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From : IslamAndWorldPeace
Added: Nov 3, 2009
The biggest victims of Islam are the people who have to live under it. A suicide bomber on Monday (November 2) blew himself up in a busy commercial area near the Pakistan Army headquarters in Rawalpindi killing at least 34 people, including military personnel, weeks after the Taliban launched a brazen attack on the military's nerve centre. The motorcycle-borne bomber detonated his explosives outside a state-run bank, less than a km from the heavily-fortified General Headquarters, killing pensioners, army personnel and civilians in the latest of a series of deadly terrorist attacks that have rocked Pakistan. Police said the motorcycle bomber drove into the pensioners, who had come to collect their salaries from the National Bank, and blew himself up. Witnesses said the explosion was so powerful that body parts were thrown into nearby buildings. Rescue service officials put the death toll at 34, while police said 45 injured were taken to nearby hospitals. Most of those killed were army personnel. The militant attacks forced United Nations to pull out most of its expatriate staff and suspend long-term development work in the troubled North-West Frontier Province and tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Announcing the scaling down of its operations in the country, a UN spokesman cited security concerns as the reason for the decision. A surge in violence has left more than 300 dead since last month as Pakistan presses ahead with a military offensive against the Taliban in the lawless Waziristan tribal region. Several army officers' messes, sensitive military installations and other hotels are located near the blast site. Police officials said the suicide bomber blew himself up outside the bank when police teams tried to intercept him. Witnesses said at least two military police personnel, five women and several private security guards and passers-by were killed. Military police and paramilitary personnel cordoned off the area and diverted traffic from the road in front of the hotel. Ambulances rushed bodies and the injured to hospitals, where an emergency was declared. Several cars and motorcycles parked outside the hotel and the bank were damaged by the explosion, which also shattered the windows of nearby buildings. Zahid Dara, who witnessed the attack, told reporters: "I fell off my motorcycle when the blast occurred. People began running helter-skelter in panic." "I saw the blast had occurred outside the hotel, near which there are several banks, travel agencies and other offices". Dara said he had seen private security guards and army personnel among the dead and injured. "Several people in cars that were passing the hotel were also killed," he said. The attack came nearly a month after an audacious terrorist strike on the General Headquarters in which 14 people were killed before most of the attackers were gunned down by army commandos. The attackers had also taken nearly 50 people hostage in an office of the Military Intelligence agency. Meanwhile, the government today raised the bounties on the heads of 19 Tehrik-e-Taliban militants including its chief Hakimullah Mehsud to a whopping Rs 41 crore or USD 5 million. The rewards for the Taliban rouges gallery was announced with the government splashing black-and-white advertisement in Urdu on the front page of the mass-circulated The News daily. They were also featured on TV channels. Bounty of Rs 5 crore was offered for Hakimullah Mehsud, who took over as head of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan after his predecessor Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone attack in August, and his close aides Waliur Rehman and Qari Hussain, the dreaded trainer of suicide bombers. Bounties of Rs 2 crore were offered for other Taliban commanders Mohammad Raees Khan Mehsud, Maulvi Azmatullah Mehsud, Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, Mufti Noor Saeed, Maulvi Shameem, Ameerullah, Naseeruddin, Shah Faisal, Sher Azeem, Jaleel and Mohammad Ismael. Rewards of Rs 1 crore were offered for militant leaders Azmatullah Batani, Arfeshaheen, Mohammad Anwar Kandapur, Abdullah Shah, Maulvi Abdul Wali and Khan Saeed. "Pakistan: Suicide blast in Rawalpindi kills 34(2 Nov 2009)" From IslamAndWorldPeace
Category : News

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