Blast hits Pakistan Quetta amid violence

Blast hits Pakistan Quetta amid violence
Wed May 18, 2011 8:43AM
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Amid escalating violence in Pakistan, a loud explosion has been heard in Pakistan's Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, hours after gunmen killed at least five people in the city.


Causalities are feared in the powerful bomb blast in Quetta in southwestern Balochistan province of Pakistan, a Press TV correspondent reported.

According to Pakistani police officials, the blast occurred in Akhtar Abad area of Quetta city on Wednesday.

Firing has erupted in the area and rescue teams have rushed to the site.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, dozens of militants attacked a security checkpoint in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

At least 22 people, including two police officers, were killed in the attack.

On Tuesday, security forces in Pakistan's troubled southwestern province of Balochistan killed at least five al-Qaeda militants when they were planning to carry out bombings in the region.

The militants' attacks in Pakistan are rising as the Taliban have vowed to avenge the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who the US claimed to have killed in an operation in Pakistan on May 1.

Former officials with Pakistan's military and intelligence service say the US wrongfully claims it has killed bin Laden in Pakistan as part of a scheme to invade the South Asian country for harboring the terrorist leader.
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Five ‘would-be bombers’ gunned down in Quetta
By Shehzad Baloch
Published: May 18, 2011

Pakistani troops fire toward the attacker next to a security checkpoint in Quetta. PHOTO: AFP
Pakistani troops fire toward the attacker next to a security checkpoint in Quetta. PHOTO: AFP A wounded woman attacker raises her hand next to a security checkpoint during exchange of fire with Pakistani troops. PHOTO: AFP A wounded woman attacker raises her hand next to a security checkpoint during exchange of fire with Pakistani troops. PHOTO: AFP Pakistani security officials look at the attackers bodies next to a security checkpoint in Quetta. PHOTO: AFP Security forces stop armed suspects at checkpost; one woman blows herself up to avoid arrest.
QUETTA:

Security forces claimed to have foiled a suicide attack bid in Quetta by shooting down five would-be bombers near a Frontier Corps (FC) checkpost on a main highway.

Three women were among the attackers who were gunned down on Tuesday by officials from the FC and Quetta police in Kharotabad, on the outskirts of Quetta, on the National Highway, which connects Quetta to Afghanistan. The alleged bombers were shot in the head, chest and abdomen and an FC man was also killed in a grenade attack by the would-be bombers.

Balochistan Home Secretary Zafar Baloch said that the attackers were Chechen nationals and carried Russian passports. “I cannot confirm whether the suspects wore suicide vests until the police produce an investigation report. But two suspects were wearing suicide vests and hurled grenades at the security personnel.”

However, eyewitnesses claim no suicide jacket or explosive-laden vests were recovered from the bodies.

Witnesses said that three women and two men had come in a van and the men stopped to offer prayers at a nearby mosque. They were approaching the checkpost and hurled two hand-grenades.

“They were carrying hand-grenades and hurled two at security personnel before entering the post,” said Abdul Nafey, who was present at the time of attack.

The injured FC man has been identified as Lance Naik Mohammad Sajjad and was taken to the Combined Military Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

The checkpost was covered with barbed wires and bodies of the alleged bombers lay inside the checkpost for almost three hours. “They were carrying more hand-grenades and would have blown themselves up if we had gone closer to them,” an FC official said.

Police also recovered two kilogrammes of explosives and 56 detonators from the van in which the bombers had entered Quetta. “Police searched the car and recovered explosives and detonators,” said Naveed Atif, Superintendent of the Sadar Police Station.

“They were in a van and heading towards Quetta city. When they were intercepted at Airport Road checkpost, the women showed their suicide vests to police officials and threatened to blow themselves up if any attempt was made to prevent them from fleeing,” Quetta police chief Dawood Junejo said. “Police chased the attackers and managed to capture them near Kharotabad area and gunned them down with assistance from the FC.”

FC official Faisal Shehzad told reporters that they had some intelligence reports about the presence of suicide bombers and acted on a tip-off.

Bodies were taken to Bolan Medical Complex for a medical examination where two Chechen nationals were identified as Amid and Hamid.

The officials, however, did not answer how attackers had entered Quetta. “We are investigating the incident,” said a FC official. “They had intended to carry out attacks in Quetta and elsewhere in the country.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18th, 2011.

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Over 70 militants attack Pakistani security post, 17 dead

18 May 2011 07:04

Source: reuters // Reuters

(Adds militants' death toll)

By Izaz Mohmand

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, May 18 (Reuters) - More than 70 militants armed with rockets and mortars attacked a security post on the outskirts of Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar on Wednesday, the latest in an upsurge of violence since Osama bin Laden was killed in the country this month.

Two members of the security forces and at least 15 insurgents were killed in a four-hour gunbattle that erupted following two successive attacks on the security post set up to defend Peshawar, the gateway to the troubled northwest region.

"They were well-armed. They had heavy weapons, rockets, mortars everything. The fighting lasted for about four and a half hours," Ejaz Khan, a city police officer, said.

The attack took place near Khyber, part of Pakistan's lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border, which is regarded as a global hub of militants, including al Qaeda and the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban movements.

Two members of the security forces were killed and five wounded, Khan said. At least 15 insurgents were killed.

Security forces repulsed the first attack by the militants which was carried out just before midnight, officials said.

"Then they carried out a big attack early in the morning. We also called in reinforcements to counter the attack and we did it," a Peshawar security official said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility , but m ilitants linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban have stepped up attacks in Pakistan after the killing of bin Laden in A military town by U.S. special forces on May 2.

The Pakistani Taliban, who are close to al Qaeda, have vowed to avenge bin Laden's death and said their suicide bombers killed 80 people last week at a paramilitary academy in the northwestern town of Charsadda.

In a suspected sectarian attack on Wednesday, two men on a motorbike fired on a vehicle and killed four Shi'ite Muslims and wounded four others on the outskirts of the southwestern city of Quetta.

Pro-Taliban Sunni militants groups, many of whom are linked to al Qaeda, are trying to foment conflict among Pakistan's religious sects in an attempt to destabilise the government just as it faces pressure from the United States and the West to crack down on militant groups, analysts say.

Pakistan has come under renewed pressure to prove it is serious about tackling militancy since bin Laden was discovered after apparently spending at least five years in the South Asian nation about a two hour drive from the headquarters of the country's intelligence service. (Reporting by Faris Ali and Zeeshan Haider; Writing by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Michael Georgy and Sanjeev Miglani)