A man sat in a hospital morgue near Islamabad beside the body of his brother, who was killed yesterday during a suicide bombing near Pakistan military headquarters.
(Faisal Mahmood/ Reuters)
Suicide bomber kills 35 in Pakistan
Violence leads UN to suspend work near Afghanistan
A man sat in a hospital morgue near Islamabad beside the body of his brother, who was killed yesterday during a suicide bombing near Pakistan military headquarters.
(Faisal Mahmood/ Reuters)
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - A suicide bomb killed 35 people near Pakistan’s military headquarters yesterday while a second blast wounded several police officers, continuing a wave of terrorism that prompted the United Nations to suspend long-term development work near the Afghan border.
The rash of attacks by Islamist militants has killed at least 300 people across Pakistan over the past month - including 11 UN workers - and threatened to destabilize the nuclear-armed nation.
The violence has grown bloodier since the government launched an anti-Taliban offensive in mid-October, pushing into the impoverished and underdeveloped tribal region of South Waziristan. The UN decision to suspend nonemergency aid could weaken efforts to counter the appeal of extremism by improving ordinary people’s daily lives.
The first suicide bomber yesterday killed 35 people outside a bank near Pakistan’s military headquarters in Rawalpindi, just a few miles from Islamabad.
Most of those waiting in line were from the military and were there to cash paychecks, said Mohammad Mushtaq, a wounded soldier.
“I was sitting on the pavement outside to wait for my turn,’’ said Mushtaq, who suffered a head injury. “The bomb went off with a big bang. We all ran. I saw blood and body parts everywhere.’’
Four soldiers were killed in the attack and nine were wounded, said the army’s chief spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas.
No group claimed responsibility for the bombing, though suspicion immediately fell on the Pakistani Taliban.
Hours later, another suicide bombing ripped through a police checkpoint on the outskirts of the eastern city of Lahore. At least seven policemen were wounded and two were in critical condition after a car with two men inside blew up as police went to search it.
“By putting their lives in danger, our men have saved the city from enormous sabotage,’’ Lahore Police Chief Pervaiz Rathor told reporters at the scene.
Police checkpoints, where cars are forced to drive slowly past officers looking inside, have become commonplace in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s president and other top officials condemned the blasts and vowed to press on with the South Waziristan offensive. Taliban militants have de facto control in many of the semiautonomous tribal areas.
The United States has reportedly provided technical support to the South Waziristan offensive, seeing the rugged mountain area as a haven for Islamist extremists involved in attacks on Western troops in Afghanistan.
The government has sealed off the battle zone to outsiders, making confirmation of military reports impossible to confirm, but officials insist the offensive is going well.
Yesterday, Abbas said the army had captured the Taliban town of Kaniguram and killed 12 militants in the past 24 hours.
Washington, which has long provided massive military assistance to Pakistan, has stepped up its efforts to use development aid in a broader battle against the spreading militancy. The US government recently approved $7.5 billion in aid over five years to improve Pakistan’s economy, education, and other nonmilitary sectors.
But the UN decision to suspend long-term development work in Pakistan’s tribal areas and its North West Frontier Province could complicate international efforts to win hearts and minds.
The world body will reduce the level of international staff in Pakistan and confine its work to emergency humanitarian relief and security operations, and “any other essential operations as advised by the secretary general,’’ the organization said in a statement.
The UN made its decision after losing 11 personnel in attacks in Pakistan this year, including last month’s bombing of the World Food Program’s office in Islamabad that killed five people, said UN spokeswoman Amena Kamaal. “All of the decisions are being made in light of that.’’
The UN has been deeply involved in helping Pakistan deal with refugee crises resulting from army offensives against militants, but Kamaal said the organization was still determining which programs would be suspended and how many staffers would be withdrawn. Staff that remain in the country will be assigned additional security.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said Pakistan understood the UN’s decision, but said he hoped the organization would resume its work after the military completes the South Waziristan offensive.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
