What's new

Terrorism strike in Rawalpindi cantt

25 killed, over 60 injured in twin Rawalpindi suicide bombings

RAWALPINDI: Two suicide bombings Tuesday ripped through a military bus and a market near the Pakistani army headquarters, killing 25 people and injuring over 60 others in the latest attacks aimed at destabilising President Pervez Musharraf.

The bombers struck minutes apart in sensitive areas of the garrison city of Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, a coordinated strike that officials said bore the hallmarks of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network and the Taliban.

The Pakistani military and the government have suffered a string of attacks since the raid of the pro-Taliban Red Mosque in Islamabad in July, deepening the pressure on key US ally Musharraf amid a mounting political crisis.

"Initial investigations show the two were carried out by suicide bombers,"
interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said. Army spokesman

Major General Waheed Arshad said 25 people were killed and 68 were wounded.
The first bombing ripped apart a bus that was taking defence ministry employees to work during the morning rush-hour, leaving 17 of them dead, officials said.

"It looks like a man boarded the bus at the last minute and he was not a defence employee," who then appeared to have blown himself up, Interior Secretary Kamal Shah said.

The white 40-seater bus was almost completely destroyed by the blast, with its roof ripped open and windows blown out. Rescue workers cut open the wreckage to pull out injured people and dead bodies.

"There was a huge bang, then I saw the bus in a mangled heap. Body parts were scattered across the road and there was blood everywhere," witness Mohammad Tahir said.

A police source said the bus was carrying employees from Pakistan's premier spy agency in the fight against Al-Qaeda, the ISI or Inter-Services Intelligence, but this was not confirmed by other officials.

The second suicide blast about three kilometres (two miles) away in the city's crowded Royal Artillery bazaar was timed to target army officers who use the route to reach the military headquarters, security officials said.

At least eight people were killed in that blast, but it was not clear if any military personnel were among them, Shah said. Other officials said the attacker might have been on a motorcycle. A burnt bike was found at the scene.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either blast. But at least 60 soldiers and 250 militants have been killed in Islamic extremist violence since the military's crackdown on the Red Mosque, which itself left more than 100 people dead.

Musharraf has been under mounting pressure to tackle Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants whom US officials allege have regrouped in Pakistan's troubled tribal areas bordering Afghanistan since fleeing there after 9/11.

The sophistication of Tuesday's near simultaneous blasts "shows an Al-Qaeda signature," a top intelligence official said on condition of anonymity, adding that the "perpetrators had good intelligence about their targets."

He said there was evidence of other Al-Qaeda plots in Pakistan, including two massive car bombs that were captured in northwestern Pakistan last month that were more high-tech than those normally used by their Taliban allies.

The army is still trying to secure the safety of more than 150 soldiers whom militants say they abducted late last week in the tribal area of South
Waziristan.

The military insists the troops were "trapped" amid a dispute between the rebels and local tribesmen, but the insurgents say they will not be freed until Pakistan pulls all soldiers from the area.

Pakistan sent troops into the tribal zone to track down Al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels who fled the fall of the hardline Taliban regime after the US-led military response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Musharraf not only faces a fight against extremism but is also trying for a power-sharing deal with ex-premier Benazir Bhutto to end a political crisis sparked by his suspension of Pakistan's chief justice earlier this year.
 
Killing of civilians is never a part of a genuine struggle, thats all i meant. Any struggle that targets the combat forces deserves a good hearing and the ones that target civilians good spanking.

And you mean to say that those killed in IOK are not indian soilders but civilians and those killed in pakistan today or even in the past terrrorist activites are not civilians but army. Go check it out again, since the event of the lal masjid mostly civilans are killed in terrorist bombing and not the army personal.
As far as wazirstan is concerned and the killing of those chinese engineers and those in peshwar and PA soliders, we know exactly whos behind it, the fault lies that our government is not taking steps it should because of the political game that is being played within the country by our pathetic opposition who knows nothing but only how to make their politics shine.
you can give all the good hearing that you wana give to these terrorists, the best we can expect from india afterall they are india's sponsered.
 
If as bull says that it is a struggle against the army then why target atomic agency staff who are viewed as hero’s by even the most die hard outfits. Why were they precision targeted? This reeks of outside involvement.

Are you sure that those targeted were atomic agency staff? Everything I have read so far indicates "intelligence personnel"?
 
And you mean to say that those killed in IOK are not indian soilders but civilians and those killed in pakistan today or even in the past terrrorist activites are not civilians but army. Go check it out again, since the event of the lal masjid mostly civilans are killed in terrorist bombing and not the army personal.
As far as wazirstan is concerned and the killing of those chinese engineers and those in peshwar and PA soliders, we know exactly whos behind it, the fault lies that our government is not taking steps it should because of the political game that is being played within the country by our pathetic opposition who knows nothing but only how to make their politics shine.
you can give all the good hearing that you wana give to these terrorists, the best we can expect from india afterall they are india's sponsered.

After lal masjid, 60 soldiers have been killed. As far as i remember other than the bomb blast in Islamabad at the then ousted Cj's rally all were targeting military convoys.
 
After lal masjid, 60 soldiers have been killed. As far as i remember other than the bomb blast in Islamabad at the then ousted Cj's rally all were targeting military convoys.

There is a distinction between military and paramilitary. Most of the unfortunate casualties in the tribals areas have been of the Paramilitary FC.
 
Are you sure that those targeted were atomic agency staff? Everything I have read so far indicates "intelligence personnel"?

iam going to go into totally different direction.

there has been a lot of intelligence leaks lately troop movements operations and all iam thinking moles inside the agency.

P.s sir niaz i couldn't have said it better my self.only country in the world where the population is bend on destroying it.it is indeed a truth beyond any doubt.
 
If as bull says that it is a struggle against the army then why target atomic agency staff who are viewed as hero’s by even the most die hard outfits. Why were they precision targeted? This reeks of outside involvement.

Actually it doesn't sound like there is any outside involvement here.if Raw personals no who is A Pakistani spy and who isn't you have bigger problems.this is a inside job any thing for ummah.
 
:D Yeah, RAW is responsible for everything that goes wrong in Pakistan. India is trying to create havoc in Pakistan the same way (according to Indians) ISI was involved in the Hydrabad blasts. :lol:

Dear Dimension,

I must agree a very sensible and honest comment. While India and Pakistan blame each for their woes the in efficiencies of the governments as well as the cold bloodedness of terrorists who it carry out is forgotten, leaving the comman man / woman / child to suffer.

Best Regards
 
forget about the enemy outside our borders people, think about the enemy within......the enemy that is like a parasite, eating our insides while we keep blaming everything under the sky, except the true enemy within us.
 
:D Yeah, RAW is responsible for everything that goes wrong in Pakistan. India is trying to create havoc in Pakistan the same way (according to Indians) ISI was involved in the Hydrabad blasts. :lol:

As i said in my previous post.both are the jobs are friendly terrorist from AL-qaeda.don't tell me RAW is convincing these ****** animals to carry out suicide bombings thats the job of a friendly mullah near you.lets lay the blame where it belongs.

There was no claim of responsibility but the Interior Ministry said evidence pointed to al Qaeda-linked militants who are battling security forces near the Afghan border.

One bomb blew up a bus carrying staff of a military intelligence agency about a kilometer (half a mile) from army headquarters, a government official said.

The second went off in a market area of Rawalpindi, the sister city of Islamabad where Musharraf and many other top military officials live and where Islamabad's international airport is located.

"Both were suicide bombings but I have no detail about how they were carried out," said military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad.

Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azim Khan said a suicide bomber had apparently managed to board the bus that was blown up.
Suicide bombers kill 25 in Pakistan | International | Reuters
 
Talibans...Al Qaida....RAW.....America......Balochis......Extremeists......Tribals.....??????? DO we have any friends left or the whole world is trying to bomb us...? Before blaming anyone else,just have a look at the actions of present govt in past few years. What do you expect now!!!!! ' what goes around, comes around.'
 
Talibans...Al Qaida....RAW.....America......Balochis......Extremeists......Tribals.....??????? DO we have any friends left or the whole world is trying to bomb us...? Before blaming anyone else,just have a look at the actions of present govt in past few years. What do you expect now!!!!! ' what goes around, comes around.'

Actually present government is 2 political if he was to run it like a general.taliban wont even have diapers left over to wear never mind suicide jackets.:guns: :sniper:
 
What you propose PA should do ?? Most of the blasts are Islamic/Talibaan/Alqaeda oriented. Pakistani public supports and succours them. Look what happened at Lal Masjid, the people who painted it red when it reopned, were not extremists but majority were residents of sector-6. Did these people care that Lal Masjid mob had fought PA in a pichted battle and killed a few soldiers in the bargain??

People get what they deserve and quite a lot dont deserve Pakistan, neither do they care a lot about the nation. Another manifestation of the national malaise was evident from the fact that no condemnation or response from any political party or religious leaders when the video of a Pakistani soldier being beheaded was released !!. How much more dead can we get as a nation!!.

Pakistanis are the only idiots who dont give damn for their nation but are willing to blow themselves up for the sake of Al-Qaeda.

What they will gain by attacking Pakistan Atomic energy employees ?

Why not they attack the army as they were doing in the past?
 
What they will gain by attacking Pakistan Atomic energy employees ?

Why not they attack the army as they were doing in the past?

Basic principle of terrorism is to look for soft target and inflict maximum damage. One who is willing to blow himself up, do you think he cares who else gets killed??

The object of terrorism is to frighten people and the resulting notoriety. These bombings have achieved their objective. That is their "gain" as you put it.
 
There is a distinction between military and paramilitary. Most of the unfortunate casualties in the tribals areas have been of the Paramilitary FC.

Im not arguing the casualtiy figure but the fact that the present attacks are distinctive in nature as to how they have selectively targeted the armed forces.
 

Pakistan Defence Latest Posts

Military Forum Latest Posts

Back
Top Bottom