Monday, September 6, 2010


6 September 2010 Last updated at 08:39 GMT

Children die as Pakistan suicide bomber targets police

There are reports that police officers are among the casualties
At least three school children are among 17 people killed in a suicide car bombing in north-west Pakistan.
The attacker rammed a pick-up into a police station in Lakki Marwat town, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Books and a schoolbag could be seen in the wreckage. The dead included 11 police officers.
More than 100 people died in attacks on Shia Muslims in Pakistan last week, as violence resumed after flooding. The Pakistani Taliban claimed the attacks.

Analysis

Syed Shoaib HasanBBC News, Karachi
After a lull in violence during the recent floods, Pakistan's militant networks seem to be back in business.
More than 100 people have been killed in bloodshed over the last six days. Initially, the attacks have been sectarian, targeting minority sects.
But with Monday's bombing, the militants once again appear to have the security agencies in their crosshairs.
This comes after a de facto truce between the two sides since Pakistan's army announced in January 2010 that it would not carry out any new offensives against the Taliban.
Although the army has maintained pressure in the areas which it wrested from them, the militants have used the time to regroup and replenish their strength.
The Pakistani Taliban's leadership, including supreme commander Hakimullah Mehsud, is still active.
The militants had said they would not carry out any attacks in the flood-affected areas, and with the waters now receding, more attacks can be expected across Pakistan.
More than 40 people were wounded in Monday's attack in Lakki Marwat.
The bomber reportedly struck a school van before ramming the rear wall of the police station; the building collapsed.
A neighbourhood shop and mosque were also damaged.
Rescue workers and police officials dug through the rubble to reach those trapped.
"Seventeen dead bodies and 45 injured have been brought to our hospital," Dr Ghulam Ali, of Lakki Marwat's main hospital, told news agency AFP by telephone.
Pakistan's security forces have been fighting Taliban and al-Qaeda militants based in the north-west of the country. Members of the Afghan Taliban are also based in the region.
Last week, more than 100 people were killed in suicide bombings at Shia minority processions in Pakistan. On Friday, an attack in Quetta killed 73 people, two days after blasts killed 35 people in Lahore.
The town of Lakki Marwat has previously been the scene of huge bomb attacks by militants, mainly on security personnel and tribesmen allied to them.
The biggest took place on New Year's Day 2010, when more than 100 people died after a suicide bomber blew up a pick-up truck, after crashing into a crowd watching a volleyball match.
(BBC-south asia)
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