Pakistanis avenge blast
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Daily News with wires
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Haziran 08, 2009 00:00
ISLAMABAD - Police in Islamabad were on high alert yesterday after a deadly suicide blast, as hundreds in a northwestern region banded together to attack Taliban strongholds.
Eleven militants were killed in the attack, which was made to avenge a bombing at a local mosque. The incident Saturday indicated a swing in the national mood toward a more anti-Taliban stance Ğ a shift that comes as suicide attacks surged.
Some 400 villagers from the neighboring Upper Dir district, where a suicide bomber killed 33 worshippers at a mosque in the Haya Gai area on Friday, formed a militia and attacked five villages in the nearby area of Dhok Darra, district coordination officer Atif-ur-Rehman told the Associated Press. The citizens’ militia has occupied three of the villages since Saturday and is trying to push the Taliban out of the other two. Some 20 homes suspected of harboring Taliban were destroyed, he said. At least 11 militants were killed, the police chief said
The government has encouraged local citizens to set up militias, known as lashkars, to oust Taliban fighters.
The surge in suicide attacks reached Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, late Saturday when a man wearing an explosive-laden jacket attacked a police compound, but was shot down before he could enter the main building. Two officers died and six were wounded, police said.
"Islamabad police are on high alert. We have taken tough security measures after the bombing Saturday," a senior police official told Agence France-Presse, asking not to be named. "They are conducting surprise checks of vehicles. A combing operation is underway to trace the culprits. We are hopeful the accused will be arrested over the next few days."
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it fit with a Taliban threat of strikes in major cities in retaliation for the offensive in Swat.
Some 400 villagers from the neighboring Upper Dir district, where a suicide bomber killed 33 worshippers at a mosque in the Haya Gai area on Friday, formed a militia and attacked five villages in the nearby area of Dhok Darra, district coordination officer Atif-ur-Rehman told the Associated Press. The citizens’ militia has occupied three of the villages since Saturday and is trying to push the Taliban out of the other two. Some 20 homes suspected of harboring Taliban were destroyed, he said. At least 11 militants were killed, the police chief said
The government has encouraged local citizens to set up militias, known as lashkars, to oust Taliban fighters.
The surge in suicide attacks reached Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, late Saturday when a man wearing an explosive-laden jacket attacked a police compound, but was shot down before he could enter the main building. Two officers died and six were wounded, police said.
"Islamabad police are on high alert. We have taken tough security measures after the bombing Saturday," a senior police official told Agence France-Presse, asking not to be named. "They are conducting surprise checks of vehicles. A combing operation is underway to trace the culprits. We are hopeful the accused will be arrested over the next few days."
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it fit with a Taliban threat of strikes in major cities in retaliation for the offensive in Swat.