Pakistan suicide bomber kills four as tensions rise

Pakistani tribesmen gather around a destroyed paramilitary check post after a blast in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan. A suicide bomber Tuesday killed three troops and a civilian at a checkpost in Pakistan's tribal belt, fuelling tensions after pro-Taliban rebels rebuffed government efforts to save a peace deal.



Pakistan suicide bomber kills four as tensions rise

Wednesday • July 18, 2007

A suicide bomber Tuesday killed three troops and a civilian at a checkpost in Pakistan's tribal belt, fuelling tensions after pro-Taliban rebels rebuffed government efforts to save a peace deal.
The attack was the fourth in as many days in Pakistan, following triple weekend suicide blasts that left more than 70 people dead -- all in apparent revenge for last week's bloody government raid on Islamabad's Red Mosque.
The bomber struck a joint army and paramilitary checkpoint near Mir Ali, one of the biggest towns in the lawless tribal zone of North Waziristan, which borders insurgency-hit Afghanistan, security officials said.
"Security forces ordered a truck to stop. A man got down from the vehicle then walked up to the post and blew himself up," chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP, confirming the death toll.
Two other soldiers were wounded, he said.
In related violence, suspected Islamist rebels dynamited two more checkpoints in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, but caused no casualties, security officials said.
Attackers also slit the throat of an Afghan national and dumped his body near the main town in Bajaur, another tribal district, along with a note accusing him of spying for US-led forces in Afghanistan, they said.
Meanwhile near the troubled Swat Valley in northwestern Pakistan -- a stronghold of extremists with links to the Red Mosque -- three policemen were wounded when their van was hit by a remote-controlled roadside bomb.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for any of the attacks.
But they came after militants handed out pamphlets overnight in North Waziristan warning security forces and tribal elders of violence after the collapse on Sunday of a 10-month-old peace accord with the government.
The rebels said they had torn up the deal -- which was heavily criticised by Washington and Kabul -- because the government had set up new checkposts and failed to pay compensation for tribesmens' deaths in army operations.
The statement, signed by the Taliban Shura (council), warned tribal paramilitary forces and traders supplying the army not to cooperate with government forces or "otherwise they are also our targets."
It also asked tribal elders and others "not to have jirgas (meetings) with the government; if not, then they will be held responsible," said a copy of the leaflet obtained by AFP.
Pakistani authorities have made intense efforts to shore up the peace accord since the Taliban said they were pulling out, knowing that without it, they risk fresh violence in the militant-infested region.
They sent two government representatives to the area on Monday, but the officials returned empty-handed to Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, where matters in the neighbouring tribal zone are overseen.
"We are still hopeful the peace deal will stay intact and efforts are under way," said a senior official at the secretariat of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, as the region is formally known.
Local sources said the government had set up 10 checkpoints in and around Miranshah during the Red Mosque crisis, which ended in a raid that killed at least 11 soldiers and 75 people inside the complex, mainly militants.
Under the September peace deal the militants had vowed to stop cross-border attacks in war-torn Afghanistan and hunt down foreign insurgents hiding in the lawless mountain areas in return for security guarantees.
A new US intelligence assessment said Tuesday that Al-Qaeda has regenerated its capability to attack the United States by using a "safehaven" in the Pakistani tribal areas.
The US State Department said on Monday that it may introduce safeguards to ensure that 750 million dollars in US aid it plans to pour into the tribal areas does not fall into the wrong hands. — AFP

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