Militants strike Pakistan's antiterror police

Bomb destroys barracks; 19 killed elsewhere

Emilio Morenatti/associated pressEmergency workers sifted through the rubble at a police compound in Islamabad yesterday, after a vehicle packed with explosives was detonated by its driver. Police were trying to determine how the vehicle got so far into the compound. (Emilio Morenatti/associated press)

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A suicide bomber penetrated one of the most heavily secured police enclaves in the capital yesterday, wrecking a residential building that housed antiterrorism police and injuring half a dozen officers. At least 19 people were killed in attacks elsewhere in the country.

By the standard of recent attacks in Pakistan, the toll in the bombing of the police barracks in Islamabad was light, the bomber being the only fatality. But the bold strike against such a well-fortified target was seen as an emphatic show of defiance by Islamic militants.

In the Dir region, not far from the tribal areas, 10 people were killed yesterday when a roadside bomb, apparently planted by insurgents, hit a police bus transporting prisoners.

Also yesterday, missile strikes thought to have been carried out by unmanned US aircraft killed at least nine people near the Afghan border.

The suicide bomber in Islamabad delivered a box of sweets just before the blast was set off. It contained a note demanding an end to military offensives in the tribal lands along the Afghan border where Al Qaeda and Taliban militants have found sanctuary, intelligence officials said.

Police were investigating how a civilian car managed to drive unchallenged inside the police compound, with its numerous checkpoints. The driver set off the explosives moments after delivering the sweets.

The attack came as Pakistani lawmakers were receiving a second day of closed-door briefings from senior military officials about Pakistan's ongoing confrontation with insurgents.

Among the senior officials appearing before lawmakers were General Ashfaq Kayani, the army chief, and Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the incoming head of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence, the main spy agency.

One reason that so few people were injured in the bombing was that nearly all the antiterrorism police had been deployed throughout the capital to guard against attacks during the parliamentary session.

Some analysts saw the special parliamentary session as the first real effort on the part of the country's new government to come to grips with formulating a coherent strategy for confronting the insurgents. The militants not only have staged a relentless campaign of suicide attacks inside Pakistan, they also have sent fighters to attack Western troops inside Afghanistan.

The parliamentary session is to continue Monday.

Suicide bombings have become an almost daily occurrence in Pakistan. The capital was particularly shaken by a massive truck bombing on Sept. 20 that destroyed the Marriott hotel, a gathering place for foreigners and Pakistani elites. More than 50 people were killed in the blast, and some international organizations, including the United Nations, ordered employees' dependents out of the country.

Many of the suicide bombings and other insurgent attacks, which have killed more than 1,200 people in the last year, have been concentrated in Pakistan's troubled northwest.

Like many attacks aimed at the police and military, yesterday's roadside bombing in the Dir region claimed civilian lives. Four children were killed, along with two police officers and four prisoners aboard the bus. Ten other people were injured.

The government has been grappling with the question of how much latitude to allow the United States, its chief ally, in staging unilateral attacks in the tribal areas. Over the last two months, American forces have carried out more than a dozen airstrikes and one ground raid targeting militant leaders.

Pakistan's official stance is that such attacks are a violation of its sovereignty, but most people here believe that the pro-Western government has given at least tacit permission.

The US attacks are unpopular among Pakistanis, who generally believe they only incite militants to carry out more suicide bombings against civilians.

Some lawmakers said before the closed session that they would seek an explicit explanation from the government of the policy regarding US-staged strikes on Pakistani soil.

The missile strikes yesterday appeared to be part of a surge in US cross-border assaults from Afghanistan on targets in Pakistan. The United States rarely acknowledges such attacks.

One missile struck a house in Tappi village in North Waziristan tribal region. Some of those killed were believed to be foreigners, two local Pakistani intelligence officials said.

A second alleged strike was reported at a house in the village of Dande Darpa Khel. No casualties were immediately reported.

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.