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| India-Pakistan |
| Extremist group claims responsibility for deadly suicide attack in Pakistan |
| 2009-09-19 |
| (Xinhua) -- An extremist group has claimed responsibility for Friday's deadly suicide car bomb attack in northwestern Pakistan, in which at least 33 people were killed, a police officer said. A spokesman for the extremist group "Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al-Alami", Usman Haider phoned media organizations that the attack was a revenge of the killing of a cleric Maulana Amin, who was killed in an air strike by the Pakistani forces a few months ago. According to police officer Ali Hasan, a bomber rammed his explosive-filled vehicle with a crowded roadside market in Kohat district at 11 a.m. on Friday, killing 33 people and causing huge destruction to buildings. Hasan said that many shops on both sides of the road collapsed at Kacha Pakha bazaar, some 25 kilometers from Kohat city, and a large number of people were trapped in the buildings. The police officer said that 36 other persons were injured and several of them are in critical condition. Ambulances were sent to the blast site to shift the injured to Kohat city as there is no hospital in the area where the blast had happened, officials said. Officials said that troops were also sent to the area to help the local authorities in relief activities, and heavy machinery was sent to the site to remove debris of the destroyed buildings. Witnesses said that a large number of people were at the markets ahead of the Muslim Eid festival when the bomber exploded his bomb. People traveling to other areas also take buses and coaches from Kacha Pakha area, and some of them were caught in the attack, police said. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemned the blast in Kohat, saying that the government would leave no stone unturned to find the culprits and give them severe punishment under the law. Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani also condemned the suicide blast and expressed deep grief and sorrow over the loss of lives in the incident. The prime minister termed the attack as a cowardly act of terrorism and expressed the government's determination to stamp out the menace of terrorism and militancy from the country. The prime minister asked the concerned authorities to carry out inquiry into the incident and ensure best medical facilities to the injured. |
| Posted by:Fred |