Fresh violence claims 19 lives in Pakistan

A Pakistani army soldier stands alert on a street in Parachinar, April 2007. Fresh violence has left 19 people, including four soldiers, dead in an escalation of the bloody unrest that has rocked Pakistan over the past month.
(AFP/Str/File)


Fresh violence claims 19 lives in Pakistan
08-04-2007, 08h28
ISLAMABAD (AFP)



Fresh violence left 19 people, including four soldiers, dead Saturday in an escalation of the bloody unrest that has rocked Pakistan over the past month.
The military said militants fired a barrage of rockets at security checkposts and then attacked one of them with automatic weapons in a restive tribal district near the Afghan border overnight.
"The miscreants fired 50 to 60 rockets at five posts before attacking one of the posts with automatic weapons in Dosali, in the North Waziristan tribal district," military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP.
Fierce fighting ensued and the troops repelled the attackers, killing 10 rebels, Arshad said, adding that four soldiers also died in the battle.
About 50 kilometres (32 miles) to the north, in Parachinar town, a suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into a taxi stand Saturday, killing at least five civilians.
Several cars and shops were also damaged in the attack, which officials linked to the wave of unrest gripping the country since the July 9-10 army raid on the pro-Taliban Red Mosque in the capital Islamabad.
"It was a suicide attack in Parachinar. Five civilians were killed and over 20 injured," said area security chief Arbab Mohammad Arif.
Local administration official Mujtaba Asghar said the attack happened at a taxi stand in front of a car showroom in the town, some 240 kilomtres (150 miles) west of Islamabad.
"Some public transport vehicles were parked on the road in front of the showroom when the bomber rammed his car and exploded," said Asghar.
The devastating blast damaged several vehicles and five shops.
"Human limbs and pieces of flesh were scattered around the site," witness Mohammad Sajjad said.
Officials said the violence trigged by the July 10 killing of Red Mosque senior cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi in the army raid has claimed more than 230 lives.
More than 100 people, mostly militants hiding in the mosque, were killed in the operation to clear it.
Interior ministry officials said there had been at least 13 suicide attacks since the mosque operation, including two in Islamabad --- one targeting a rally by the country's chief justice and the other a police contingent.
Pakistan has come under mounting pressure from the United States and European allies to act decisively against Taliban militants allegedly using its tribal region for attacks across the border.
Pakistan has also strengthened its military presence in the region following US intelligence warning that Al-Qaeda was regrouping in the tribal regions on its side of the border and planning attacks on the United States.
Islamabad has denied charges by Washington that the border regions have become a safe haven for an Al-Qaeda resurgence.

AFP