led NATO troops.
The United States has stepped up missile strikes by pilotless drone aircraft against militant targets in Pakistani tribal areas since the start of 2010.
Two such strikes killed 13 militants, including two foreigners, on Friday in the North Waziristan tribal region, intelligence officials said, raising the number from the seven dead initially reported.
The TTP has responded to drone attacks by saying it would strike Western targets.
"We will launch attacks in America and Europe very soon," Qari Hussain Mehsud, a senior Pakistani Taliban and mentor of suicide bombers, told Reuters on Friday.
The attacks in Quetta and Lahore were the first major attacks since the floods which began more than a month ago and swept through the country from northwest to south, leaving an area almost the size of England under water.
A new wave of violence would be especially difficult to manage given the enormity of the task of providing relief to millions of flood victims. The Pakistan Army has taken the lead in providing flood relief.
Although the water is beginning to recede, large areas are still submerged and some villages in the southern province of Sindh are facing floods for the first time as the Indus river, swollen by heavy monsoon rains, makes its way south to the Arabian Sea.
Many people say they want to return home but do not know how they will manage with their crops and houses destroyed.
"We want to go to our villages but we are empty-handed, what are we going to do there empty handed?" said Fatima Bibi from the Thatta district of Sindh. (Additional reporting by Saud Mehsud, Gul Yousafzai, Naeem Daniel and Waseem Sattar); Editing by Myra MacDonald and Sugita Katyal) (E-mail: augustine.anthony@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: augustine.anthony.reuters.com@reuters.net; Islamabad newsroom: +92 51 281 0017))
(If you have a query or comment about this story, send an e-mail to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com)
===============
Saturday, September 04, 2010
55 killed in Quetta rally attack
* Over 200 injured as bomber targets Al-Quds rally
* Police blames rally participants for diverging from set route
* Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claims responsibility
By Mohammad Zafar
QUETTA: At least 55 people lost their lives, while over 200 others were injured on Friday after a suicide bomber blew himself up amidst participants of a rally held to mark the Al-Quds Day in Quetta.
The deadly blast triggered chaos and panic in the provincial metropolis’s busy Mezan Chowk.
Calling from an undisclosed location, a spokesman of the banned Lashkaar-e-Janghvi, claimed responsibility for the attack and warned that the group would “carry out more attacks if Shias continue to take out processions and hold gatherings”.
According to eyewitnesses, a group of armed men started indiscriminate firing after the blast, injuring dozens of people.
The Imamia Students’ Organisation had organised the rally that started from Islam Imambargah, located on the Prince Road, soon after the Friday prayers to express solidarity with the Palestinian people. Hundreds of people joined the rally as it moved towards the centre of the city.
“Police tried to stop the rally near Mali Bagh and asked the participants not to proceed any further, owing to security concerns. However, nobody listened to us,” said City police Station House Officer (SHO) Muhammad Asif, adding that the participants did not follow the route that had been approved by the police. “We had earlier told them that no officers were deployed in Mezan Chowk and they should follow the given route. But they did not follow the instructions,” he said.
A number of young men, who were at the head of the procession, removed police barricades and continued to march forward. When the procession reached Mezan Chowk, the suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest.
As result of the huge blast, 25 people were killed instantly, and human limbs were scattered everywhere. A number of motorcycles parked nearby caught fire, sending up plumes of black smoke.
According to the Bomb Disposal Squad, 10 to 15 kilogrammes of explosive material was used in the blast.
Talking to reporters, Provincial Police Officer Malik Muhammad Iqbal claimed that the police had tried to warn the participants and their refusal to listen to the police caused the incidence.
Police later found the head of the suspected suicide bomber, who was said to be between 25 to 30 years of age.
An employee of a private TV channel was also among the dead, while eight other journalists also sustained injuries. All of them were covering the rally when the blast took place.
Attack condemned: President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani both have strongly condemned the attack. In separate messages, both the leaders stressed that the perpetrators of such heinous crimes were the enemies of the country and would not be spared.
The Balochistan Shia Conference and the Tahaffuz Azadari Council have announced a 40-day mourning period.
In a statement, both groups have strongly criticised the government and the police for failing to protect the rally participants.
No comments:
Post a Comment