A Taliban suicide bomber has struck again in Pakistan’s insurgency-wracked northwest. The latest attack occurred outside of a stadium in Peshawar, the capital of the Northwest Frontier Province.
Three people were killed and several others were wounded after a suicide bomber detonated his vest at the main gate of the stadium, Geo TV reported.
The targets of the attack appear to have been Bashir Ahmed Bilour, the provincial Chief Minister, and Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani. Bilour “narrowly escaped the suicide attack,” sources told the news agency. Ghani left the stadium just 10 minutes prior to the attack.
Both Bilour and Ghani are members of the Awami National Party, the ethnic Pashtun political party that controls the government Northwest Frontier Province after the February 2008 election. The party is opposed to military action against the Taliban and advocates a peaceful end to the fighting in Pakistan’s northwest. The party has backed peace agreements with the Taliban in the past.
The Awami National Party has been the target of multiple Taliban attacks over the past year. The Taliban conducted two major strikes against ANP offices in North Waziristan and Kurram the week before the election, killing and wounding scores of its members. In the beginning of October, Taliban spokesman Mullah Omar said senior leaders in the Awami National Party, including Bilour and Ghani, are on the list of public figures targeted for assassination.
On Oct. 2, the Taliban came close to assassinating Asfandyar Wali Khan, the president of the Awami National Party. A suicide bomber detonated his vest in a guesthouse next to Khan’s home during the Eid-ul-Fitr celebration.
Today’s attack is the latest in the Taliban’s terror and military campaign that has gripped Pakistan. Suicide bombers have struck in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Wah, Dera Ismail Khan, Swat, and Bannu over the past year. More than 2,000 Pakistanis have been reported to have been killed in suicide attacks alone this year.
5 Comments
It appears the provincial police had intelligence that something was planned, but nothing specific enough to stop the bombing.
The Taliban have confirmed that Bashir Ahmed Bilour was the target.
Daily Times: Bilour was the target: TTP
This is the most frustrating part about what is going on in Pakistan. A good swath of the public is working hand in hand with these animals. Can there be a change from the ground up? We can certainly kill the militants as we have been, but is there a way to effect a paradigm shift here with the Pakistani people? When will the jihadi cause be seen as a dead end without purpose?
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 11/12/2008 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.
Thanks for this excellent story. Aside from press in central asia, middle east, and a few other places, there seems to be very little mention of these events in the U.S. The mainstream (U. S.) news appears to be totally tone deaf to these critical reports. Maybe we can expect more emphasis on this part of the world if the new Obama Administration brings it into its sights.
The statistic of 2,000 Pakistanis killed is stunning. Thanks again, as usual, for the excellent reporting.