Missile attack at militant centre kills 8 in Pakistan (Roundup)

South Asia News

Jun 30, 2008, 12:23 GMT

Islamabad - At least eight people were killed Monday in a suspected missile attack on a central office of a militant organization in Pakistan's Khyber tribal district, where government forces have launched an offensive to quell Islamic insurgency. The strike, which took place before dawn, destroyed the compound housing the headquarters of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Movement, a religious group headed by radical cleric Haji Namdar in the Bara area of Khyber district. The residents said the missile was fired from a US pilotless plane. 'We heard two planes flying in the area and then there was a huge explosion,' said Wali Mohammed. However, a local official claimed the blast was caused by the explosives inside the building. Eight bodies and nine injured had so far been pulled out of the rubble. Namdar is associated with pro-Taliban militants and reportedly provides them with sanctuaries and arms to target convoys in Khyber Agency carrying supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan. A few months ago he deserted the Taliban briefly to support the government, but reconciled with the rebels after surviving a suicide attack on May 1 that injured 25 of his followers. Following Monday's missile attack, he told DawnNews television channel he did not know who carried it out. However, a spokesman of top Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud claimed the missile was fired by American forces. 'We will definitely take revenge for it,' Maulvi Omar told reporters in Peshawar by telephone from an undisclosed location. The strike came as Pakistani security forces continued their offensive in the Khyber district, destroying the centres of another militant commander, Mangal Bagh, whose armed followers were threatening neighbouring Peshawar, the capital of North-West Frontier Province. Paramilitary troops from the Frontier Corps, which faced little resistance from the rebels, mainly because they announced that they were not willing to fight against Pakistani forces, unearthed a privately-run jail and a torture cell, the officials claimed. A pirated FM radio station used by the militants for propaganda was also blown up. The government had initially offered peace talks to several militant organizations after it took over in March but was forced to take strict security measures when Bagh's men infiltrated Peshawar. They threatened barbers and the owners of music and video shops to stop their trades, which the group believes are un-Islamic. A spokesman for Mehsud said the Taliban had scrapped peace deals and was suspending negotiations with the government, raising fears of a renewed suicide bombing campaign that has killed some 4,000 people over the last 15 months. On Monday, a Pakistan Air Force F-7 fighter plane created a sonic boom as it broke the sound-barrier, causing panic in the capital and its adjoining garrison city of Rawalpindi, which has seen several deadly suicide attacks over the last year. Meanwhile, Richar Boucher, US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, was on Monday discussing with Pakistani leaders various security issues, including peace talks with militants that have raised concerns in Washington. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani assured the visiting official that the country would never 'negotiate with militants nor allow foreigners to use our soil against another country.' He said that the government had received a lot of public support for the action being taken against the militants in tribal areas during the last couple of days, according an official statement released after a meeting between the two in Islamabad.

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Nadeem AsgharJun 30th, 2008 - 14:52:46

Pakistani Forces should have such action long ago. The opposition leaders and the pesuo-intellectuals present in the media are misteaching the masses with regard to Taliban. They argue that Pakistani Forces should not launch any military action on them because they are Pakistani people. All of this is rubbish. The leaders of Taliban and Taliban-like groups are not Pakistani. If workers of such groups are Pakistanis then should they be left free to commit suicide attacks???

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Missile attack at militant centre kills 8 in Pakistan (Roundup)

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