பாகிஸ்தான்: கார் வெடிகுண்டு வெடித்து 8 முஸ்லீம்கள் பலி

பாகிஸ்தான் முஸ்லீம் பயங்கரவாதிகள் முஸ்லீம்களையே தாக்குவதற்காக கார் வெடிகுண்டு வெடித்ததில் 8 முஸ்லீம்கள் பலியானார்கள்

Pakistan car bomb kills eight; lawyers start anti-government protests
Last Updated: Thursday, August 28, 2008 | 11:48 AM ET Comments0Recommend2CBC News
Suspected militants bombed a bus in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, reportedly killing eight people, as protesting lawyers blocked roads across the country in an effort to press the government to reinstate judges purged by former president Pervez Musharraf.

The car bomb exploded in the middle of a long, concrete bridge near the city of Bannu, leaving a large crater.

The bus, which was travelling across the bridge at the time, smashed through a railing on the side of the bridge and tumbled about nine metres into a mostly dry riverbed below.

The bus was en route to a prison to pick up several inmates, said local police chief Jalil Khan.

Seven policemen and an education department official who had hitched a ride were killed, he said.

While there was no immediate claim of responsibility, police said militants were the likely culprits.

Hours earlier, security forces drove off a Taliban attack on a fort and pounded another band of militants holed up in a health centre, officials said Wednesday as fighting spread to new areas in the tribal belt along the Afghan border.

As many as 49 insurgents were reported killed in separate attacks.

More than 200 people have been killed in a cycle of bombings and clashes since longtime U.S. ally Pervez Musharraf quit as president on Aug. 18 to avoid impeachment by the coalition government that triumphed in February's elections

His resignation, nine years after he seized power in a military coup, has caused widespread political and social turmoil.

A week after his departure, the country's second-biggest party, led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, pulled out of the coalition over its failure to restore judges purged by Musharraf last year.

Lawyers renew protests
Meanwhile, lawyers who agitated for more than a year in favour of the judges and against Musharraf led new protests against the government Thursday.

Several thousand demonstrators blocked roads in a string of major cities.

They also chanted slogans against Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's widower and the favorite to replace Musharraf when lawmakers select a new president on Sept. 6.

Protesters destroyed posters of Zardari in Islamabad, and held similar demonstrations in Karachi, Rawalpindi, Quetta and Peshawar, reported Reuters news agency.

However, their numbers were smaller than in the past and Sharif's supporters largely stayed away.

The turmoil has left the main ruling party, once led by slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and now succeeded by Zardari, in a position to dominate the government.

U.S. pressures Pakistan on militant action
U.S. officials have been pressing for more action against insurgent strongholds in Pakistan's wild border region, but Pakistan's military insists it is doing what it can to contain militants and prevent them from moving against NATO and Afghan troops on the other side of the border.

There are also 2,500 Canadian troops stationed in Afghanistan, mostly in the southern Kandahar province.

Pakistani army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani met Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other top American commanders Tuesday to discuss security strategy "in an open and cordial manner," a military statement said.

The gathering was scheduled, it said, but gave no further details.

The New York Times reported that the meeting took place on a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean and focused on co-ordinating counter-insurgency efforts along the Pakistan-Afghan border.

Pakistani officials have sought peace agreements in the border region in hopes of curbing Islamic extremists who have been blamed for a wave of suicide attacks across the country in the past year.

The Pakistani Taliban, meanwhile, are becoming increasingly bold, claiming responsibility for a wave of suicide bombings and gun attacks.

The main ruling party, the Zardari-led Pakistan People's Party, has been hardening its stance on Islamic extremists.

With files from the Associated Press