DTN News: Pakistan TODAY November 14, 2009 ~ Bombings Kill 17 At Pakistani Security Installations ISI HQ
*Source: DTN News / The Los Angeles Times By Alex Rodriguez & Special correspondent Zulfiqar Ali contributed to this report.
(NSI News Source Info) PESHAWAR, Pakistan - November 14, 2009: A suicide truck bomber targets the country's intelligence agency in Peshawar, killing 10 people. An hour later, seven are slain in a blast at a village police station.
A soldier stands guard at the site of a suicide bomb blast in Peshawar November 13, 2009. A suicide car-bomber destroyed an office of Pakistan's main intelligence agency in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday, killing at least eight people and wounding over 30, witnesses and officials said.
Suicide bomb attacks killed at least 17 people today at two security installations in and near the Pakistani city of Peshawar, including a devastating truck bomb at the provincial headquarters of the nation's intelligence agency, underscored security forces' vulnerability as they struggle to clamp down on a resilient insurgency.
The suicide truck bomb blast at the Inter-Services Intelligence complex that killed 10 people early this morning was the second militant strike on the country's premier spy agency this year. In May, a van packed with explosives razed the intelligence agency's provincial headquarters and a police building in the eastern city of Lahore, killing more than two dozen people.
The truck bomb blast in Peshawar, which also injured more than 60 people, was followed by a suicide car bomb attack an hour later at a police station in the village of Bakkakhel, about 75 miles southwest of Peshawar. That blast killed seven people and wounded 27.
Security forces stand guard at the site of a suicide bomb blast Peshawar November 13, 2009. A suicide car bomber attacked an office used by Pakistan's main intelligence agency in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday, killing nine people and wounding 55, officials said.
The attacks in Peshawar and Bakkakhel were the latest in a long line of strikes on security compounds and facilities across Pakistan in recent weeks, as the government moved ahead with its plan to send 30,000 troops into South Waziristan to uproot Taliban and Al Qaeda militant strongholds there.
The boldest of those attacks was on the army's headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Oct. 10. A team of militants dressed as paramilitary police raided the heavily guarded compound and took scores of officers and civilian workers hostage. Pakistani commandos rescued most of the hostages, but 14 people were killed in the 22-hour siege.
Less than a week later, teams of militants carried out near-simultaneous attacks on three security compounds around Lahore, including an elite forces counter-terrorism training center. At least 26 people were killed in those attacks.
Other attacks on security facilities include a suicide bomb attack on a police station in Peshawar on Oct. 16 that killed 13 people, and another suicide attack on an air force complex west of Islamabad, the capital, that killed seven people.
In the blast in Peshawar today, authorities said a truck filled with 600 pounds of explosives drove up to the front gate of the intelligence agency's regional headquarters, a complex situated in one of the city's most heavily guarded areas. Guards at the gate fired at the truck, but the bomber was able to detonate the explosives, which razed most of the agency's three-story building.
Among the wounded were civilians passing by the complex when the blast occurred about 6:45 a.m. Mir Wais, a 35-year-old taxi driver, was driving his daughters to the nearby town of Swabi when they were injured in the explosion. His daughters, Rana, 6, and Khwaga, 5, lay in beds at Lady Reading Hospital, their faces and hands heavily bandaged.
"Life's becoming so difficult for us," said the girls' grandmother, Bas Pano, 55, as she sat beside their beds. "Our men can't go to work to earn money for their families because of the bomb blasts. The father of these girls, he can't go to the markets to get groceries because of the explosions."
A soldier stands guard at the site of a suicide bomb blast in Peshawar November 13, 2009. A suicide car-bomber destroyed an office of Pakistan's main intelligence agency in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday, killing at least eight people and wounding over 30, witnesses and officials said.
Suicide bomb attacks killed at least 17 people today at two security installations in and near the Pakistani city of Peshawar, including a devastating truck bomb at the provincial headquarters of the nation's intelligence agency, underscored security forces' vulnerability as they struggle to clamp down on a resilient insurgency.
The suicide truck bomb blast at the Inter-Services Intelligence complex that killed 10 people early this morning was the second militant strike on the country's premier spy agency this year. In May, a van packed with explosives razed the intelligence agency's provincial headquarters and a police building in the eastern city of Lahore, killing more than two dozen people.
The truck bomb blast in Peshawar, which also injured more than 60 people, was followed by a suicide car bomb attack an hour later at a police station in the village of Bakkakhel, about 75 miles southwest of Peshawar. That blast killed seven people and wounded 27.
Security forces stand guard at the site of a suicide bomb blast Peshawar November 13, 2009. A suicide car bomber attacked an office used by Pakistan's main intelligence agency in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday, killing nine people and wounding 55, officials said.
The attacks in Peshawar and Bakkakhel were the latest in a long line of strikes on security compounds and facilities across Pakistan in recent weeks, as the government moved ahead with its plan to send 30,000 troops into South Waziristan to uproot Taliban and Al Qaeda militant strongholds there.
The boldest of those attacks was on the army's headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Oct. 10. A team of militants dressed as paramilitary police raided the heavily guarded compound and took scores of officers and civilian workers hostage. Pakistani commandos rescued most of the hostages, but 14 people were killed in the 22-hour siege.
Less than a week later, teams of militants carried out near-simultaneous attacks on three security compounds around Lahore, including an elite forces counter-terrorism training center. At least 26 people were killed in those attacks.
Other attacks on security facilities include a suicide bomb attack on a police station in Peshawar on Oct. 16 that killed 13 people, and another suicide attack on an air force complex west of Islamabad, the capital, that killed seven people.
In the blast in Peshawar today, authorities said a truck filled with 600 pounds of explosives drove up to the front gate of the intelligence agency's regional headquarters, a complex situated in one of the city's most heavily guarded areas. Guards at the gate fired at the truck, but the bomber was able to detonate the explosives, which razed most of the agency's three-story building.
Among the wounded were civilians passing by the complex when the blast occurred about 6:45 a.m. Mir Wais, a 35-year-old taxi driver, was driving his daughters to the nearby town of Swabi when they were injured in the explosion. His daughters, Rana, 6, and Khwaga, 5, lay in beds at Lady Reading Hospital, their faces and hands heavily bandaged.
"Life's becoming so difficult for us," said the girls' grandmother, Bas Pano, 55, as she sat beside their beds. "Our men can't go to work to earn money for their families because of the bomb blasts. The father of these girls, he can't go to the markets to get groceries because of the explosions."
No comments:
Post a Comment