பாகிஸ்தான் இஸ்லாமிய பயங்கரவாதம் 15 வயது சிறுவன் தற்கொலையில் 17 பேர் பலி

மினிபஸ்ஸில் பயணம் செய்துகொண்டிருந்த பயணிகள் நடுவே ஒரு 15 வயது சிறுவன் வெடித்ததில் 17 பேர் மரணமடைந்தனர். ஏராளமானோர் காயமடைந்தனர்.

17 killed in latest Pakistan suicide attack
21 hours ago

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — A suicide bomber killed 17 people in northwest Pakistan as police tried to arrest him Tuesday, the latest attack in a wave of violence that is piling pressure on President Pervez Musharraf.

The attacker blew himself up inside a minibus in Dera Ismail Khan, a remote town close to Pakistan's troubled tribal areas -- where the US says Al-Qaeda and the Taliban have been regrouping since the 9/11 attacks exactly six years ago.

Pakistan has suffered a string of bombings since security forces raided the Al-Qaeda-linked Red Mosque in Islamabad in July, adding to the woes facing Musharraf, a key US ally, as he clings to power ahead of upcoming elections.

"It was a suicide attack. Police started chasing him because he was acting suspiciously and he jumped into a minibus before blowing himself up," police chief Mohammad Khaliq told AFP.

"The policemen following him said he looked to be about 15 or 16 years old."

The 17 dead included a policeman, a paramilitary soldier and 15 civilians, one of whom was a woman, he said. Another 16 were injured including four police officials.

Body parts were scattered around the area and the minibus was completely destroyed by the blast, police officer Abdul Hai said from the scene of the attack. Television footage showed pools of blood on the ground.

Police said they believed the bomber was trying to target government or security force officials in the town but blew himself up when he was detected.

The attack came hours after a bomb detonated by pro-Taliban militants damaged a rock engraved with images of Buddha in another part of northwest Pakistan that attracts thousands of tourists yearly, police said.

The incident recalled the internationally condemned destruction of the huge Bamiyan Buddhas in neighbouring Afghanistan by the hardline Taliban regime in 2001 before they were ousted by US-led forces.

Shrapnel from the blast in the town of Malam Jabba in Pakistan's Swat district hit the rock but did not damage the Buddhist images.

In a separate incident, also in Swat, suspected militants late Tuesday shot dead the chief police officer of a local station as he sat inside his car, police said.

Swat is a stronghold of a radical Islamic group with links to Afghanistan's Taliban, and has seen several deadly attacks in recent weeks.

Nearly 250 people have died in extremist attacks since July's Red Mosque crisis, most of which have been suicide bombings. A further 250 militants have been killed in clashes since the mosque standoff, the army says.

Around 30 people were killed a week ago when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, ripping through a military bus and a market near the Pakistani army's headquarters.

Musharraf has been under mounting pressure to tackle Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, who US officials allege have based themselves in the tribal areas along the Afghan border since fleeing there after the events of 9/11.

But the military ruler's mind is also on a swelling political crisis ahead of elections in coming months.

Pakistani authorities on Monday deported former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the man Musharraf ousted in 1999, to Saudi Arabia within hours of his return home from seven years in exile.