Pakistan suicide bombers target top security official

Deputy chief’s wife and two children among those killed in twin attacks in western city of Quetta Suicide bombers have attacked a senior military officer in Quetta in western Pakistan, killing 20 people including eight soldiers and the officer’s wife. Police said they suspected Taliban militants were behind the attack, which comes two days after the army said it had arrested a senior al-Qaida operative in the city. The first bomber struck as the deputy chief of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, which operates across Balochistan province, drove away from his home in a tightly guarded Quetta neighbourhood. A second attacker then stormed into the house, hurling grenades as he went, before blowing himself up. The force of the blasts felled the walls of the house and nearby offices and ripped through passing rickshaws. Police said the targeted officer, Farrukh Shehzad, had been wounded but the extent of his injuries was not clear. The dead included eight of his guards, his wife and two of his children. No group claimed responsibility for the attack but immediate suspicions fell on al-Qaida-affiliated Taliban militants. On Monday the army said it had arrested Younis al-Mauritani, described as a high-ranking al-Qaida operative, and two associates, in a Quetta suburb. Al-qaida is still reeling from the US assassination of Osama bin Laden in northern Pakistan on 2 May and continuing drone attacks in the north-western tribal belt, which have targeted its most senior militants. As the strikes have intensified some al-Qaida fighters have fled into nearby Balochistan, where the drones do not operate. The Bin Laden operation created a bitter rift between the CIA and Pakistani intelligence. But officials from both countries hailed the latest arrest as a sign that relationship may be on the mend. Balochistan, a vast sprawling province along the Afghan border, has long been a hub for Islamist insurgents. Its northern regions are used by the Afghan Taliban as a rear base for attacks on Nato forces inside Afghanistan. The Taliban’s ruling council, known as the Quetta shura, is also believed to be based there, although recent reports suggest it may have effectively shifted to Karachi. Other possible suspects in the attack include Baloch nationalist rebels with whom the FC has been engaged in a bitter war of attrition for at least six years. But the nationalists, who are largely secular, do not have a track record of using suicide bombers. Pakistan Global terrorism al-Qaida Taliban Afghanistan Declan Walsh guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 7, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.