Peshawar, Pakistan: 5/5/09, Recent news reports have shared that between 5 and 11 people were killed when a suicide bomber rammed a car into a parked vehicle at a security check point in northwest Pakistan. One report shares that two children were among the dead and 42 others injured at the blast in the old Bara area. The suicide bomber rammed an explosive laden car into the back of a paramilitary jeep that was parked at the check point and the jeep was carrying two children who were to be dropped off at school.
At least six security personnel were killed in the attack.
The dead bodies and injured where taken to local hospitals.
The attack happened near Bara, where Peshawar runs into the semi-autonomous tribal area of Khyber, which is infested with Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants and a key supply route for NATO and US-led troops in Afghanistan.
This deadly attack came on the eve of President Zardari’s first face-to-face talks with US President Barack Obama. Washington is concerned that emboldened militants are threatening Pakistan’s very existence.
Rescue workers picked charred bodies out of the wreckage, as police and hospital officials said civilians and a paramilitary soldier were killed.
Police officer, Abdul Ghafoor said, “As the vehicle stopped at a police checkpoint the bomber hit his explosive laden car from behind.”
There is no claim for the attack but Pakistan’s paramilitary are locked in a fierce offensive against the Taliban who are bitterly opposed to the government’s cooperation with the Unites States in the “war on terror.”
News of the blast came as a fragile peace deal in Pakistan appeared close to unraveling. Clashes flared on Monday in a key town in the troubled northwest with government troops coming under attack from militants.
Pakistan President Zardari is in the US preparing for talks with Obama, in which he hopes to secure a massive US aid package to better equip the military and boost development in his cash-strapped nuclear-armed country.
In this ongoing conflict, Pakistan military had ordered four neighborhoods on the edge of Mingora to evacuate and they announced a break in the curfew that would allow the displaced to flee to a special camp, as bullets shot through areas of Mingora.
Local residents said “large numbers” were leaving in panic, weighed down with whatever belongings they could carry on foot, waiting at bus stations or driving away in private cars even though the military had withdrawn the evacuation order.
“We have now suspended this order and people are directed not to vacate their homes because the government has no immediate plan to launch an operation in these areas,” said local military spokesman Major Nasir Khan.
Pakistan military has also been fighting hundreds of armed Taliban who have thrust further sound and east, out of Swat, into the districts of Lower Dir and Buner.
Officials threatened to unleash a fresh offensive in Mingora, the main town of Swat, and militants attacked two police stations, a power grid and a center that houses an army barracks and administration offices.
“There are heavy exchanges of fire between security forces and militants in different places of Mingora,” an official shared on condition of anonymity.
The army accused the Taliban of committing a “gross violation” of the peace deal in February hoping to end a terrifying, nearly two-year insurgency.
But a Taliban spokesman rejected the appeals court. “Any such decision under the shadow of a military operation is not acceptable to us,” Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told Associated Foreign Press (AFP).
The Taliban has continued its rampage and has rejected the government’s latest concession to its demands for the appointment of Islamic-law judges in Swat. Meanwhile, Pakistan military leaders are clinging to the hope of a nonviolent solution, saying that security forces were, “still exercising restraint to honor the peace agreement.”
It is reported that over the past two days, extremists in the northwest have attacked a military convoy, beheaded two soldiers, imposed a curfew and blown up a boy’s high school and police station. Troop reinforcements were sent to Buner recently after heavy fighting, and there were reports that the army would imminently launch an attack on Swat. This could coincide with Zardari’s visit to Washington this week. Zardari’s government has been criticized by US officials for capitulating to the insurgents.
Please join us as we continue to pray for peace in this critical region of the world.
