Islamabad - At least 54 people, most of them Taliban but
also two policemen, were killed in airstrikes, clashes, a roadside
bombing and suicide attack within the previous 24 hours in
north-western Pakistan, officials said Thursday.
The latest violence came as Pakistan is wrapping up its more
than four-week military offensive in Swat and three nearby districts
in North-West Frontier Province and preparing for a major ground
assault to hunt down Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in the adjoining
lawless tribal district of South Waziristan.
At least one person died and 28 were injured Thursday when a
suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest rammed his motorbike into a
bus in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, adjacent to the capital,
Islamabad.
'It was apparently a suicide attack,' city police chief Nasir
Durrani said. 'The attacker hit the fuel tank but failed to make it
explode.'
Durrani earlier said five to six people died in the bombing but
later on he held that there was confirmation of only one death.
The Dawn news channel said the bus was carrying the employees
of a military-run nuclear facility, the Kahuta Research Laboratory.
The bombing appeared to be part of a series of attacks the
Taliban have carried out recently to avenge the operation in Swat,
where troops killed 23 militants since Wednesday.
Security forces also demolished two terrorist hideouts and
recovered eight rifles and four pistols, a military statement said
Thursday.
The Swat operation, which was launched in late April when the
insurgents failed to observe a peace accord has so far killed
more than 1,600 Taliban fighters, by government accounts, forcing the
rest to either flee to the mountains or other militant strongholds,
particularly in the tribal region.
Separately, a remote-controlled bomb struck a police patrol
unit Thursday on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of North-West
Frontier Province, which adjoins the tribal region, shortly after
dawn when officers were responding to an emergency call.
'The driver of the patrol car died on the spot while two
constables and two passers-by were wounded,' local police officer
Riazul Islam said. The injured were taken to a hospital, where one
officer died.
The bombing followed overnight attacks by helicopter gunships
on the hideouts of Islamist militants in the Khyber tribal district,
which borders Peshawar.
The aerial raids were conducted in retaliation for the killing
of a pro-government tribal elder, Malik Guli Shah, and his two guards
by gunmen in Khyber.
'Our three helicopters engaged several positions of Lashkar-e-
Islam in the Sandapal and Akakhel areas of the Tirah Valley
late Wednesday,' said Wajid Ali, a spokesman for the paramilitary
Frontier Corps.
'According to our information, 28 terrorists, including an
important commander, died and around a dozen more were injured,' he
said. 'Five vehicles used by the insurgents were also destroyed.'
Lashkar-e-Islam is a Taliban group led by the warlord Mangal
Bagh, who is also believed to be behind attacks on the NATO supply
route running through the mountainous district and strikes on
Pakistani security personnel in the area.
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