In a military operation launched in Bajaur area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday, nine militants, including a top commander Said Mohammad were killed. Over the next four days, militants have carried out several attacks on the security forces in “revenge’’.
At least eight people, including four policemen and two security officials, were killed and several others were injured in a suicide bomb blast at a joint police and security forces checkpoint in the Eidak area of North Waziristan district on Saturday, according to unnamed officials. The attack took place when the security personnel were inspecting vehicles, they said, adding that the suicide bomber, who was travelling in a rickshaw, blew himself up at the Aslam checkpoint.
“Four policemen, two security personnel and two civilians have been killed,” an official said. Police sources said several vehicles were damaged in the blast. The area was immediately cordoned off and the road was closed.
The injured were initially shifted to a Miramshah hospital before being airlifted to the Combined Military Hospital in Bannu district. No statement was immediately issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations, the military’s media wing.
The attack follows a series of assaults over the security forces during the past two days, which claimed the lives of 15 law enforcement personnel in various parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The deadliest of these occurred in the Darazinda area of Dera Ismail Khan district, where 10 Frontier Constabulary soldiers were killed in an attack on a checkpost manned by security forces.
A banned militant group claimed responsibility for that attack, describing it as “revenge” for a military operation in Bajaur earlier in the week, which saw nine militants, including a key leader, Said Mohammad alias Qureshi Ustad, killed on Wednesday. The ISPR had claimed Qureshi Ustad’s killing to be a major success of the security forces. However, within 48 hours of this killing, at least three attacks were launched on the forces and these incidents claimed 23 lives. The toll is likely to mount further as several of the injured are reported to be in a critical condition.
In Balochistan, four Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were injured when a bomb exploded near their vehicle in Duki district on Saturday. An improvised explosive device (IED) planted by unknown miscreants at the roadside in the Mandaytak area detonated when the FC patrol was passing through that area.
On Oct 11, armed assailants had killed 21 coal miners and left six others injured in the coal field area. The assailants also destroyed ten mines and burnt equipment and machinery.
Most Pakistan newspapers blacked out the news about killing of 23 security personnel in a span of a little more than 48 hours. The incidents of suicide attacks and deaths of so many security personnel have left top officers red faced and no details have been provided to the media.
On Friday night, militants targeted the residence of former JUI-F Senator Maulana Mohammad Saleh Shah in Upper South Waziristan’s Khaisoor area in Tiarza tehsil. He and other members remained unharmed in the attack by the militants.
In a statement, the JUI-F leader, who is also the president of the South Waziristan Upper Political Alliance, condemned the incident, urging the government and law enforcement agencies to take a decisive action against extortion and restore peace in the entire disturbed areas.
He said that this was not the first attack on his residence, attributing the repeated targeting to his refusal to pay extortion money to groups operating in the area.
President Asif Ali Zardari expressed heartfelt grief and sorrow over the loss of lives of civilians and security personnel in the North Waziristan suicide attack. KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur also strongly condemned the attack. “Such cowardly acts will never weaken the resolve of our forces. The people and security personnel have made immense sacrifices in the war against militancy,” Mr Gandapur said in a statement.
Keywords: Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Suicide attacks.
