A SUICIDE bomber killed at least 41 people in an attack on the Pakistani military near Swat yesterday as the Taliban claimed responsibility for a weekend raid on the army’s headquarters.
The bombing was the fourth significant assault in a week, after attacks on Islamabad, Peshawar and Rawalpindi. The raids are part of an apparent campaign to deter a planned army offensive against Taliban strongholds in the Waziristan region along the Afghan border.
Authorities were reported in the past week to be preparing an attack on Waziristan, but western diplomats gave warning yesterday that the army could be distracted from such an operation by the constant attacks that have raised tensions across Pakistan. “For the army, a major challenge will be, ‘Can they operate on too many fronts simultaneously?’ ” said one.
“Everyone in Pakistan’s security apparatus is convinced: defeating the Taliban in Waziristan is a must. But ‘How do they go about it when the situation is sliding?’ is the main issue.”
The target of yesterday’s attack was an army convoy in the Shangla district near Swat, an area the military had said it cleared of Taliban in the summer. Witnesses said most of the casualties were civilians, but Pakistan’s Express TV said those killed included six military personnel.
It emerged yesterday that the Taliban militants who briefly occupied army headquarters in Rawalpindi at the weekend had demanded the release of at least 100 leading militants detained by the authorities.
“They [the militants] wanted to take senior army officers hostage and then present their list [of demands], including names of terrorists they wanted released,” Maj Gen Athar Abbas, the military’s chief spokesman, said.
Gen Abbas said the attack was undertaken by the Waziristan-based TTP, or Tehreek-e-taliban Pakistan, an umbrella outfit for Taliban groups in the area.
The group had been led by a militant known as Aqeel, or Doctor Usman, a former soldier, according to government officials, who was arrested and is now in army custody.
Pakistan’s foreign minister flew to the US yesterday to convey concerns about a US aid Bill that links some funds to fighting terrorism, and which critics say violates the country’s sovereignty.
Meanwhile, a Lahore judge has dismissed charges of terrorism against Hafiz Saeed, the leader of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa group accused by India of planning the terror attacks in Mumbai last November, citing lack of evidence. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009)