Buchanan
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- May 19, 2009
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At least 105 people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked a volleyball tournament in a pro- government town in northwest Pakistan yesterday, police and rescue workers said.
More than 100 people were also wounded in the explosion, Edhi ambulance service spokesman Mujahid Khan said by telephone from Peshawar.
"A building collapsed because of the blast, and we are busy trying to rescue the injured," police officer Mazher Hussain Shah said in a telephone interview from Lakki Marwat, where the incident occurred.
The residents of the town have been supporting the Pakistani government's efforts to suppress Taliban militants responsible for killing thousands of civilians in terror attacks in 2009, Lakki Marwat Police Chief Mohammed Ayub said in a phone interview. Pakistan's military is battling the Taliban in South Waziristan and Swat Valley in the nation's northwest border regions adjacent to Afghanistan.
On Dec. 28, at least 43 people were killed and 100 were injured in a suicide bomb attack during a religious procession in Karachi. It was the deadliest bombing in the city since 170 people were killed in an attack on slain leader Benazir Bhutto's homecoming procession in October 2007.
The Obama administration, in a statement yesterday by National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer, called the attack "the latest in a series of senseless incidents of violence" against Pakistani citizens.
Confronting Extremists
"We extend our condolences to those injured and to the next-of-kin of those killed -- several of which appear to be young children," Hammer said in the statement. "Pakistan is an important U.S. ally and we are committed to working together to confront extremists that threaten both our countries."
The British Foreign Office condemned the attack and said it would continue to work with Pakistan to fight violent extremism.
"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," the Foreign Office said in an e-mailed statement.
--With assistance from Courtney Schlisserman in Washington and Gaurav Singh in New Delhi. Editors: Dick Schumacher, Andrea Snyder.
SOURCE: http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...-80-at-volleyball-tournament-in-pakistan.html
More than 100 people were also wounded in the explosion, Edhi ambulance service spokesman Mujahid Khan said by telephone from Peshawar.
"A building collapsed because of the blast, and we are busy trying to rescue the injured," police officer Mazher Hussain Shah said in a telephone interview from Lakki Marwat, where the incident occurred.
The residents of the town have been supporting the Pakistani government's efforts to suppress Taliban militants responsible for killing thousands of civilians in terror attacks in 2009, Lakki Marwat Police Chief Mohammed Ayub said in a phone interview. Pakistan's military is battling the Taliban in South Waziristan and Swat Valley in the nation's northwest border regions adjacent to Afghanistan.
On Dec. 28, at least 43 people were killed and 100 were injured in a suicide bomb attack during a religious procession in Karachi. It was the deadliest bombing in the city since 170 people were killed in an attack on slain leader Benazir Bhutto's homecoming procession in October 2007.
The Obama administration, in a statement yesterday by National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer, called the attack "the latest in a series of senseless incidents of violence" against Pakistani citizens.
Confronting Extremists
"We extend our condolences to those injured and to the next-of-kin of those killed -- several of which appear to be young children," Hammer said in the statement. "Pakistan is an important U.S. ally and we are committed to working together to confront extremists that threaten both our countries."
The British Foreign Office condemned the attack and said it would continue to work with Pakistan to fight violent extremism.
"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," the Foreign Office said in an e-mailed statement.
--With assistance from Courtney Schlisserman in Washington and Gaurav Singh in New Delhi. Editors: Dick Schumacher, Andrea Snyder.
SOURCE: http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...-80-at-volleyball-tournament-in-pakistan.html
