Militant violence leaves 54 dead in Pakistan (2nd Roundup)

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.