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Sunday 2 November 2014
Suicide attack kills nearly 54 in eastern Pakistan
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber
detonated explosives near a Pakistani
paramilitary checkpoint near the country's
eastern border with India on Sunday, killing at
least 54 people in the deadliest attack to hit the
country in several months, police and
government officers said.
The explosion hit near the checkpoint at the
Wagah border crossing as hundreds of people
were returning from a military parade on the
outskirts of Lahore, provincial police chief
Mushtaq Sukhera said.
Both the Pakistani and the Indian military
conduct daily parades and flag-flying
ceremonies on their respective sides of the
border. The events draw crowds of hundreds, a
number that would rise into the thousands on a
weekend like Sunday.
The death toll was likely to rise because over
100 people were wounded, with several in
critical condition, Sukhera said.
Police are investigating the bombing, and had
intelligence reports in advance that there could
be such a blast in the city, he added.
Another Lahore officer, Haider Ashraf, said
some paramilitary troops were among the dead
and wounded. The paramilitary forces'
provincial Director General Tahir Javed said
three soldiers died.
Dr. Khurram Shahzad at private Ghurki Trust
hospital said that there were 10 women and
seven children among the dead, and eight
members of a single family. He said several of
them had multiple critical wounds.
Live TV footage on private Pakistani news
channels showed people drenched in blood and
crying in pain as they were evacuated to
hospitals.
At the hospitals, relatives of the dead cried and
beat their chests and heads. "My brothers, my
two brothers," private Geo News TV showed a
man wailing. "They both are dead."
All the officers said they did not know what the
target could have been. Javed, the paramilitary
official, said the bomber exploded hardly 500
meters away from the checkpoint manned by
the paramilitary troops.
Security has been increased in all major
Pakistani cities to thwart possible attacks on
minority Shiite Muslims observing Ashura, a 10-
day ritual to commemorate the death of Imam
Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad.
But, Haider, the police officer, said there was no
such Shiite processions happening in the area
where the bombing took place.
Jamatul Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani
Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Pakistani Taliban are made up of several local
militant groups.
Ahrar was set up some months ago by half a
dozen militant commanders who previously
worked for the outfit but had evolved
differences with its chief.
Its spokesman, Ahsanullah Ahsan, said the
suicide attack was part of the militants' war
against the government and their attempts to
enforce their version of Islamic law in the
country. "We will continue such attacks," he told
an Associated Press reporter by phone from an
undisclosed location.
The militants have been waging a war against
the state for over a decade, aiming to topple the
government, killing thousands of Pakistanis.
At present, the Pakistani army is fighting the
militants in their last safe haven, in the tribal
area of North Waziristan where they say they
have killed over 1,200 insurgents.
The militants have been on the run, some of
them relocating them to other tribal areas and
others managing to escape to neighboring
Afghanistan.
The suicide bombing was the deadliest attack in
Pakistan since the military launched the
offensive in mid-June.
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