Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik speaks to the media outside Mehran naval aviation base, which was attacked by militants, in Karachi May 23, 2011.
More than a dozen gunmen attacked Pakistan’s naval aviation base yesterday, blowing up an aircraft and fighting pitched gunbattles inside one of the country’s most heavily guarded military installations.
Officials said up to four people had been killed in the attack on PNS Mehran in the southern city of Karachi and that three hangars housing aircraft had been targeted. Nine explosions were reported from the base, with jet fuel tanks possibly catching fire and exploding.
A policeman stands guard in a waiting room where pools of blood and clothing are left after gunmen attacked Jinnah Hospital in Lahore early morning
Policemen are photographed through a bullet hole left in a doorway after gunmen attacked Jinnah Hospital in Lahore early morning
Policemen are seen through the shattered glass of a door at Jinnah Hospital after it was attacked by gunmen in Lahore.
Policemen stand guard over the bodies of those killed after gunmen attacked Jinnah Hospital in Lahore early
morning.
Relatives weep outside Jinnah Hospital after it was attacked by gunmen in Lahore
At least four gunmen attacked a hospital in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore on Tuesday morning, killing up to a dozen people and holding several hostage before escaping, a senior doctor told Reuters.
"They barged into the hospital building and opened indiscriminate fire," said Javed Ikram, Chief Executive of Jinnah hospital.
He said at least 12 people were killed in the firing while some had been held hostage. However, other accounts put the number dead at five.
Senior city government official Sajjad Bhutta told Reuters, "They were four gunmen clad in elite police uniform, and entered the hospital building and opened fire. Then they ran toward the intensive care unit where their companion was being treated."
Police guards fired back, he said, and they fled. One of them was wounded.
The five dead included three policemen, a woman and a private security guard, he said.
Policemen take their positions outside Jinnah Hospital after it was attacked by gunmen in Lahore
Dozens of people wounded in Friday's attacks on two mosques of a minority religious community in the city were being treated in the hospital, which is a major institution in the city. More than 80 people were killed in those attacks.
The attackers were either trying to rescue or kill a wounded attacker from Friday's assault who was being treated in the Intensive Care Unit of Jinnah Hospital, said Punjab police chief Tariq Saleem Dogar.
A Reuters reporter saw the bodies of four policemen.
The image of Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab clutching his gun at Mumbai railway station became a symbol of the November 2008 attacks that horrified the world.
The 21-year-old is the only surviving member of the group that launched a bloody rampage across the Indian city in November 2008, killing 166 people.
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, security forces struggled to collect information about the young man.
In this combination of images taken from video released by the New York City Police Department on Sunday, May 2, 2010, a chronological sequence of frames from top left to bottom right show a man, center right, removing a dark shirt in an alleyway in New York around the time that a car began to smoke in Times Square, leading to the discovery of car bomb Saturday night. Investigators Monday were looking to speak with the man videotaped shedding his shirt near the sport utility vehicle where the bomb was found. The surveillance video shows an unidentified white man apparently in his 40s slipping down Shubert Alley and taking off his shirt, revealing another underneath. In the same clip, he's seen looking back in the direction of the smoking vehicle and furtively putting the first shirt in a bag
Police vehicles fill a street early Tuesday morning May 4, 2010 as they search a home the center of the block in Bridgeport Conn. An arrest in the Times Square bombing was made at Kennedy Airport in New York and local, federal and state officials are searching a residence in Bridgeport.
A Pakistan-born U.S. citizen accused of driving a bomb-laden SUV into Times Square and parking it on a street lined with restaurants and Broadway theaters was to appear in court Tuesday to face charges that he tried to set off a massive fireball and kill Americans, federal authorities said.
The suspect, Faisal Shahzad, was taken into custody late Monday by FBI agents and New York Police Department detectives at Kennedy Airport while trying to board a flight to Dubai, according to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and other officials. He was identified by customs agents and stopped before boarding, Holder said early Tuesday in Washington.
U.S. authorities "will not rest until we have brought everyone responsible to justice," Holder said, suggesting additional suspects are being sought.
Lahore has been increasingly subjected to Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked attacks
An injured child weeps as he sits next to other victims at the site of suicide bombing in Saidu Sharif, a town of Pakistan's Swat Valley, Saturday, March 13, 2010. A suicide attacker struck a security checkpoint in northwest Pakistan, killing scores of people and injuring dozens.
Eight attacks have killed more than 170 people in Lahore over the past year
A Pakistan's army solider takes away an injured victim from the site of suicide bombing in Saidu Sharif, a town of Pakistan's Swat Valley, Saturday, March 13, 2010. A suicide attacker struck a security checkpoint in northwest Pakistan, killing scores of people and injuring dozens.
Pakistan's army troops remove a dead body from the site of suicide bombing in Saidu Sharif, a town of Pakistan's Swat Valley, Saturday, March 13, 2010. A suicide attacker struck a security checkpoint in northwest Pakistan, killing scores of people and injuring dozens.
A suicide attacker set off a bomb at a security checkpoint in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 52, officials and a doctor said, underscoring the relentless security threat to this Islamic nation.
It was the second attack in Pakistan in less than 24 hours. Suicide bombers killed 55 people in near-simultaneous blasts Friday in the eastern city of Lahore.
In the Saturday violence, an attacker driving a three-wheeled motorized rickshaw detonated explosives at a roadblock manned by soldiers and police in the town of Saidu Sharif in the Swat Valley, police official Qazi Farooq said.
Swat was the scene of months of violence last year between Islamist militants and Pakistan's security forces.
Lal Noor, a doctor at a local hospital, said 10 people died in the attack — one soldier, one policeman and eight civilians — and another 52 were wounded.
The Pakistani military launched a major offensive in Swat early last year after the collapse of peace talks with local Taliban officials — who at the time controlled much of the valley.
The military took back the Swat Valley by mid-2009, but sporadic violence has continued.
No one claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack, but suspicion quickly fell on the Islamist militants, who have stepped up attacks against security forces in recent days.
The same loose network of insurgents were blamed for Friday's attack in Lahore. Police official Chaudhry Shafique said Saturday that the death toll from that attack had risen to 55 after 12 more people died overnight.
Friday's bombings also wounded about 100 people, raising fears of a new wave of attacks by Islamic militants.
The Lahore attack saw two suicide bombers, who were on foot, set off their explosives within seconds of each other near two trucks carrying soldiers on patrol in RA Bazaar, a residential and commercial neighborhood with numerous military buildings. About 10 of those killed were soldiers, said Police Chief Parvaiz Rathore.
The militants — a network of Pakistani Taliban, al-Qaida and affiliated smaller groups — have been fighting to destabilize the U.S.-allied Islamabad government for years. They launched a bloody wave of bombings last fall across Pakistan, leaving 600 people dead in near-daily attacks done in apparent retaliation for an army offensive against the insurgents' main stronghold, in the tribal region of South Waziristan along the Afghan border.
The government offensive was seen as fairly effective, forcing many Taliban leaders to flee and reducing the area where the insurgents could operate openly.
The insurgent attacks slowed early this year. In recent months, they have been smaller, farther apart and largely confined to remote regions near Afghanistan. Attacks, including in major cities, have picked up again over the past week.
The death toll from a twin suicide attack in Pakistan's cultural capital Lahore rose to 57 on Saturday, as 12 more critically wounded died overnight, police said.
On Friday, two suicide bombers walked up to army vehicles in the crowded R A Bazaar area of Lahore, blowing themselves up as people sat down to eat before the main Muslim weekly prayers, police said.
Later that evening, five small bombs exploded elsewhere in Lahore causing no casualties and only minor damage, police said.
"A total of 57 people have been killed and 134 were wounded in these suicide attacks," Chaudhry Mohammad Shafiq, a senior police official Saturday told AFP by telephone.
He added that 12 seriously injured had died overnight in different hospitals. Mazhar Ahmad, chief of Lahore civil defence department also confirmed the death toll.
A military statement said eight army personnel were among the dead.
Lahore, a city of eight million near Pakistan's border with India, has been increasingly subject to Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked attacks in a nationwide bombing campaign that has killed more than 3,000 people in three years.
The bombers targeted the cantonment, home to army officials and military installations, as well as hospitals and schools run by the military. There were civilian homes, shops and restaurants in the vicinity of the attack.
Eight attacks have killed more than 170 people in Lahore over the past year, a historical city, playground for the elite and home to many top brass in Pakistan's powerful military and intelligence establishment.
Pakistan, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Death toll in two suicide blasts in east Pakistan's city of Lahore has risen to 44, hospital sources said Friday.
More than 115 people, including 10 soldiers, were wounded in the blasts.
Two suicide bombers reached their targets on foot and blew themselves up near army vehicles within seconds of each other on Friday at R A Bazaar in Lahore cantonment, a commercial neighborhood where several army and security agencies have facilities.
Eleven security men were also killed in the attacks, Police Inspector General of Punjab Tariq Saleem said.
Police sources said that they have got head and hands from the blast site which are declared to belong to the suicide attacker. They said the bombers are about 20 years old.
Police also informed that four militants managed to escape while security forces are conducting search operation in the city.
The blasts were so powerful that windows of nearby buildings were smashed and two security vehicles destroyed, residents told Xinhua.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks.
This is the second time in a week that Lahore came under terrorist attack. On 8th of this Month more than 16 people were killed when a 600kg explosive loaded vehicle were rammed into the building of an Investigation Agency.
Security personnel stand guard at the site of blast in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on March 12, 2010
Security personnel are seen at the site of blast in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on March 12, 2010
Security personnel stand guard at the site of blast in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on March 12, 2010.
Security personnel stand guard at the site of blast in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on March 12, 2010.
Civilians have been caught up in recent fighting in Dir
There are no signs the militant presence in Dir has been eradicated
The Taliban are active in Lower Dir
Soldiers at the site of a bomb blast
The deaths of at least 10 people - including three US soldiers - in the north-western Pakistani region of Dir has focused attention on a militant hotbed.
The area is home to conservative Pashtun tribes, where religious leaders wield considerable influence.
It is a place where women keep a low profile and where many are opposed to children being educated.
The clerics of Dir have traditionally opposed any activities by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the area, blaming them for encouraging mixed gatherings of men and women, which they consider unIslamic.
Ransacked
There is a long history of female NGO workers being harassed in this region.
When the Taliban consolidated their hold on Dir and nearby Swat during 2008 and 2009, their campaign against NGOs became more organised.
In early 2009, four Pakistani officials of the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) were kidnapped by Taliban. They were released after promising not to work for any local or foreign NGO.
Soon afterwards, a WFP food storage in the area was ransacked, putting an end to all NGO activity in Dir region.
The campaign against government schools, especially those for girls, has also been a main feature of this region.
The Taliban's opposition to female education led to arson and bomb attacks against schools in 2008 and throughout 2009.
According to the local administration, more than 72 schools have been bombed out or burned down by militants in Lower Dir district during the past two years.
The army launched an operation against militants in Lower Dir in April 2009 - forcing many civilians to leave the area - and declared victory less than a month afterwards.
Taliban model
But Wednesday's bomb attack shows how far from victory the army is.
It also emphasises how deeply conservative - some might say militant - the area is.
Since the 1970s the Jamaat-e-Islami religious party - which elsewhere in Pakistan has had a negligible influence on electoral politics - has had a secure constituency in the region.
In the 1980s, western parts of Dir district served as a staging ground for guerrilla fighters resisting Soviet troops in Afghanistan.
In 1994, Dir became the centre of a violent religious movement called the Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Mohammadi or Movement for the Implementation of Sharia law.
The movement served as a model for the Afghan Taliban who emerged months later in southern Afghanistan.
The leader of the movement, Maulana Sufi Mohammad, is from the central Maidan area of Dir.
In October 2001, he led nearly 5,000 tribesmen from Dir and the adjacent Swat district into Afghanistan to fight the Americans, who were then preparing to attack the Taliban regime in Kabul.
By 2009, the Taliban from Swat started to assert their authority in the area - and there is no sign their presence has been eradicated.
A top US official said Wednesday three US military trainers killed in a bombing in Pakistan appear not to have been "directly targeted" and denied Taliban charges they worked for the controversial Blackwater security firm.
Their deaths and the wounding of two other US soldiers in the blast at a girls school is "a great tragedy," Richard Holbrooke, the special US representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told reporters in Washington.
He described them as "American military personnel in Pakistan who were doing training with the Frontier Corps," a Pakistani paramilitary force that patrols the borders.
Holbrooke said the US ambassador in Islamabad, Anne Patterson, whom he spoke with earlier, "does not think they were directly targeted. But that is my only source of information on that question."
He dismissed as propaganda allegations by the Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attack, that the soldiers were actually employees of the private security firm formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, which gained notoriety in Iraq.
"They're certain to say that," Holbrooke said of the Taliban allegations. "That's what they do. They are adept at propaganda and disinformation."
"But the facts are the facts and ...in the appropriate moment after notification of next of kin ... I'm sure their names and their exact rank will be publicly disclosed as we always do," the senior diplomat said.
"There's nothing secret about their presence there," he said.
Blackwater changed its name to Xe in February 2009 following what the company said was a switch in business focus.
Witnesses and relatives tell the BBC's Prachi Pinglay of the horrors of last November's Mumbai (Bombay) attacks.
Sending the strongest possible signal that they would not be deterred by terror, it was business as usual for Mumbai residents on the first anniversary of the 26/11 terror attacks on Thursday.
There would be many moments of silence, remembering and mourning later in the day, but the morning rush hour showed the resilience of India's financial and entertainment capital, with commuter trains and buses packed and roads as choked with traffic as ever.
Taking no chances, police have maintained high levels of security all over the city since Wednesday, with armed personnel stopping and checking vehicles, especially at strategic points.
Security was especially tight at places like Chowpatty, Haji Ali, Prabhadevi, Worli, Bandra, Jogeshwari, around the Mumbai airport, the three main exit points connecting the city with the mainland and around the sites of the locations targeted one year ago.
Several public and private functions have been lined up during the day to remember the people who lost their lives in the 60-hour terror mayhem.
Some private and government offices shall observe two-minute silence to remember the victims, especially those who worked there.
Last year on this day, 10 terrorists who sneaked in from the Arabian Sea, targeted Mumbai in which 166 lives were lost. In the 60-hour operation, nine terrorists were killed by security forces.
One terrorist -- Mohammed Ajmal Amir alias Kasab -- was nabbed alive and is currently on trial. Mumbai Victims Remembered .
HARISHCHANDRA GIRKAR, FIRE OFFICER
'I feel God gave me this chance to do this good deed'.The Taj Mahal Palace hotel was among the targets of the attacks
We got the first call around 11pm from the Trident Hotel. From there we went to the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel at about 1am.
We saw white smoke coming out from the heritage wing of the hotel. We could see flames behind the glass windows. Rescue work started around 3am. We would identify victims who were stuck, break open the window, go inside, comfort the guest and help him or her out.
I entered the hotel from the second floor and went into the corridor. Somehow the door shut behind me and would not open. I was trapped there and was wondering if the gunmen would come. But my seniors arrived soon and we all went out with the remaining victims.
At no point was I scared as we were trying to save people from a dreadful situation. Normally when we firefight, there is no risk of a gun fight. This was different. My experience of 16 years was put to the test and I am glad that I could save people from that height of the building. Our work was appreciated.
I only managed to talk to my family the next day. They were worried, but it was all OK. I received many letters after the incident and still receive messages from some people we saved. Initially, I thought a lot about it for a few days, but now I think of the 26/11 attacks only when someone gets in touch with me.
Though that night was horrible and something like this should never happen, I feel God gave me this chance to do this good deed by saving so many people. In that way, I am lucky that it was done through me. RAGINI SHARMA, RAILWAYS EMPLOYEE
'My husband was a kind and honest person'
Even in the worst of times one hopes that nothing will happen to your loved one. We also hoped and prayed that my husband SK Sharma was OK when the news of attacks started coming in. He was a ticket inspector at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station.
He was a kind and honest person. He liked to help everyone and he died trying to save a little girl. He could have taken cover and stayed inside, but he chose to help passengers even when the firing was going on.
I have been looked after because we live in a joint family and my children have coped. My son was sitting an important examination and has done well. But I know how much he has suffered.
I had never worked before I was given this railway job as part of the compensation. I think work keeps me occupied. I visit the station every day but what I really think about is that the railways did not recognise him as a martyr. We had to convince the authorities about the kind of pension we were entitled to.
Nothing can fill the void but as a family we feel that when someone goes beyond the call of duty, then adequate respect and recognition is the least his family should get.
We have started a foundation which will hold drawing and painting competitions. We will use the compensation money to give prizes to the brave youth, youth who have done good work, and winners of painting competitions in schools.
I just want all the good work that he did all his life to be carried forward. And I hope my children recover and carry on with what my husband stood for.
ISRAEEL ANSARI, TAXI DRIVER
We lost everything we had in Mumbai. I have shifted back to my village in Bihar because I simply cannot imagine living in the city where my brothers died in the attacks.
Eleven of our family members were at the CST station and we lost six of them. I was parking my taxi and before I could figure out what was happening, the gunmen had done their job. Everything we had was wiped out in no time.
My elder brother Ilyas Ansari had helped us settle when we came to Mumbai to earn a living. Without him, it is not possible to live there. Whatever this city gave us, much more was snatched away from us. Now I have to look after the family and worry about the future of my brothers' children too.
We have been through many difficulties since the attacks and it is impossible to forget what happened that night at the CST station. It will always stay with us.
Four of my brothers and two other family members were gunned down. How can a family cope with this? We have received compensation but we were told that four family members will get jobs with the railways. Nothing has happened so far.
We take each day as it comes. Up to now I have spent most of my time completing formalities to secure compensation. Women cannot do this running around. I feel exhausted but we do not have much choice.
BABLU KUMAR DEEPAK, ANNOUNCER AT RAILWAY STATION
I was on a 3pm-11pm shift that night. At about 9.45pm we saw black smoke coming from platform number 13. The gunmen crossed platforms 13, 12 and 11 and were firing indiscriminately. They were going towards the section from where suburban trains leave.
A train had just arrived at the station and I knew that a big crowd would get off. I immediately announced that everyone should use the rear exit instead of the main exit. I also informed the other announcer as the gunmen went towards the suburban area.
From my work place I have a full view of the station so I could see what they did. We stayed in our cabin with lights off till the gunmen went out and then we started helping people on the platform.
I have been coming here since then and there are times when I still think of that night. Even now I feel scared when I remember those moments. It was a difficult time and my family was worried for me. I have a daughter who is only eight.
I was given 500 rupees ($10) and a certificate by my department for my timely announcements. Sometimes I wish the government had recognised my presence of mind and how my announcements helped. I have laminated the 500-rupee note and feel good about what I did.
I come to the same station every day and work in the same office. It is not easy to wipe out those memories but one has to get on.
SANJAY GOVILKAR, POLICEMAN 'I don't know how I survived but I do believe in God'
I was at home when I heard about the attacks. As soon as we got a call about multiple attacks in the city we were asked to go to work. I was at Girgaum Chowpatty when we were informed on the wireless that the gunmen had hijacked a car and were coming our way. Soon we saw the car coming towards us. When we tried to stop it, it went past us but got stuck in the road divider. What happened after that is a blur as it happened in a matter of minutes.
Qasab [the sole surviving gunman, now on trial in India] was sitting next to the driver. The other gunman fired as my colleague Tukaram Ombale and I leapt towards Qasab. Qasab fired too and Ombale sustained several bullet injuries. I too had a bullet injury, but we managed to capture him alive. I knew that Qasab had to be kept alive. I was in hospital for over a month, and later I went to court to identify Qasab.
When I learnt about anti-terrorism chief Hemant Karkare's death, I felt very sad. I used to look up to him. We lost the best of our men that night. I don't know how I survived but I do believe in God. Anything could have happened during that encounter.
Fortunately I have a large network of friends and a very supportive wife. She is stronger than me emotionally. So I could deal with the sense of loss. I do not feel that police can be armed like army soldiers. We are meant to help out citizens with everyday issues. That night we fought Qasab and Ismail with sticks.
Everyone praised us and I feel that people's attitude towards the Mumbai police has become positive. However, I do not want to rest on past glory. One has to move on and strive all the time. I wish people from all religions would come together and stay united in these difficult times.
DR SANJAY CHATTERJEE, BOMBAY HOSPITAL
'We initially thought it was a gang war
We initially thought it was a gang war when news of firing incidents came in. But as patients started arriving, the enormity of the situation revealed itself. We conducted at least 30 to 40 surgeries in one night.
We formed a team of doctors who did triage so that patients were taken depending on the kind of injuries they had sustained.
There was no time to think when it was all happening. We were completely overwhelmed and were doing our best to save as many as possible. All the departments of the hospital worked to their best and as we had enough blood in the bank we could perform all the surgeries.
We did manage to save most of the injured and some of them kept coming to me later for treatment as they required multiple surgeries. I have kept in touch with some patients - which won't happen in normal circumstances. As medical professionals we do see a lot of cases but that night was different. We just kept working until the next morning.
We even heard rumours that gunmen were roaming in the city in a police van. I wonder if the security systems in the city have improved since then.
BHISHAM MANSUKHANI, MEDIA PROFESSIONAL
I was stuck in the Taj hotel on 26/11 and was rescued the next morning. Walking out of the Taj, I should have felt a great sense of relief. But I didn't. All I felt was infinite gratitude towards the Taj staff and the National Security Guard commandos.
At this point, it's all about taking those small steps, the most important of which is to keep the incident as real and immediate in my mind. A lot of people died during these attacks and those fortunate to survive have a responsibility towards them.
That morning, some time past 3.30am when the evacuation went horribly wrong and a few of us, my mother included, were cooped up in the Lavender Room of the Chambers, I braced myself for death. I was too blank to begin regretting not having done the many things I had complacently put off for the future.
I do remember desperately trying to keep myself from weeping. It would have amounted to nothing but a dangerous noise that might have given everyone away.
Six hours later, when we were rescued, I couldn't coax myself into elation. Death is the only guarantee and there's no telling when I would have to bring myself to accept it again. Given our current reality, it can't be too long.
Clues: Security forces say the bomb was detonated by a man driving a pick-up laden with explosives
Casualty: A man injured in the blast is helped to safety by ambulance men
Farmer Mossam Khan, 67, center, a displaced Pakistani tribal man from Kani Guram village, in South Waziristan, waits in line for relief supplies together with other displaced people who fled the tribal area of Waziristan along the Afghanistan border due to fighting between security forces and militants, in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, Friday, Nov. 13, 2009. The U.S. has urged Pakistan to persevere with its South Waziristan offensive because militants have used the area as a base to attack Western troops across the border in Afghanistan.
Rubble: The Taliban claimed responsibility for this bombing near Camp Phoenix, in Kabul, Afghanistan, today
Blast: Debris at the scene of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency building in Peshawar, Pakistan, this morning
Displaced Pakistani tribal people, who fled the tribal area of Waziristan along the Afghanistan border due to fighting between security forces and militants, wait for relief supplies in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, Friday, Nov. 13, 2009. The U.S. has urged Pakistan to persevere with its South Waziristan offensive because militants have used the area as a base to attack Western troops across the border in Afghanistan.
Displaced Pakistani tribal people, who fled the tribal area of Waziristan along the Afghanistan border due to fighting between security forces and militants, are checked by security personal prior to receiving relief supplies in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, Friday, Nov. 13, 2009. The U.S. has urged Pakistan to persevere with its South Waziristan offensive because militants have used the area as a base to attack Western troops across the border in Afghanistan
Suicide car bombers killed 16 people and wounded more than 80 in two attacks in northwestern Pakistan this morning, including a devastating strike on the regional headquarters of the spy agency overseeing much of the country's anti-terror campaign.
The bombings were the latest in a string of attacks on security forces, civilians and Western targets since the government launched an offensive in mid-October against militants in the border region of South Waziristan, where al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders are believed to be hiding.
The attack on the Inter-Services Intelligence agency building occurred in the city of Peshawar, which has borne the brunt of the militants' retaliation against the army offensive. A wave of bombings in the last week alone in and around the city has killed more than 50 people.
Security forces guarding the intelligence complex opened fire on a pick-up laden with explosives, but the bomber was able to detonate in time.
The early morning blast destroyed much of the three-story building and killed 10 people, including seven who worked for the spy agency, the army said in a statement. Another 55 people were wounded, officials said.
About an hour later, a second suicide car bomber attacked a police station farther south near the Afghan border, killing six people, said police official Tahir Shah.
Five of the dead were policemen working at the station in Bakkakhel village in Bannu district; the other was a civilian. Another 27 people were wounded, he said.
The station is close to the border with North Waziristan, an area in Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal region where officials believe many militants have fled to escape the recent army offensive.
The government has vowed the surging militant attacks will not dent the country's resolve to pursue the operation in South Waziristan, where officials say the most deadly insurgent network in Pakistan is based. The army claims to be making good progress.
Friday's attack in Peshawar was the second to target a spy agency complex this year. A suicide squad using guns, grenades and a van packed with explosives attacked a police and an ISI building in Lahore in May, killing 30 people.
The ISI has been involved in scores of covert operations in the northwest against al-Qaeda targets since 2001, when many militant leaders crossed into the area following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan. The region is seen as a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden.
Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters are waging a war against the Pakistani government because they deem it un-Islamic and are angry about its alliance with the US.
The insurgency began in earnest in 2007, and attacks have spiked since the run-up to the offensive in South Waziristan.
Meanwhile the Taliban has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing today that wounded at least six people near Camp Phoenix, a logistics support base for US forces on the outskirts of Kabul, in Afghanistan.
Nato said the suicide bombing occurred at 8am on the Jalalabad road, and reports indicated Afghan civilians, Nato service members and civilian contractors had been wounded.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed the attack was carried out by a Taliban suicide car bomber targeting an international military convoy.
Separately, a land mine exploded near a police station in Logar province, south of Kabul, killing a member of the Afghan National Police and wounding an Afghan National Army officer today, provincial police chief Mustafa Mosseini said.
Students protest against the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
A soldier kept watch from a Pakistani Army position. The current ground offensive has received wide public support.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, walks beside Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, at the Iqbal Memorial in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
Police officers wait for the arrival of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Government College University, where she will be attending an event, Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, stands beside Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the Iqbal Memorial in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
In this photo provided by Pakistan Muslim League, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, meets Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, center right, poses for photos beside Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, center left, and two unidentified people in front of the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, second right, prays together with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, right, in front of the grave of the Poet Muhammad Iqbal, at the Iqbal Memorial in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
Students react against the wind caused by a helicopter at the entrance of the Government College University, while waiting to attend an event with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
Students protest against the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is on a three-day state visit to the country, Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. The banner in Urdu reads: "Don't transform Pakistan into an American state."
Police officers wait for the arrival of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Government College University, where she will be attending an event, Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, center, is escorted by Pakistani Rangers at the Iqbal Memorial in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
Pakistani soldiers at a lookout post in South Waziristan.
Pakistani forces pushing toward a lair of hard-core Taliban fighters found documents this week linked to a member of the Hamburg cell of Al Qaeda that is believed to have planned the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
In a small village in the dun-colored hills of South Waziristan, soldiers found a German passport belonging to Said Bahaji, a German citizen and associate of Mohammed Atta, the leader of the 9/11 hijackers.
The passport was issued in Hamburg in January 2001 and was accompanied by a Pakistani visa dated March 2001. The documents indicated that Mr. Bahaji landed in Karachi from Istanbul on Sept. 4, 2001.
The apparent presence of Mr. Bahaji in the tribal areas of Pakistan is a clear indication that members of the Qaeda network — including participants in the 9/11 plot — have taken refuge here, as American officials, like Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday, have charged.
There was no indication that Mr. Bahaji had left Pakistan, authorities said.
Although Mr. Bahaji was not a central plotter in the Sept. 11 attacks, he lived for eight months in Hamburg with Mr. Atta and Ramzi bin al Shibh, according to the 9/11 Commission Report.
He was described in the report as “an insecure follower with no personality and with limited knowledge of Islam.”
It added: “Atta and Binalshibh used Bahaji’s computer for Internet research, as evidenced by documents and diskettes seized by German authorities after 9/11.”
A United States counterterrorism official said the documents “appear to be this guy,” and that American officials believe “he’s in Pakistan and is a senior Qaeda propagandist.” The official spoke anonymously to discuss classified assessments of Al Qaeda.
Soldiers also found a Spanish passport belonging to Raquel Burgos Garcia, who is believed to be Mr. Bahaji’s wife. She wore an Islamic headscarf in her passport photo; an accompanying identity card showed that she had attended school in Morocco.
The documents were shown to reporters on a day trip organized by the army on Thursday for the news media to observe operations in the nearly two-week-old battle. South Waziristan is off limits to foreign reporters, and most Pakistani reporters, without special permission.
The army was using artillery and jet fighters to break the back of the militants. Rounds of artillery thundered around the mountains at midday, and the sound of jets echoed through the valleys.
The offensive in South Waziristan has turned into a battle of wills between the army, the custodian of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and accustomed to facing archenemy India, and insurgents from the Taliban and Al Qaeda, who are determined to bring down the state.
The guerrillas established a sanctuary here four years ago to plan their operations.
In retaliation, the insurgents have struck with ferocity at Pakistan’s urban centers and military installations using sleeper cells and commando fighters to wreak havoc and fear, killing large numbers of civilians like never before.
The assaults, particularly a car bomb that killed more than 100 people in the narrow alleys of an old bazaar in Peshawar on Wednesday and was aimed at women and children, are interpreted by many Pakistanis as an effort to break the will of the public and turn opinion against the military operation.
The militants, they point out, are not concerned with public support and just want to be left alone in their faraway stronghold, which has become a magnet for foreign militants from diverse backgrounds, according to an array of documents captured in houses by the Pakistani military.
So far, the public appears to be supportive of the army and impatient with the militants, though many Pakistanis ask whether a foreign hand, meaning the United States or India, is behind the militants.
In the past, the army fared poorly in South Waziristan, the southernmost region of the tribal areas where the Taliban and Al Qaeda have operated at will.
In 2005, under the president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the army forged a peace deal in South Waziristan with Baitullah Mehsud, then the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, in a move that legitimized Mr. Mehsud’s authority with the Mehsud tribesmen.
A series of embarrassing encounters for the military followed. In 2007, the militants seized more than 40 soldiers at their fort at Sararogha and killed most of them.
Last year, the military abandoned its fort at Ladha, another militant stronghold, and the insurgents promptly blew up the British colonial-era structure.
Now the military is trying to recapture its reputation in South Waziristan, and to re-establish its presence. It is doing so with many more soldiers than in past operations in South Waziristan, said Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the military spokesman, who ushered reporters around on a M-17 helicopter.
In addition to the militants’ passports, found in the village of Chalvashti, soldiers discovered a small house in a nearby town marked as a “laboratory” that was used for the manufacture of roadside bombs, Brig. Mohammed Shafiq said.
On the top of a rocky outpost called Spin Jamaat in Sherwangai, the commander of the forces in the area, Gen. Khalid Rabbani, sounded a confident note as he surveyed a vast landscape of hills and scarce vegetation. “The terrorists have gone into deeper areas, and the exits are choked,” he said.
But the fact that the insurgents were retreating deeper inside their stronghold around the towns of Makeen, Ladha and Sararogha, near densely forested mountains, may not bode well for the army.
“I am afraid the army is being sucked in and then the terrorists will hit hard using hit-and-run tactics,” said a resident of the Mehsud area recently.
So far, the army has concentrated on taking territory along the main road, a thin ribbon of rock-strewn gravel that was first laid down by the British. The troops have proceeded slowly, even though this roadside terrain was relatively easy, compared to the mountain passages that lay ahead, soldiers said.
The next target, Kuniguram, has served as the headquarters for the Uzbek fighters, the Taliban’s most brutal warriors. The army had surrounded Kuniguram on three sides, General Rabbani said, and clouds of white smoke from artillery fire onto the ridge in front of Kuniguram could be seen in the early afternoon.
The army expected its toughest fight so far to capture Kuniguram, the most substantial town under militant control that it had taken on so far, the general said.
On a separate axis from Kuniguram, the army was approaching Sararogha, the operational hub of the Taliban, General Abbas said.
It appeared, he said, that Wali ur-Rehman, the second in command of the Pakistani Taliban, was directing operations from Sararogha, where the army signed a peace deal with Mr. Mehsud, the former head of the Pakistani Taliban. Mr. Mehsud was killed in an American drone attack in August.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton chided Pakistani officials Thursday for failing to press the hunt for al-Qaida inside their borders, suggesting they know where the terror leaders are hiding.
American officials have long said that al-Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden and senior lieutenants of the network accused in the Sept. 11 attacks operate out of the rugged terrain along the border with Afghanistan.
But Clinton's unusually blunt comments went further in asserting that Pakistan's government has done too little about it.
"I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to," Clinton said in an interview with Pakistani journalists in Lahore. "Maybe that's the case. Maybe they're not gettable. I don't know."
There was no immediate reaction from Pakistani officials, but the thrust of Clinton's comments were startling, coming after months of lavish public comments from her and other American officials portraying Pakistan's leaders as finally receptive to the war against militants inside their own country.
As a political spouse, career public official and recently as a diplomat, Clinton has long showed a tendency toward bluntness, sometimes followed by a softening of her comments. But her remarks about Pakistan's lack of action against al-Qaida comes at a particularly sensitive moment — amid a major Pakistani offensive against militants and a deadly spate of insurgent violence.
Clinton on Friday was wrapping up her three-day visit to Pakistan with a series of interviews with Pakistani journalists — including a session with women journalists that was to be broadcast live — and talks with leaders of Parliament. Then she was to fly to the Persian Gulf city of Abu Dhabi for meetings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, to be followed over the weekend by a meeting in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
With Pakistan reeling from Wednesday's devastating bombing that killed more than 100 people in Peshawar, Clinton also engaged in an intense give-and-take with students at the Government College of Lahore. She insisted that inaction by the government would have ceded ground to terrorists.
"If you want to see your territory shrink, that's your choice," she said, adding that she believed it would be a bad choice.
Richard Holbrooke, the special U.S. representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan, told reporters that Clinton planned to meet late Thursday with the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, to get an update on the offensive that began Oct. 17 against Taliban forces in a portion of the tribal areas near the Afghan border.
"We want to encourage them," Holbrooke said of the Pakistanis. "She wants to get a firsthand account of the military situation."
During her exchange with the Pakistani journalists, one reporter asked Clinton why the fight against terrorism seemed to put Pakistan at the center and why other countries couldn't do more. Clinton noted that al-Qaida has launched attacks on Indonesia, the Philippines and many other countries over the years.
"So the world has an interest in seeing the capture and killing of the people who are the masterminds of this terrorist syndicate. As far as we know, they are in Pakistan."
On Clinton's flight to Islamabad after the interview with Pakistani journalists, U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson said Clinton's remarks approximate what the Obama administration has told Pakistani officials in private.
"We often say, `Yes, there needs to be more focus on finding these leaders,'" Patterson said. "The other thing is, they lost control of much of this territory in recent years, and that's why they're in South Waziristan right now."
In Lahore, dozens of students rushed to line up for the microphone when the session with Clinton began. Their questions were not hostile, but showed a strong sense of doubt that the U.S. could be a reliable and trusted partner for Pakistan.
One woman asked whether the U.S. could be expected to commit long term in Afghanistan after abandoning the country after Russian occupiers retreated in 1989.
"What guarantee," the woman asked, "can Americans give Pakistan that we can now trust you — not you but, like, the Americans this time — of your sincerity and that you guys are not going to betray us like the Americans did in the past when they wanted to destabilize the Russians?"
Clinton responded that the question was a "fair criticism" and that the U.S. did not follow through in the way it should have. "It's difficult to go forward if we're always looking in the rearview mirror," said Clinton, on the second of a three-day visit, her first to Pakistan as secretary of state.
The Peshawar bombing in a market crowded with women and children appeared timed to overshadow her arrival. It was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since 2007.
She likened Pakistan's situation — with Taliban forces taking over substantial swaths of land in the Swat valley and in areas along the Afghan border — to a theoretical advance of terrorists into the United States from across the Canadian border.
It would be unthinkable, she said, for the U.S. government to decide, "Let them have Washington (state)" first, then Montana, then the sparsely populated Dakotas, because those states are far from the major centers of population and power on the East Coast.
Clinton was responding to a student who suggested that Washington was forcing Pakistan to use military force on its own territory.
During her hourlong appearance at the college, Clinton stressed that a key purpose of her trip was to reach out to ordinary Pakistanis and urge a better effort to bridge differences and improve mutual understanding.
But her tough comments about Pakistan's will to take on al-Qaida leaders might not sit well among Pakistanis who long have complained about American demands on their country.
Clinton has ruffled feathers before with blunt comments during international trips. On her first visit to Asia in February, she discussed the possibility of a succession crisis in North Korea and suggested the U.S. would not press China that hard on human rights.
On a later trip, she drew criticism from Israeli leaders for talking about a "defense umbrella" for Arab Gulf states to protect them from a potential nuclear threat from Iran.
Despite her comments during the town hall event in Lahore, Clinton declined to touch on the sensitive issue of missile attacks from U.S. drones against militants inside Pakistan.
The subject has stirred some of the strongest feelings of anti-Americanism in the country, but the U.S. routinely refuses to acknowledge publicly that the attacks are taking place.
"There is a war going on," Clinton said, adding only that the U.S. wants to help Pakistan be successful.
The United States has provided Pakistani commanders with video images and target information from its military drones as the army pushes its ground offensive in Waziristan, U.S. officials said this week.
The U.S. in recent months has rushed helicopters and other military equipment to the country as Islamabad began offensives.
"We've put military assistance to Pakistan on a wartime footing," Lt. Col. Mark Wright, a Pentagon spokesman, said Thursday. ------
