Acts of Terrorism in Pakistan

[mujahideen]

More than 50 held over Lahore suicide attacks

* Chassis of vehicle used in the FIA attack leads police to Faisalabad arrests
* Remains of attackers found
* All FIA record safe

LAHORE: Police on Wednesday arrested more than 50 suspects in province-wide raids over Tuesday’s suicide attacks in Lahore, and were investigating whether Al Qaeda was behind the attacks.

Police sources said the suspects, most of them from banned militant organisations, were held from Lahore, Faisalabad, Okara, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur. A senior police official said law-enforcement agencies had recovered the chassis (number 3L3849728) of the vehicle used in the attack on the FIA regional headquarters.

The vehicle was registered by one Chaudhry Imtiaz Kamboh from Faialabad. Three suspects that he identified were held in raids in Kot Lakhpat and Nishtar Colony. A suspect identified as Hafiz from Bahawalpur had been using the vehicle. He led the police to more suspects, the official said.

Law-enforcement agencies held Bund Road resident Qari Rehmatullah Taunsvi and four “guests from Dera Ghazi Khan” from his house, Rehmatullah’s wife told a private television channel. Police also held a Sipah-e-Sahaba office-bearer and his friend Maulana Muneer Ahmed from Jahania. Senior police and government officials attended a special funeral ceremony for 12 employees of the Federal Investigation Agency who died in the attack on the FIA regional headquarters.

Remains: Deputy Inspector General (Investigations) Tasadaq Hussain said police had collected the remains of the two attackers. Part of the head and a leg of the FIA building attacker were found from the roof of a nearby building, he said. He said the attacks had targeted the US-trained Special Investigations Group (SIG) that had been working on the third floor of the building. Plastic explosive C4 was used in the attacks, he added.

FIA DG Tariq Pervez said the Model Town attack was aimed at the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) that worked under the Home Department and not the FIA. The SIG in the FIA building was a separate organisation that collected evidence from crime scenes and helped the police in forensic analyses. He said it was not investigating any cases of terrorism or interrogating any suspects.

Record: Pervez said the FIA record was safe because most of it was on the fifth and sixth floors and backed up in computers in Islamabad. s

hafiq sharif/agencies/aaj kal report

 

[mujahideen]

Involvement of External hands, defunct religious groups cannot be ruled out in terrorist activities

RAWALPINDI, Mar 14 (APP): Governor Punjab Lt. General ® Khalid Maqbool said here on Friday that besides the external hand, the defunct religious organizations could be involved in the terrorism related activities throughout the country. He expressed these views while addressing a press conference at the Regional Police Office (RPO) Headquarters here. Governor Punjab said that Punjab police have been equipped with latest weapons to counter terrorism.

Regional Police Officer (RPO) DIG Nasir Khan Durrani, City Police Officer (CPO) DIG Saud Aziz, S.S.P Yasin Farooq, S.P Rawal Town Khurram Shahzad, S.P Rana Shahid and other police officials were also present on the occasion.

Khalid Maqbool also presided over a high level meeting of the regional heads of the law enforcing agencies and institution to review the overall law and order & security arrangements in the area.

Khalid Maqbool said the net of investigations has been widened to unearth these outlawed enemies of humanity and terrorists, involved in heinous crimes against humanity and innocent people saying crackdown against some of these suspicious obsolete organizations has been initiated to bring them under the ambit of law.

He said that involvement of that some banned organizations including Sapa Sahba, Laskar Tayba and Jash Muhammad were involved in terrorism.

He was of the opinion that prevailing terrorism in the country was not due to any particular person or because of specific policy.

He said law enforcing agencies including police force will jointly stymie the nefarious designs of the anti social and anti human elements.

Khalid Maqbool said that Islam is the religion of peace and tranquility, and rejects terrorism and extremism in all the forms and manifestation.

He said in fact terrorists are the enemy of Islam and country saying that they want to destabilize the integrity of the country for their mischievous designs.

Khalid said that the government is making all out efforts to eradicate the terrorism adding that the law enforcement agencies and police were being more equipped to counter terrorism.

He appreciated the Punjab police for doing great job to counter terrorism menace.

He was of the view that law enforcement agencies, police, media and with the cooperation of masses the terrorism could be controlled, he added.

He urged the commercial organization to install close circuit cameras and keep vigilant eyes on the terrorists’ activities.

He said that on the special instructions of the President Musharraf the Punjab government is making untiring efforts for the eradication of the terrorism in the country.

He said that the government has succeeded to achieve the targets bring to terrorists to justice, involved in the killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in a suicide attack on 27th December last year.

Commenting on the politics and recent general elections in the country, Governor said, the election process has been completed in transparent and peaceful manners according to the satisfaction of the people.

Responding to a question, he said that after the session of National Assembly on March 17th the sessions of Provincial Assembly session would be called soon.

He appreciated the national media for playing a vital role for national cause urging that the media persons should break the stories keeping in view the national interest.

Associated Press Of Pakistan - Involvement of External hands, defunct religious groups cannot be ruled out in terrorist activities

 

[mujahideen]

Bomb kills foreign woman in Pakistan restaurant

By Kamran Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A foreign woman was killed and U.S. embassy staff were wounded in a bomb attack on a restaurant in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on Saturday night, police said.

Police Deputy Inspector General Shahid Nadeem Baloch said the victim was a Turkish woman who worked for a relief agency. Baloch said 11 people were wounded, 8 of them foreigners.

Doctors at the hospital where the dead woman was taken gave conflicting accounts, identifying her as an American nurse working at the U.S. embassy.

"U.S. embassy staff were among those wounded," U.S. embassy spokeswoman Kay Mayfield said, but she could not confirm any death.

Pakistan has been battling Islamist militancy since joining the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

More than 500 people have been killed this year in militant-related violence, including a wave of suicide bombings.

Bombers have targeted U.S. diplomats several times in the past. A suicide bomber killed a security guard outside Islamabad's Marriott hotel last year, but attacks on soft targets like restaurants frequented by foreigners would mark a change in militant tactics.

DEAFENING BLAST

A witness said the explosion occurred in a garden dining area at the rear of the Luna Caprese restaurant, which is frequented by expatriates, including diplomats, aid agency workers, and journalists.

"It was deafening. We pulled out at least eight people from the wreckage. Most of them were foreigners," Tariq Mahmood, a waiter at the restaurant, told Reuters.

Policeman Baloch said the bomb blast had left a crater, and ruled out any possibility that it had been a suicide attack.

Storeowner Khalid Qureshi raced across the road from shopping complex opposite the restaurant to help the wounded.

"There were bodies lying everywhere, people were screaming and shouting," Qureshi said.

Abdul Hakeem, a passer-by, told Reuters he helped bring out around a dozen wounded.

Pakistan has experienced months of political turmoil over opposition to President Pervez Musharraf.

Musharraf's allies were routed in a parliamentary election last month. The campaign was overshadowed by the assassination in December of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

(Reporting by Kamran Haider, writing by Simon Cameron-Moore; Editing by Charles Dick)

© Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

 

[Interceptor]

I am not in the least concerned about whether someone apologizes for ZAB's murder - an apology, or the lack of it, is not going to impact the nation in any major tangible way - what concerns me, and should concern you, is whether Zia's legacy of extremism and intolerance is removed, since we can see the consequences of that "message of hate", and they will only get worse if not stopped - and on that count Nawaz Sharif is his twin.

It will concern the nation you piratically giving a message to future dictators that you will be made an example, has this country not suffered enough from dictators and I really dont care about what people on this forum having support for Musharraf and his ideology in the end we must look at the laurels, is this country created for the dictators or the elected Representatives of Pakistan, Zia's Legacy and Musharraf's treason has cost this country countless lives and monumental disasters, Nawaz was not the only character remember he was with lots of other extremist who funded his ideology people like Chaudri Elahi, IJazul-Haq and co they have left and formed another PML like all dictators of this country do. So if you want this country to suffer more than keep supporting tyrants and if you want this country to heal than let the new Nawaz keep up to what he said let the repersentatives of Pakistan decide the betterment of this great nation.

 

[mujahideen]

It will concern the nation you piratically giving a message to future dictators that you will be made an example, has this country not suffered enough from dictators and I really dont care about what people on this forum having support for Musharraf and his ideology in the end we must look at the laurels, is this country created for the dictators or the elected Representatives of Pakistan, Zia's Legacy and Musharraf's treason has cost this country countless lives and monumental disasters, Nawaz was not the only character remember he was with lots of other extremist who funded his ideology people like Chaudri Elahi, IJazul-Haq and co they have left and formed another PML like all dictators of this country do. So if you want this country to suffer more than keep supporting tyrants and if you want this country to heal than let the new Nawaz keep up to what he said let the repersentatives of Pakistan decide the betterment of this great nation.

You talk of military dictators in a bad way. You forget these same military dictators have given us way more then our civilian dictators.

 

[mujahideen]

Over 100 people arrested in Islamabad search operation

ISLAMABAD: Following the bomb blast in Islamabad, police started search operation in Islamabad and the abutting areas for the responsible of the blast here today.

Thus far, over hundred people have been arrested and shifted to various Islamabad jails. The sting search operation is in full swing in Islamabad.

Over 100 people arrested in Islamabad search operation

 

[mujahideen]

Islamabad blast not suicide blast: Cheema

ISLAMABAD: The spokesman of interior ministry Brig. (rtd) Javed Iqbal Cheema said the Islamabad blast was not a suicide attack.
He said a high-level investigation team inspected the blast site and gleaned the vital clues from there.

The spokesman said the blast claimed a foreign woman and injured ten people.

It should be mentioned that the interior ministry issued a security advisory today and advised them to step up the security arrangements.

Islamabad blast not suicide blast: Cheema

 

[mujahideen]

Turk female citizen among two killed in Islamabad blast

ISLAMABAD: Two persons including Turk female citizen have died and over 15 others have injured in Islamabad blast on Saturday evening.

One victim was identified as a Turk female citizen working in an NGO who was died in the Islamabad blast

Three US citizens and including two doctors and a Chinese citizen included among the citizens. The majority of injured is reportedly foreigners, the sources added.

The blast occurred in the backside of an Italian restaurant “ Luna Caprese” near Super market, the sources said. Over 15 injured including foreigners have been shifted to hospitals.

The bomb blast at Luna Caprese restaurant in Islamabad this evening was not a suicide attack confirmed spokesman Interior Ministry, Brigadier (Retd.) Javed Iqbal Cheema.

“It was not a suicide attack,” Cheema said adding “It is yet to be ascertained if the blast was caused by a remote controlled device.’

Turk female citizen among two killed in Islamabad blast

 

[mujahideen]

President not to blame for growing terrorism: governor

* Khalid Maqbool says security forces fighting wave of terror designed to destabilise the country
* Law-enforcement agencies should act together to check terror acts

By Imran Asghar

RAWALPINDI: President Pervez Musharraf-led government’s policies over the last nine years have not caused upsurge in terror activities in the country, said Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool on Friday.

“President Musharraf nor his policies can be held responsible for rising terror acts in the country. Instead, there’re many other factors, which have contributed to growing terrorism,” Maqbool told reporters here at Regional Police Office. Senior police officers including Regional Police Officer Akram Durrani and City Police Officer (CPO) Saud Aziz also turned up.

The Punjab governor said security forces were active to thwart terrorist acts designed to destabilise the country. He said he didn’t rule out the possibility of the involvement of foreign hand in terrorism.

He said the provincial government had provided the Punjab police’s different branches including Crime Investigation Department, Special Branch and Punjab Highway Patrolling Force all required weapons and facilities to fight terrorism, especially suicide bombings. He said growing incidents of suicide bombing could hamper economic development.

Maqbool said joint efforts by the police and other law-enforcement agencies could check rising terror activities. He sought media and the nation to help the government in this respect.

He praised Punjab Police for tracing perpetrators of many suicide bombings, especially that of Rawalpindi, which had killed PPP chairwoman Benazir Bhutto last year.

The governor said that investigation into recent suicide attacks on FIA provincial headquarters and Naval War College in Lahore was underway and it would identify their perpetrators. He asked the Punjab police to focus on controlling suicide attacks.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[fatman17]

Islamabad

Suspicions are growing in Pakistan that local militants are importing sophisticated techniques from Iraq, possibly through al-Qaeda trainers, to maximize the impact of their attacks on security forces. A pick-up truck loaded with over 50 kilograms of C4 plastic explosives crashed through the partly-opened gate of the eight-storey Federal Investigation Agency building in the eastern city of Lahore Tuesday, Tassaduq Hussain, who heads a police team investigating the suicide bombings, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The blast killed 28 people and wounded another 150 and severely damaged the FIA building. The impact of the blast shattered every window within 500 metres and damaged 10 neighbouring houses.

A few kilometres away a vehicle carrying a smaller amount of the same type of explosives hit the back wall of a safe house secretly run by a military intelligence unit in a residential area in a simultaneous attack.

Four people were killed in the neighbouring house but no one in the government safe house.

"We had heard of such attacks in Iraq but this was the first time such a huge amount of explosives was used in Pakistan," Hussain said.

"Their objective is very clear. They want to terrorize people by spreading as much destruction as they can," he added.

Enraged by Pakistan's support for the US-led fight on terrorism and that country's operation against Taliban and al-Qaeda elements in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, local militants have carried out dozens of suicide attacks on Pakistani security forces since 2001.

The campaign escalated after army commandos stormed the Red Mosque in Islamabad to end a siege by armed militants in mid-2007, leaving about 100 people dead. Since then over 800 people, including security personnel, political activists and other citizens have been killed in 50 revenge suicide bombings.

The recent attacks are increasingly deadly. It is not only the quantity of the explosives used in recent attacks, but also the sophistication bearing the hallmark of al-Qaeda linked terrorist groups operating in Iraq that have stirred worries among the security officials.

These include the technique of breaking through a security wall with one suicide bomber, then driving a second through the hole to attempt to hit the target inside.

The method was used in the April 2005 botched attack on Iraq's notorious Abu Gharib prison by al-Qaeda to free detainees and hit US forces with a series of car bombs that left more than 40 US soldiers and 13 prisoners wounded.

Almost replicating the assault, a suicide bomber blew himself up destroyed the gate of the Pakistan Navy War College in Lahore on March 4. A second bomber then drove a motorbike inside and blew himself up, killing four including three navy officers.

"It is not a coincidence that the terrorist attacks in Iraq and Pakistan have so many similarities," said Muhammad Amir Rana, an expert on terrorism with Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies PIPS.

Those who masterminded the Lahore bombings and several others in recent months had either imported trainers from Iraq or some of them were trained by al-Qaeda when they traveled to Iraq via Iran for "jihad against the infidels," he added.

The latest attacks are more coordinated and the ratio of missed targets is declining sharply as they carry out espionage ahead of their possible attacks for several days before they hit, Rana said. These people are not some simple madrassa students. Among the militants are well-educated IT and chemical experts.

The suicide bombing on February 25 that killed a four-star general, the highest ranking official ever killed in a suicide attack in Pakistan history, in the garrison city of Rawalpindi was a precise strike.

The attack organisers not only knew the exact time Lieutenant General Mushtaq Baig always left his office for home and the route he took, but also that his car had to stop at a certain traffic signal because of rush hour traffic, which gave the bomber time to strike.

The bomber, aged between 13 to 15, was disguised as a beggar. A young boy was used because he would not cause suspicion when he approached the car.

Terrorist groups have shown that they are able to strike anywhere, at anytime. They have shown that they are the ones with the upper hand in the battle being fought between the government and militants, said defense analyst and a retired general Talat Masood.

Growing suspicions over links between the militants in Iraq and Pakistan have prompted the South Asian country to seek assistance from US intelligence agencies.

"A team of forensic and technical experts from the FBI (US Federal Bureau of Investigation) is shortly arriving to assist Pakistani investigators because they are the ones who are also investigating the similar attacks in Iraq," an intelligence official told dpa.

It seems Iraq has been turned by al-Qaeda into a laboratory where they experiment with a certain method of terrorism and then export it to countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

 

[Interceptor]

Four FBI agents among wounded in Pakistan blast: ABC
1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) — At least four US FBI agents were among the injured in a bomb attack at a popular restaurant in Pakistan, ABC television reported Sunday.

A Turkish aid worker died and at least 10 other foreigners were wounded, including several US diplomats, in the blast at the Luna Caprese Italian eatery in Islamabad on Saturday evening.

Violence linked to Al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents has left at least 600 people dead since the start of the year and posed a major challenge to the country's incoming government after last month's elections.

"This was the first attack in which foreigners have been targeted in Islamabad since 2002 and it shows a new trend," a top security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

ABC, which did not identify its source on the online report, said that "multiple sources said that the attack was under investigation to see whether it was based on the terrorists having learned in advance of the agents' presence.

"In Washington, meanwhile, officials downplayed the possibility that the attack specifically targeted the agents based on advance intelligence," the ABC report added.

The US State Department, reached for comment Sunday, did not immediately confirm or deny the report of FBI staff being injured.

AFP: Four FBI agents among wounded in Pakistan blast: ABC

 

[mujahideen]

What were FBI agents doing in Pakistan. I mean it is against U.S. law for FBI agents to operate overseas, that is the job of the CIA.

 

[Dynamic_Dynasty]

What were FBI agents doing in Pakistan. I mean it is against U.S. law for FBI agents to operate overseas, that is the job of the CIA.

In the end you got that rite.

 

[MastanKhan]

Hi,

FBI is there to help out the pakistani agencies in policing, anti terror, investigation and forensics. CIA has a different job---it is primarily a spy agency---FBI is primarily an investigative agency---Mujahideen---Dynamic---guys, research your question before you post---such simplistic questions put doubts about any analysis that you put on the board.

 

[Dynamic_Dynasty]

Hi,

FBI is there to help out the pakistani agencies in policing, anti terror, investigation and forensics. CIA has a different job---it is primarily a spy agency---FBI is primarily an investigative agency---Mujahideen---Dynamic---guys, research your question before you post---such simplistic questions put doubts about any analysis that you put on the board.

Yea, but in the end i wonder how they knew the exact timing, how they planted it there and whose the second person that died in the explosion.