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| India-Pakistan |
| 'Schoolboy' bomber kills 31 at Pakistani army base |
| 2011-02-10 |
| The BBC's Aleem Maqbool said the bomber was reportedly dressed in school uniform A suicide bomber has attacked an army facility in Pakistan's troubled north-west, killing at least 31 people and injuring 40 others, officials say. Police described the bomber, who struck in the city of Mardan, as a male teenager dressed in school uniform. He attacked as recruits conducted morning exercises. Correspondents say there has been a relative lull in the number of attacks on the army in the region, where Taliban militants are active. A Taliban spokesman said the militants had carried out the bombing. The Mardan bombing points to the continuing ability of militants in the north-west to strike at high security locations. The use of a bomber in his late teens is not unusual, but the fact that he wore the uniform of a college located inside the military area helped him slip past at least six security checkpoints before hitting his target. The Taliban have been trying to launch an attack within the Mardan cantonment, or military area, since 2008. In May that year, a suicide bomber blew himself up near a bakery in the cantonment after he failed to get through a police checkpoint. In July 2010, a group of militants scaled the rear walls of the cantonment to launch a gun and bomb attack, but were beaten back by the police and troops. The latest attack comes after a long lull, and days after the army launched an operation in the nearby Mohmand tribal region. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack on the Punjab Regiment Centre. "Such cowardly attacks cannot affect the morale of the security agencies and the resolve of the nation to eradicate terrorism," he said in a statement. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #2 ....resolve of the nation to eradicate terrorism. When your country is suffering from multiple personality disorder, I do not see where the resolve comes from. Empty words. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2011-02-10 11:02 |
| #1 "Such cowardly attacks cannot affect the morale of the security agencies and the resolve of the nation to eradicate terrorism," he said in a statement. IOW: Lives are cheap. If the recruits don't care because they think they are going to go see Allan, then we aren't changing our inshallah ways. |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-02-10 10:20 |