Taliban assault teams launched simultaneous attacks against three police buildings in the eastern city of Lahore. Twenty-six people were killed in the attacks. The attacks follow last weekend’s assault on the Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.
The assault teams targeted the Federal Investigation Agency building, the Manawan police training centee, and the Elite Force Headquarters.
“Different group of attackers have attacked and tried to enter two police training centers in Lahore,” Kamran Ahmad, a Lahore police official, told AFP. “We now have three near-simultaneous attacks against police facilities,”
At least three terrorists have been reported to have entered the Federal Investigation Agency building. Four government workers, four terrorists, and one civilian were reported to have been killed during the fighting.
An unknown number of terrorists attacked the Manawan police training center while wearing military uniforms, Geo News reported. Six police recruits, five police officers, and five terrorists were killed at Manawa. Three of the terrorists detonated their suicide vests during the attack and two were killed by police snipers.
A large blast was also heard at the Elite Force Headquarters, but it is still unclear if a suicide attack or other bombing was carried out. Terrorists are also reported to have assaulted the Elite Force building. One policeman and one terrorist were reported killed in the attack. The Elite Force is the Punjab police’s specialized unit assigned to counterterrorism and VIP protection missions.
Two of the police centers have been the targets of terror attacks in the past. The Manawan police training center was the target of a terrorist commando assault in March 2009, while the Federal Investigation Agency building was the target of a suicide attack in March 2008.
Also today, the Taliban conducted a suicide attack on a police station in the northwestern district of Kohat. Eight people, including policemen and children, were killed in the attack in Kohat.
Last weekend, a Punjabi Taliban group called the Amjad Farooqi Group carried out a commando-styled assault on the Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. The terrorists took 42 security personnel captive. Thirteen soldiers were killed, including a brigadier general and a lieutenant colonel, along with nine members of the assault team; and 39 hostages were freed.
Major attacks in Pakistan since Oct. 5:
Terrorist assault teams attacked the Federal Investigation Agency building, the Manawan police training centre, and the Elite Force Headquarters in Lahore.
A suicide bomber rammed a car into a police station in Kohat, killing eight people, including policemen and children.
A suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives as a military convoy passed through a checkpoint in a market in Alpuri in Shangla. Forty-one people, including six security personnel, were killed in the attack.
An assault team attacked the Army General Headquarters and took 42 security personnel captive. Eleven soldiers were killed, including a brigadier general and a lieutenant colonel, along with nine members of the assault team; and 39 hostages were freed.
A suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives in a bazaar in Peshawar, killing 49 civilians.
A suicide bomber entered the World Food Program office in Islamabad and detonated his vest, killing five UN workers, including an Iraqi.
9 Comments
Lahore is the capital city of Pakistan’s most populous and powerful region, Punjab.
Punjabis are the establishment in Pakistan.
Escalating terror within Punjab, especially conducted by Punjabi groups, is the sign that Islamic Pakistan is becoming a jihadist Pakistan.
Lahore is a important city of Pakistan, assault in Lahore, perhaps this bad thing will enable us to appreciate more deeply the significance of this area.
It seems that the counter-offensive of the Taliban is in full swing finally …
This attack in Lahore will divide the different ethnical groups in Pakistan even further.
Dark times, my friends.
WAR has totally come to Pakistan.
There is no alternative. The US will have to increase it’s efforts to kill leaders of TTP and Al-Qaeda, otherwise things will not really get better.
The Pakistani army can achieve some success, but it’s main inspiration will come from the successes that the US will have in eliminating and killing Taliban and ALQ morale.
Convince the TTP and ALQ footsoldiers to give up by killing their leaders. Decapitation strikes on terrorist leaders is needed NOW more than ever before.
Lahor is only 30 minutes drive to Islamabad( capital of Pakistan ). all these attacks show that Pakistan Government is not able to override Taliban’s assault which means pakistan Intel units /army are more leaning toward taliban rather then helping The Government.
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 10/15/2009 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.
The “decapitation” strategy recommended by Patrick is certainly valid, but with the U.S. vacilating and appeasing the enemy, where is the will to stick with that strategy and others? The situation looks horrendous. Taliban and al Qaeda are winning this, and western leaders are totally impotent. It looks like the only spark that will motivate the U.S. is a major attack on U.S. soil. Dark days indeed.
“Shortly after terrorists struck at the Federal Investigation Agency office and two police training centres, Lahore Commissioner Khusro Pervez blamed the Research and Analysis Wing, India’s external intelligence agency, for terrorist activities across Pakistan.” PTI
Pakistani establishment continues to be in a state of denial. I wonder how a police chief can conduct an objective investigation if he is so quick to jump to a conclusion. Perhaps they will bring out the water hoses – like they did shortly after Benazir’s assasination – to wash away the crime scenes. Why bother with the hard truth when the packaged conspiracy theories work so well with the people?
Sounds to me like the militants are biting the hand of the one who feed it. And it’s quite amazing to see how US has still so much support for Pakistan. This video says it pretty all: http://www.newsy.com/videos/pakistan_attacks_what_it_means_for_the_u_s