Learn Chinese - Truce over, Pakistan militants kill 73

WORLD / Asia-Pacific

Truce over, Pakistan militants kill 73

(AP)
Updated: 2007-07-16 08:30

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Militants in northwest Pakistan disavowed a peace
pact with the government and launched two days of suicide attacks and
bombings that killed at least 73 people, dramatically escalating the
violence in the al-Qaida infiltrated region.

Pakistani volunteers remove a dead body from the site of suicide bombing
in Swat, a mountainous area of Pakistans North West Frontier Province
bordering Afghanistan, Sunday, July 15, 2007. [AP]

The attacks Sunday and Saturday followed strident calls by extremists to
avenge the government's bloody storming of Islamabad's Red Mosque and a
declaration of jihad, or holy war, by at least one pro-Taliban cleric.

Termination of the peace treaty, the hopeful handiwork of President Gen.
Pervez Musharraf, puts even greater pressure on the military leader as he
struggles with both Islamic extremists and a gathering pro-democracy
movement.

There is concern in Pakistan that the gathering sense of crisis could
prompt Musharraf to cancel elections later this year and declare a state
of emergency - despite his repeated denials.

However, Musharraf can also use the turbulence to convince Washington,
his key backer, that he remains a vital bulwark against extremists in the
Islamic world's only declared nuclear state.

The US national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, expressed concern
Sunday about the threat from militants in Pakistan, but supported
Musharraf's recent responses.

"He has a safe haven problem in an area of his country where Pakistan's
central government has really not been present for decades or even
generations. It is a problem for him," Hadley told CNN's "Late Edition."

But in a separate interview on Fox News Sunday, Hadley acknowledged that
the United States was dissatisfied with Musharraf's policies.

"The action has at this point not been adequate, not effective," Hadley
said. "He's doing more. We are urging him to do more, and we're providing
our full support to what he's contemplating."

Abdullah Farhad, a militant spokesman, said the 10-month-old cease-fire
was being terminated in North Waziristan, a remote area on the Afghan
border where the US worries that al-Qaida has regrouped.

He said Taliban leaders made the decision after the government failed to
abide by their demand to withdraw troops from checkpoints by Sunday
afternoon. He also accused authorities of launching attacks and failing
to compensate those harmed.

"The peace agreement has ended," Farhad told reporters in Peshawar, the
capital of North West Frontier Province.

The government deployed thousands of troops to restive areas of the
province in recent days in hopes of stemming a backlash to the storming
of the radical Red Mosque.

But they failed to protect themselves Sunday against suicide attacks and
a roadside bomb which together killed 44 people and wounded more than 100.

Two suicide bombers and a roadside bomb struck a military convoy in Swat,
a mountainous area northeast of Peshawar, killing 18 people and wounding
47, a government official said, citing an official report being sent to
Islamabad.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to speak with the media, said two explosive-laden vans driven
rammed the convoy near the town of Matta. He said seven civilians also
died.

Bodies and the wounded were pulled from the shattered military vehicles.
Helmets, an engine, and pieces of twisted metal were strewn over a wide
area, some of it stained with blood.

Television footage showed about half a dozen roadside houses also
destroyed by the blasts. People dug four corpses out of the rubble, among
them a young girl.

In the day's second attack, a suicide bomber targeted scores of people
taking medical and written exams for recruitment to the police force in
the city of Dera Ismail Khan. The blast killed 26 people and wounded 35,
said police officer Habibur Rahman.

More than 150 people were on the grounds of the police headquarters when
the bomber struck. Police said the bomber's head and suicide vest were
found.

On Saturday, at least 26 soldiers were killed and 54 wounded in a suicide
car bombing north of Miran Shah, North Waziristan's main town, the army
said.

Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said the government was investigating
whether the attacks were related to the Red Mosque operation.

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