Car bomb blasts Lahore police HQ
By Babar Dogar, Associated Press
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/car-bomb-blasts-lahore-police-hq-1691350.html
Gunmen detonated a car bomb near police and intelligence agency offices in Lahore today, killing about 30 people and wounding at least 250 in one of Pakistan's deadliest attacks this year, officials said.
At least four men with rifles stepped from the car and opened fire on the intelligence agency building, then set off a massive blast when security guards returned fire, officials said.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik suggested the attack could be retaliation for the government's military offensive to rout Taliban militants from the northwestern Swat Valley.
Lahore is the country's second-largest city and sits near the Indian border, and assaults there have heightened fears that militancy in nuclear-armed Pakistan is spreading well beyond the northwest region bordering Afghanistan. Wednesday's attack was the third major strike in Lahore in recent months.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the latest bombing. Police said two suspects were detained.
Raja Riaz, a senior minister in the Punjab provincial government, told reporters that about 30 people were killed. Sajjad Bhutta, another senior government official, told reporters more than 250 people were injured.
The explosion sheared the walls off buildings in a main business district. The ceilings of operating rooms in a nearby hospital collapsed, injuring 20 people. TV footage showed bleeding bystanders and emergency workers carrying the injured toward ambulances. Rescuers rushed to free officers buried in the rubble.
"The moment the blast happened, everything went dark in front of my eyes," witness Muhammad Ali said. "The way the blast happened, then gunfire, it looked as if there was a battle going on."
Sajjad Bhutta, a senior government official in Lahore, told reporters that a car carrying several gunmen pulled up in a street between offices of the emergency police and the Inter-Service Intelligence agency, Pakistan's premier spy agency.
"As some people came out from that vehicle and starting firing at the ISI office, the guards from inside that building returned fire," he said. As the firing continued, the car suddenly exploded, he said.
The spy agency and police building were both badly damaged. An AP reporter saw dozens of troops entering the spy agency building to supervise the rescue work, while gunshots were heard from inside the building even one hour after the blast.
Television footage showed officers dragging a man from the scene.
Malik blamed the attack on militants that government forces are fighting in the Swat Valley and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas near Afghanistan.
"These terrorists were defeated in FATA and Swat and now they have come here," he told reporters.
The offensive in Swat is seen as a test of the government's resolve to combat the spread of militancy, and is strongly backed by Washington and Pakistan's other Western allies. The army has said at least 1,100 militants have been left dead in the monthlong operation.
The offensive has spurred fears that the Taliban could stage revenge assaults.
The Inter-Services Intelligence agency is not directly involved in the fighting in Swat but is responsible for gathering intelligence to support the operation. The agency has also been behind the arrest of top al-Qaida operatives in recent years, and is responsible for the detention and interrogation of terrorist suspects.
Wednesday's attack was the third major one in Lahore this year.
In March, a group of gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's visiting cricket team in the heart of the city, killing six police officers and a driver and wounding several players.
Later that month, gunmen raided a police academy on the city's outskirts, leaving at least 12 dead during an eight-hour standoff with security forces, including army troops. Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud claimed responsibility.
A variety of militant groups exist in Pakistan beyond al-Qaida and the Taliban, and officials and analysts believe they are increasingly inter-linked, which could make it easier to stage more sophisticated, multidimensional attacks.
Punjab is Pakistan's most populous province and home to some of its most violent groups.
The Inter-Services Intelligence agency is believed to have helped set some of them up in Pakistan's dispute with India over the Kashmir region.
U.S. officials have said the spy agency still maintains links with some of the outfits, vexing Washington.
At least four men with rifles stepped from the car and opened fire on the intelligence agency building, then set off a massive blast when security guards returned fire, officials said.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik suggested the attack could be retaliation for the government's military offensive to rout Taliban militants from the northwestern Swat Valley.
Lahore is the country's second-largest city and sits near the Indian border, and assaults there have heightened fears that militancy in nuclear-armed Pakistan is spreading well beyond the northwest region bordering Afghanistan. Wednesday's attack was the third major strike in Lahore in recent months.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the latest bombing. Police said two suspects were detained.
Raja Riaz, a senior minister in the Punjab provincial government, told reporters that about 30 people were killed. Sajjad Bhutta, another senior government official, told reporters more than 250 people were injured.
The explosion sheared the walls off buildings in a main business district. The ceilings of operating rooms in a nearby hospital collapsed, injuring 20 people. TV footage showed bleeding bystanders and emergency workers carrying the injured toward ambulances. Rescuers rushed to free officers buried in the rubble.
"The moment the blast happened, everything went dark in front of my eyes," witness Muhammad Ali said. "The way the blast happened, then gunfire, it looked as if there was a battle going on."
Sajjad Bhutta, a senior government official in Lahore, told reporters that a car carrying several gunmen pulled up in a street between offices of the emergency police and the Inter-Service Intelligence agency, Pakistan's premier spy agency.
"As some people came out from that vehicle and starting firing at the ISI office, the guards from inside that building returned fire," he said. As the firing continued, the car suddenly exploded, he said.
The spy agency and police building were both badly damaged. An AP reporter saw dozens of troops entering the spy agency building to supervise the rescue work, while gunshots were heard from inside the building even one hour after the blast.
Television footage showed officers dragging a man from the scene.
Malik blamed the attack on militants that government forces are fighting in the Swat Valley and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas near Afghanistan.
"These terrorists were defeated in FATA and Swat and now they have come here," he told reporters.
The offensive in Swat is seen as a test of the government's resolve to combat the spread of militancy, and is strongly backed by Washington and Pakistan's other Western allies. The army has said at least 1,100 militants have been left dead in the monthlong operation.
The offensive has spurred fears that the Taliban could stage revenge assaults.
The Inter-Services Intelligence agency is not directly involved in the fighting in Swat but is responsible for gathering intelligence to support the operation. The agency has also been behind the arrest of top al-Qaida operatives in recent years, and is responsible for the detention and interrogation of terrorist suspects.
Wednesday's attack was the third major one in Lahore this year.
In March, a group of gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's visiting cricket team in the heart of the city, killing six police officers and a driver and wounding several players.
Later that month, gunmen raided a police academy on the city's outskirts, leaving at least 12 dead during an eight-hour standoff with security forces, including army troops. Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud claimed responsibility.
A variety of militant groups exist in Pakistan beyond al-Qaida and the Taliban, and officials and analysts believe they are increasingly inter-linked, which could make it easier to stage more sophisticated, multidimensional attacks.
Punjab is Pakistan's most populous province and home to some of its most violent groups.
The Inter-Services Intelligence agency is believed to have helped set some of them up in Pakistan's dispute with India over the Kashmir region.
U.S. officials have said the spy agency still maintains links with some of the outfits, vexing Washington.
More Asia News from The Independent UK :
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/
Now, can anyone tell me...?
AntwortenLöschenI'm new to Vista and Firefox. Just updated recently, about time. I posted this using Firefox - the pic was more awkward to drag into place, and the links didn't work. Other than that, it's much better... notably faster. Why should Explorer (which I switched to, to finish this post) be slower to upload pages?
vista?...you poor bastard
AntwortenLöschenactually I've always found pic's harder to drag to where you want them in blogs than via IE.
AntwortenLöschenI have firefox and you learn but it isn't to hard I just did one
AntwortenLöschenYou might find this an interesting read from http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2009/05/27/lahore-explosion-raw-strikes-again-in-lahore-an-attempt-to-eliminate-hafiz-saeed/:
AntwortenLöschen"Information coming in from security officials in Lahore suggests the actual target was the Lahore High Court building where Jama’at-ud-Dawa’s Hafiz Saeed was attending his court hearing at the time of the explosion
‘It appears the target was Hafiz Saeed. The bombers drove around the area but could not get close enough to the Lahore High Court building due to the barricades in place’, says one official.
Hafiz Saeed has previously been threatened by Tehreek-e-Taliban’s Baitullah Mehsud for not fighting against the Pakistani State. (http://pakistankakhudahafiz.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/tehrik-taleban-pakistan-showing-its-true-colours/)
On December 14th last year, Indian Air Force jets violated Pakistani airspace in Kashmir and Lahore on an attempted bombing run targetting Jama’at Dawa offices in Azad Kashmir and Muridke respectively. (http://pakistankakhudahafiz.wordpress.com/2008/12/14/breaking-news-indian-jets-violate-pakistan-airspace/)
The IAF Jets were intercepted almost immediately and escorted out by away by PAF jets on that occasion, and a photograph of one of the Indian Jets locked within firing range by a PAF F-16 was presented to Admiral Mike Mullen as a warning. "
Well I do admit that local police is not up to the mark in all the major cities. And how can we depend on approx. 30 thousand police force in the city of more than 10 million population ?.. And If you look at the pay-scale of Sindh Police, the monthly salary of Police Constable is Rs.8000($100) [& I don't think it is sufficent]. And donot forget their services are for more than 12 hours. Taliban guys gets Rs.10,000 ($125) for their services.. Yeah they do get money from the Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan they are not volunteers, it seems to be they have volunteered their services for their religious goals but it is not true, they do get monthly income.
AntwortenLöschenI'm in Karachi & I know what happens here, Once something worse happens security agencies goes on RED-ALERT and after 3-4 days they go back to their casual life. Their vehicles needs to be repaired, They should have modern weaponery to counter the threats. Attractive social security program should be initiated for the officers, these issues should have been done yet but it's unfortunate no one has done anything for it.
One more point, If Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) accepts the responsibility of any attack it doesn't mean they have done it because they might be accepting it for their goodwill. It's ridiculous Interior Minister R. Malick & Pakistan's Ambassdor to UK given TTP responsible just with in hours.
AntwortenLöschenMaryam has raised a nice point of Hafiz Saeed, He is in detention in that building. And do not forget that TTP has declared KASHMIR a non-issue which is totally opposite to the Hafiz Saeed stance.
Sounds pretty universal. Even here, they say it's 'a thankless job'...
AntwortenLöschenI had a good look at pakalert.wordpress when I first met jmk, maryam... and it's not a site I'd use as a source.
AntwortenLöschenHeavily biased and some I read just wasn't true. I don't recall exactly what... only that it alleged things about the Mumbai attack last year, for which none of us could find any solid evidence, or root article.
Yeah It's not a site they have their own opinion and they are not neutral so they don't claim to be independent. As you see they're more patriotic so your views can vary with them :)
AntwortenLöschenReally ? I thought it's only in asian sub-continent.
AntwortenLöschenWell If they really wants to do something for the safety of their people they should recruit more security officers. Karachi has more than 18 Million population and there are only 30 thousands Policemen, ratio is 0.00167 per person :)
In Lahore, 3-4 Inspector General of Police has been changed due to the political situation of the province of Punjab. We cannot call the army officers for the security of all the big cities. I saw some policemen pushing their police petrol because it was not getting start So you can see how things going in the local police department of Karachi.. They need funds..
Foreign Aid is not getting to the right places.. therefore it is useless & that's why common people don't get any concern which country is giving aid to the government it might be because the aid is for the Government but not for the PEOPLE.
Well, I do not agree with everything they say either. There is also lots of stuff which probably won't be swallowed by a person who's more used to the mainstream media.
AntwortenLöschenNevertheless, it does mention most stuff from the point of view of a common Pakistani. As for the Mumbai attacks, it gave plenty of articles which raised questions about the Indian point of view. Some of the things, I admit, sounded rather lame. But there were others that were even raised by certain members of our govt. Unfortunately, the corrupt Islamabad govt. doesn't seem to reflect the opinions of it's citizens too often. For the Mumbai attacks, all we got was propaganda from the Indian side, never any shred of proof. As for the civilian govt---I'm glad the Pak army sometimes decides to take govt. decisions in it's hands.
Anyway, most of the times it seems to me that a person can check up from other sources to establish the truth or biased opinions on the articles given in the Pak Alert Press.
For the article mentioned above, I must say it does seem to be sensible. It's true that Hafiz Saeed was brought to court for a hearing. And this is definitely the first time he's been attacked or received death threats either.
Yeah well, I suppose that can be held accountable for a lot of corruption in the police department. They say corruption is the least among Highway Police in Pakistan. Sounds reasonable, they have higher pay scales.
AntwortenLöschenForeign aid? Really, I get the feeling it is something conceived to be totally useless among our masses. All it does is contribute to worsen the economy. Nobody ever gets to see that money, except a few at the top.
AntwortenLöschenBesides, just like Mr. Zaid Hamid says, it takes away all self respect. Begging should only be resorted to when a nation's own resources have been exhausted. Ours haven't. It even seems as if there are some people out there who'd rather those resources weren't used for the national interest either.
Hey, have u listened to the 'Economic Terrorism' series?
That's what I said.. that money is useless.. I never seen any project been accomplished by that money. I don't know where it goes, may be in the accounts of some bureaucrats or politicians. If you ask a common man in Pakistan about that AID they'll ask you " when it comes & where it goes ?" If a common man is not getting any benefit from it then why we need it ?
AntwortenLöschenI donot think Pakistan need aid from any foriegn entity but Pakistan needs TRADE.
It's not only pay-scale but because they've hired fresh officers which are dedicated & haven't been in corruption before. Majority of Police Dept. is involved in corruption & it's been a part of their life now.
AntwortenLöschenPakistan Police needs new reform specially in the hiring procecdure & social security program.