Swat Blast kills 30

[IceCold]

Thursday, October 25, 2007
SWAT: A powerful explosion ripped through Frontier Constabulary truck on Thursday near police lines in Swat, reportedly killed 30 persons, sources said.

Sources said that the explosion occurred in an explosive laden truck that caught fire after the blast. The blast damaged at least 15 to 20 shops and vehicles.

" Besides suicide bomber, explosives might be the cause of blast but the exact reason of the blast is yet to be known," police said.

Large number of security men and civilians were killed in the blast, sources said.

The injured and bodies were shifted to Saido Sharif. DIG Malakand feared the increment in death toll of security officials.

 

[waz]

Fatal attack on Pakistan troops

Reinforcements have been setting up checkpoints

At least 18 Pakistani soldiers have been killed in an attack on an army vehicle in the northern region of Swat.

The attack comes one day after the army deployed 2,500 more troops in the area to combat rising militancy.

Some civilians are reported to be among the dead. More than 35 people were taken to hospital for treatment.

The Swat valley in North West Frontier Province has become a stronghold of an anti-government militant leader, Maulana Fazlullah.

He has reportedly used radio broadcasts to call for jihad, or holy war, against the Pakistani authorities.

'Huge explosion'


The army vehicle, carrying munitions, exploded in the attack in Mingora, the main town in the district of Swat.



Most reports indicate that the blast was caused by a roadside bomb.

"It was a huge explosion. Then the truck was on fire," student Taj Mohammed Khan said, the Associated Press news agency reports.

"There were flames, smoke and people crying. People were scared to go near because bullets were going off."

Police say that civilian bystanders were killed or injured.

Dr Asadullah of the Saidu Sharif hospital in Mingora said 18 bodies had been brought in, many of them charred by the blast and fire that erupted afterwards.

At least 35 injured people were being treated by hospital staff, he said.

A local journalist at the scene told the BBC the death toll could be higher because many dead bodies of civilians were not taken to the hospital.

He said about 45 paramilitary troops were sitting in the truck when it was hit by an improvised explosive device planted on the road side.
'Restoring order'

The main military spokesman, Maj Gen Waheed Arshad told the BBC that the dead troops were all paramilitary soldiers.

Women grieve after a July attack in Swat killed many soldiers


The army said on Tuesday that the 2,500 soldiers deployed there as reinforcements were setting up checkpoints across Swat, a valley popular with tourists until an upsurge of violence earlier this year.

"The deployment may cause inconvenience to local population, but it is necessary to restore law and order in Swat," the caretaker Chief Minister of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Shamsul Mulk, told the BBC.


In July at least 10 Pakistani soldiers were killed in a militant attack in Swat.

It was part of a wave of attacks on the army in response to the security forces' storming of the radical Red Mosque in the capital, Islamabad that left more than 100 people dead.

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Fatal attack on Pakistan troops

 

[fatman17]

the PA needs to hit this guy maulana fazlullah directly. finish him off. send a strong message to the rest to desist.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Another 30!!!

Bloodshed in western pakistan is second only to Iraq.

I am not sure if casualties in Pakistan exceed those in Afghanistan.

A study by the Joint Co-ordinating and Monitoring Board, made up of the Afghan government, its key foreign backers and the UN, suggests that more than 3,700 people have died in 2006.

They definitely do not exceed those in Sudan.

Hagan and co-author Alberto Palloni of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, estimate that the conflict has caused anywhere from 170,000 to 255,000 deaths, and they say the number could be much higher.

No need to resort to extravagant claims.

 

[dabong1]

Another 30!!!

Bloodshed in western pakistan is second only to Iraq.

Is that a headline you have taken from some indian newspaper?

 

[waz]

Another 30!!!

Bloodshed in western pakistan is second only to Iraq.

Good god.....

 

[Bull]

Is that a headline you have taken from some indian newspaper?

There is no reason to be ashamed off. Once we also had such bloodhsed in may parts of our country, but thank god things have improved.

 

[F.O.X]

This is unfortunate : i think PA should change there strategy to aggressive. why shoud we prefer to go to dialogs when we knew that these terrorists are not gona listen, just finish them of by any means necessary, so we can take a easy breath.


Regards
Wilco

 

[IceCold]

How do we distinguish between who are terrorists and who are not? The way Musharraf wants to take pakistan will only bring disaster on us and nothing good. He will have to review his policy of extreme westernization. This is not modernization, this is westernization. This war for US that we are fighting has to stop and its necessary we draw a line about our alliance with US.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

This is a little different from the Waziristan situation. Swat would come under the NWFP administration (if ever there was evidence needed that the MMA did nothing), so Fazlullah has to be treated differently, at least until he completely loses control. He has been threatening violence in case of an "operation", but this incident will put him under more pressure, since he will be blamed for firing the first shot.

Sad indeed that more innocent lives have been lost.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

There is no reason to be ashamed off. Once we also had such bloodhsed in may parts of our country, but thank god things have improved.

We wont, since the comment was inaccurate.

 

[Spring Onion]

the PA needs to hit this guy maulana fazlullah directly. finish him off. send a strong message to the rest to desist.

That is why the blast occured fatman.
A full scale operation is in the offing as extra FC personnel as demadned by NWFP had been sent to the area and this bhenss fazlullah also konws that he and his men are being encircled so they had done this just to remind the govt that they can inflict losses.
but this time they are going to be wiped.
Simple as that wait and see.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Funny how the MMA government leaves, and all of a sudden it seems that the NWFP actually has an administrative machinery, DIG's get transferred, new ones start holding talks with the parties involved, LEA's actually start doing their job. I learned today that such a thing as the "Home Secretary of the NWFP" exists, who has been doing the rounds with the media explaining the situation in Swat, what kinds of elements the admin. is dealing with etc.

While the MMA were in charge, if you believed the their official version of events, the only "vice" that needed fixing were the "fahashi phailanay walley billboards and TV channels", of course the barber shops and Music centers being blown up regularly reminded us of the creeping menace of extremists.

 

[Neo]

Another 30!!!

Bloodshed in western pakistan is second only to Iraq.

Wishfull thinking, this could very well be the headline in some ToI report!

True we're going thru some rough times and we also know who's to blame for it and we've gone thru lot worse than this...but no way the situation here is like Iraq or even Afghanistan.

 

[Spring Onion]

Wishfull thinking, this could very well be the headline in some ToI report!

True we're going thru some rough times and we also know who's to blame for it and we've gone thru lot worse than this...but no way the situation here is like Iraq or even Afghanistan.

Neo Dear does his ranting realy needed to be answerd by a person like you ????