Spring Break
Diplomat escapes gun attack
Riaz Kahn
Issue date: 8/27/08 Section: News
Senior police official Ahmed Latif described it as a low-intensity bomb and said it was unclear why the site was chosen. The casualties included truckers and laborers and not security forces, which tend to be target of militant attacks, Latif said.
The United States and other Western nations have been nervously watching the ruling coalition unravel since close ally Musharraf resigned last week after nearly nine years in power to avoid the humiliation of impeachment.
A decision by the coalition's second largest party to quit the government Monday could concentrate power in the hands of a more-Western leaning party that says it is committed to supporting the U.S.-led war against extremist groups.
The government immediately announced a ban on the Pakistani Taliban - blamed for the wave of suicide bombings - and it rejected a cease-fire offer from militants in the Bajur tribal region, where the army has been on the offensive for several weeks. The fighting in Bajur has reportedly killed hundreds of people and caused 200,000 to abandon their homes.
Washington has pledged $750 million toward a five-year drive to develop impoverished areas along Pakistan's frontier with Afghanistan, which it hopes will reduce extremism.
Militant activity is rampant in parts of northwest Pakistan, which is a rumored hiding place for Osama bin Laden and where U.S. officials say insurgents have found havens allowing them to mount attacks across the border in Afghanistan.
Pakistan, where anti-American sentiment runs deep, is considered a hardship posting for U.S. diplomats, with many coming for one-year stints without family. Attacks on Western targets do occur, but ones targeting individual diplomats are relatively unusual.
Talat Masood, a political and military analyst, said that could start to change.
"I think (foreign diplomats) have to be very careful" he said, especially as the army intensifies its offensive in the tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan. "They should take a low profile; their movements should be restricted during this period."
The United States and other Western nations have been nervously watching the ruling coalition unravel since close ally Musharraf resigned last week after nearly nine years in power to avoid the humiliation of impeachment.
A decision by the coalition's second largest party to quit the government Monday could concentrate power in the hands of a more-Western leaning party that says it is committed to supporting the U.S.-led war against extremist groups.
The government immediately announced a ban on the Pakistani Taliban - blamed for the wave of suicide bombings - and it rejected a cease-fire offer from militants in the Bajur tribal region, where the army has been on the offensive for several weeks. The fighting in Bajur has reportedly killed hundreds of people and caused 200,000 to abandon their homes.
Washington has pledged $750 million toward a five-year drive to develop impoverished areas along Pakistan's frontier with Afghanistan, which it hopes will reduce extremism.
Militant activity is rampant in parts of northwest Pakistan, which is a rumored hiding place for Osama bin Laden and where U.S. officials say insurgents have found havens allowing them to mount attacks across the border in Afghanistan.
Pakistan, where anti-American sentiment runs deep, is considered a hardship posting for U.S. diplomats, with many coming for one-year stints without family. Attacks on Western targets do occur, but ones targeting individual diplomats are relatively unusual.
Talat Masood, a political and military analyst, said that could start to change.
"I think (foreign diplomats) have to be very careful" he said, especially as the army intensifies its offensive in the tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan. "They should take a low profile; their movements should be restricted during this period."
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