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| India-Pakistan |
| Bomb attack leaves 19 dead in Khyber Agency |
| 2010-02-11 |
| [Dawn] The focus of intense fighting between security forces and Taliban suddenly shifted to Khyber Agency on Wednesday when 15 security personnel, a brigadier and a pilot among them, and seven civilians lost their lives in a gun attack, a suicide bombing and a helicopter crash. The brigadier was killed and two other officers, a major and a lieutenant, were injured when Taliban insurgents ambushed an army rescue party searching for bodies of the pilot and a gunner of a helicopter gunship which had crashed in the Tirah valley. Names of the brigadier and the injured major and lieutenant could not be ascertained. In the suicide attack on a Khasadar patrol vehicle in Jamrud tehsil, 11 Khasadars, a captain and seven civilians were killed and 11 people were injured. The powerful blast destroyed the vehicle on the main Peshawar-Torkham road near a police checkpoint. Three other vehicles were heavily damaged by flying shrapnel. The shoes and slippers of the victims were scattered across the blood-spattered road. Jamrud's Assistant Political Agent Rehan Khattak confirmed that 11 Khasadar personnel, an officer identified as Captain Salim and seven civilians, three tribal elders among them, had died in the attack. The army was deployed in Tirah before the invasion of Afghanistan by US-led allied forces. The valley is a stronghold of local and foreign terrorists and security forces have been trying to flush them out of the area. The sources said that the army team led by the brigadier was going to the area where the military helicopter gunship had crashed in Nangrosa area because of a technical fault. Army officer Col Nadeem told Dawn that the helicopter had crashed in Nangrosa locality because of bad weather. It was on a routine surveillance in the area. Rahat Gul, an official of the Khyber Political Administration, told Dawn that people who died in the suicide bombing included Zarmat Khan, a line officer of Jamrud subdivision. It is a crowded place because of its proximity with Peshawar's Karkhano market with a large number of shops dealing in foreign goods. Local resident Irfan Afridi said he had seen a man running towards the Khasadar vehicle and then he heard a huge blast. The vehicle, with some 15 Khasadar personnel, was on a routine patrol. Line Officer Zarmat Khan and six other Khasadar personnel died on the spot, said Taimour Khan, another witness. The injured included journalist Amjad Khan whose condition was said to be stable. There was no claim of responsibility but Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked insurgents have killed around 3,000 people in bomb attacks across Pakistan since July 2007. |
| Posted by:Fred |