Pakistan Archive

Islamabad, Oct 27 – A Pakistani Army Brigadier and two others escaped a terror attack unhurt Tuesday when the jeep he was travelling in was fired upon in this Pakistani capital.

According to eyewitnesses, the senior army official, along with his mother and driver, narrowly escaped the attack, which took place in sector I/9, Geo TV reported.

‘The assailant was waiting for 15 minutes outside the army official’s home to launch the terror strike,’ an eyewitnesses was quoted as saying.

The attacker fled from the scene.

On Oct 22, Brigadier Moinuddin Ahmed, who was the head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan, was gunned down in Islamabad along with another soldier.

Over 170 people have been killed in the latest wave of militant violence, which started with a suicide bombing at the offices of the UN World Food Programme in Islamabad Oct 5. Five employees of the agency were killed.

The most audacious attack came on Oct 10 when 10 terrorists in military uniform laid siege to the Pakistan Army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. At least 19 people, including nine raiders, died in the 22-hour standoff. One militant was arrested.

On Oct 15, gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed two police academies and the offices of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency in Lahore. A car bomber struck at a police station in the northwestern town of Kohat. At least 38 people including 11 insurgents were killed in a single day.

A twin suicide bombing Oct 20 at the International Islamic University here killed seven people.

On Oct 23, 25 people were killed and 27 injured in a series of blasts across Pakistan. Eighteen people died in a landmine explosion in Mohmand Agency while seven were killed when a suicide bomber struck at an air force base in Attock district. Eight people were injured in a bombing outside a restaurant in Peshawar.

Islamabad, Oct 26 – Schools in the Pakistani capital and those located in Sindh and Punjab provincves reopened Monday. They had been shut following a spate of terror attacks in the country.

The government directed security agencies to take steps to ensure foolproof security at educational institutions across the country, Geo TV reported Monday.

Educational institutions in Balochistan will remain closed for three more days following the killing of Balocistan’s education minister Sunday.

Institutions in the restive North West Frontier Province will remained closed till Nov 1.

Over 170 people have been killed in the latest wave of militant violence, which started with a suicide bombing at the offices of the UN World Food Programme in Islamabad Oct 5. Five employees of the agency were killed.

The most audacious attack came on Oct 10 when 10 terrorists in military uniform laid siege to the Pakistan Army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. At least 19 people, including nine raiders, died in the 22-hour standoff. One militant was arrested.

On Oct 15, gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed two police academies and the offices of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency in Lahore. A car bomber struck at a police station in the northwestern town of Kohat. At least 38 people including 11 insurgents were killed in a single day.

A twin suicide bombing Oct 20 at the International Islamic University here killed seven people.

On Oct 22, Brigadier Moinuddin Ahmed, who was the head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan, was gunned down in Islamabad along with another soldier.

A day later, 25 people were killed and 27 injured in a series of blasts across Pakistan. Eighteen people died in a landmine explosion in Mohmand Agency while seven were killed when a suicide bomber struck at an air force base in Attock district. Eight people were injured in a bombing outside a restaurant in Peshawar.

Islamabad, Oct 25 – Fifteen more militants were killed in fighting with the security forces in Pakistan’s South Waziristan region as the battle rages on in the Taliban heartland, officials said Sunday.

In the past 24 hours till Sunday evening, 15 insurgents were killed in the area, raising the number of militants killed to 178 since the security forces launched operation Rah-e-Nijat, or Path of Salvation, on Oct 17, the army said in a statement.

It said one soldier was killed and three others were injured in the latest fighting that started Saturday morning in South Waziristan, where some 10,000 Taliban militants are holed up, Xinhua reported.

Security forces have also secured a strategic mountain called Tarkona Narai after 16 hours of intense fighting with the militants, it said.

Guns, rockets, mortar bombs and ammunitions belonging to the militants were recovered from the area bordering Afghanistan.

The army said 30,000 soldiers are taking part in the operation.

–Indo-Asian news Service

snb/vt

Islamabad, Oct 25 – The education minister of Pakistan’s Balochistan province, Shafiq Ahmed was shot dead Sunday, media reports said.

The police said gunmen opened fire at him as he was coming out of a car outside his home in the provincial capital Quetta.

The assailants fled the crime scene after the attack, Xinhua reported.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Ahmed was a member of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party.

Islamabad, Oct 25 – A suspect involved in a suicide bombing in Pakistan Saturday that killed one person has been arrested, media reports said Sunday.

The intelligence officials have taken the person, who allegedly drove the vehicle used in the Lahore-Islamabad motorway suicide blast, under their custody and started an investigation into the incident, Geo news reported Sunday.

Police sources said the car, used in the Lillah interchange blast on the Lahore-Islamabad motorway, was coming from Peshawar and the motorway police had seized the driver of the car before the explosion.

The accused was aged between 22-23 years and could not speak Urdu fluently, it said.

A police officer said the arrested accused has been shifted to a fortified location for further investigation.

Islamabad, Oct 25 – Target the suicide bombers before they are able to detonate the explosives strapped to their body, say Pakistani police after carrying out a research on suicide attackers’ behavioural patterns.

Pakistan has been hit by a wave of terror attacks as its army stepped up the offensive against the Taliban fighters in the country’s northwest.

‘Be sharply attentive and alert and hit the suicide attacker before he hits his target,’ states the counter strategy issued for the personnel of law enforcing agencies.

Inspector General of Police Syed Kaleem Imam told The News that counter strategy was required to tackle terrorism in these situations and he said the strategy would be successfully executed with the help of the people.

The police in Islamabad Saturday released a research-based outlook on behavioural patterns of suicide attackers – just before commission of the terrorist act.

The research by police experts included in depth examination of those involved in several suicide attacks in Islamabad.

The research reveals ‘a moving human bomb may be a young man between 18 and 25 years, with a plump look because of wearing an explosive jacket’.

‘He (The suicide bomber) might be wearing new clothes, not washed even for a single time and new shoes and might have trimmed his hair and beard. Due to continuous sleeplessness, his eye might be red.

‘He often does not pay attention to anyone while going for a kill and moves straight to his target. He may be fasting and keep on reciting. The handler of suicider points out the target only 10 to 15 minutes before attack, thus giving a short time to accomplish the task.’

Over 170 people have been killed in the latest wave of militant violence, which started with a suicide bombing at the offices of the UN World Food Programme in Islamabad Oct 5. Five employees of the agency were killed.

The most audacious attack came on Oct 10 when 10 terrorists in military uniform laid siege to the Pakistan Army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. At least 19 people, including nine raiders, died in the 22-hour standoff. One militant was arrested.

On Oct 15, gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed two police academies and the offices of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency in the eastern city of Lahore. A car bomber struck at a police station in the northwestern town of Kohat. At least 38 people including 11 insurgents were killed in a single day.

A twin suicide bombing Oct 20 at the International Islamic University here killed seven people.

On Oct 22, Brigadier Moinuddin Ahmed, who was the head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan, was gunned down along with another soldier in Islamabad.

A day later, 25 people were killed and 27 injured in a series of blasts across Pakistan. Eighteen people died in a landmine explosion in Mohmand Agency while seven were killed when a suicide bomber struck at an air force base in Attock district. Eight people were injured in a bombing outside a restaurant in Peshawar.