Seven killed in suicide bombing at Pakistani Navy War College

Aftermath of the suicide bombing at the Pakistani Navy War College in Lahore. Click to view.

The Taliban have struck at another Pakistani military target outside of the tribal areas. The latest suicide bombing occurred inside the Pakistani Navy War College in the city of Lahore. Seven were reported killed and 21 were wounded in the fifth suicide attack since Feb. 25. Most of those killed were military officers and enlisted.

The suicide bomber entered the college by following a minibus, and detonated his vest shortly afterward, Reuters reported. There may have been more than one bomber, NDTV reported, as up to four explosions were reported. These may have been secondary blasts.

The suicide attack at the Nay War College is the fifth major attack inside Pakistan over the past nine days. An attack at a tribal meeting in the settled district of Kohat in the Northwest Frontier Province on March 2 resulted in more than 40 killed and 40 wounded. The tribal leaders were discussing how to curb Taliban attacks in Kohat and the neighboring Orakzai tribal agency.

A suicide bomber attacked a vehicle of the Bajaur Levies on March 1. Two paramilitary soldiers were killed and 24 were wounded. A suicide bomber struck at a policeman’s funeral in the settled district of Lakki Marwat on Feb. 29. More than 40 Pakistanis were killed and scores more were wounded, many of them critically.

On Feb. 25, a suicide bomber killed the Pakistani Army’s surgeon general in the military garrison city of Rawalpindi. Seven others were killed in the attack and 20 were wounded after a Taliban suicide bomber rammed into Lieutenant General Mushtaq Ahmed Baig’s staff car. Mushtaq is the senior-most general killed in Pakistan since Sept. 11, 2001.

The Taliban have conducted numerous attacks at military bases throughout Pakistan over the past year. Several of these attacks occurred at bases that store Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.

These attacks have prompted a series of statements from Pakistan political and military leaders that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is secure.

See The Fall of Northwestern Pakistan for the full timeline on the rise of al Qaeda and the Taliban in the tribal agencies, the Northwest Frontier Province, and greater Pakistan.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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4 Comments

  • Marlin says:

    Syed Saleem Shahzad is also convinced a major military assault is imminent against Pakistani Taliban.

    Mullen was due to meet with President Pervez Musharraf and military leaders to discuss US assistance for a massive military operation in Pakistan, under US supervision, against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
    […]
    According to Asia Times Online contacts, a military operation is imminent, starting from a base camp in Peshawar in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). The main focus will be Mohmand and Bajaur agencies, and some other tribal areas, to pre-empt the Taliban’s spring offensive in Afghanistan.

    Asia Times: Pakistan’s grand bargain falls apart

  • Michael says:

    Is this the same Asia Times that had Pepe Escobar? And whats the other guys name… always writes rambling essays bordering on benign subterfuge.
    I’ve always wondered how this stuff makes its way into print, as if marking a warning for all to see. Makes me more curious about warfare and psyops.

  • Marlin says:

    The British are now also planning on sending instructors to Pakistan to help with counterinsurgency training.

    The Ministry of Defence has dispatched a team of instructors to Pakistan to help with counter-insurgency training, it has emerged.
    […]
    The instructors are not there to fight, but to ‘train the trainers’. Their job is show Pakistani military instructors how to fight the sort of low-intensity guerrilla insurgency that has been spreading steadily eastwards from the Afghan border.

    BBC: UK helps Pakistan fight militants

  • Marlin says:

    Surprisingly, the American military does not expect a spring offensive from the Taliban in Afghanistan this year.

    The top military commander in the Mideast said Wednesday that he does not expect Taliban forces in Afghanistan to launch a spring offensive this year. If anything, he said, he sees the momentum continuing to swing in the direction of coalition forces.
    “The spring offensive is going to be by our people, as they move out and take advantage of the situation that they helped create through their good works there in the fall of last year,” Adm. William Fallon told the House Armed Services Committee.

    Associated Press: Commander: No spring offensive expected

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