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| India-Pakistan |
| LJ behind Peshawar blast, say officials |
| 2008-01-19 |
| Security officials said on Friday that they believed militants from a Sunni extremist group linked to Al Qaeda were behind a suicide attack on a Shia mosque in Peshawar that killed at least 10 people on Thursday. The use of a gun and then a suicide blast in Thursday’s attack is the signature method of the banned sectarian outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ), AFP quoted the officials as saying. “The bomber first fired some shots and then blew himself up. The modus operandi is the hallmark of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and it shows they have plans to stoke sectarian hatred,” a senior Peshawar-based security official said. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has strong links to Osama Bin Laden’s network and its members have been convicted of involvement in the 2002 murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl and of several attempts to kill President Pervez Musharraf. Security officials, who asked not to be named, said the group had forged close ties with Baitullah Mehsud, who the government accuses of being an Al Qaeda leader and of masterminding the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. “There is a convergence of interests and militant outfits pool resources. Sometimes member groups can pick up individual targets and LJ is known to thrive on its anti-Shia policy,” he told AFP. |
| Posted by:Fred |