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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan: Siege suspects interrogated |
| 2009-04-01 |
| (AKI) - Pakistani interrogators on Tuesday grilled four suspects, including an Afghan, captured during Monday's deadly police academy siege in Manawan on the outskirts of Lahore. Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack. Eighteen people, including two civilians, eight policemen and eight militants, were killed and 95 people injured during an eight-hour battle between gunmen and security forces to regain control of the academy, according to the interior ministry. Seven police cadets, a civilian and four attackers died in the assault, in which the militants were armed with guns, hand grenades and explosives vests. It was the second gun attack on Lahore this month, sparking fears that violence is seeping out of the lawless tribal areas on the Afghan border and into the heart of Pakistan. The chief suspects in the high-level investigation are either homegrown groups or Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants holed up in the tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan. Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik talked about possible 'foreign hands.' The police academy attack took place near the border with India. "Terrorists are coming from Fata. They get help from across the border,' he said. 'Where do they get weapons and new vehicles?" he said. Rehman urged the country to unite against insurgents, warning it had a choice between letting the Taliban take over and uniting to fight them. Pakistan's integrity was "in danger," he said. Mourners gathered for funeral prayers for seven of the dead at a police building in central Lahore on Tuesday. The coffins, wrapped in Pakistani flags, were lined up under a canopy. Heavy security was in place for the funerals and armed commandos were deployed on rooftops around the building. Police have been criticised for being 'soft' targets for extremists attacking the security forces in Pakistan. "The attack is yet another reminder of the threat that Pakistan faces from violent extremism," said British foreign minister David Miliband. "It is a threat that the international community must help Pakistan to tackle, in the interests both of Pakistan's people and of wider stability," he added. The Manawan attack came four weeks after gunmen ambushed the Sri Lankan cricket team's bus in Lahore, killing eight people before calmly walking off unchallenged. Pakistani officials said the attack against the Sri Lankan cricket side bore the hallmarks of the November 2008 assault on Mumbai. Around 170 people died in the attack, blamed on Pakistani militants. United States president Barack Obama's new stategy has put Pakistan at the heart of the fight against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 DAVEUK, i was about too say where is HRW bitching and moaning because i'm sure they are using techniques a little different from waterboarding. O r do they only make a fuss when it is the US? |
| Posted by: Mt Dew addiction 2009-04-01 14:15 |
| #2 The Afghan is the designated punching bag, I suspect. The Pakis will vanish into the mists of the ISI. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2009-04-01 11:56 |
| #1 I do hope the Paki`s do not abuse the Human Rights of these freedom fighters, that would be just too awful to contemplate. |
| Posted by: Dave UK 2009-04-01 09:46 |