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| India-Pakistan |
| Bomb hits Pak air force truck: 14 killed |
| 2008-08-13 |
| A roadside bomb hit a Pakistan air force truck in a northwestern city yesterday, killing as many as 14 people including a 5-year-old girl, as the military pounded insurgent positions in a nearby tribal region. The blast hit the vehicle on a bridge on the outskirts of Peshawar, provincial police Chief Malik Naveed Khan said. The truck was travelling between the city and the nearby air force base in Badaber. Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said al-Qaeda-linked militants were likely behind the attack. He said Pakistan had been taking action against Taliban militants, but did not say whether Tuesday's attack could be a response to recent military operations in the region. "It is our firm resolve that we will root out terrorism from Pakistan, and all of our security agencies are working together to achieve this goal," he told The Associated Press. The powerful explosion tore a large hole in the bridge, reducing the Mazda truck to a smouldering wreck. The site was littered with debris, blood and also the mangled wreckage of a motorcycle. A crowd of bystanders gathered at the scene as victims were ferried away in ambulances. Firefighters hosed down the blackened carcass of the truck, and air force investigators gathered evidence. An AP Television News cameraman at the scene said he saw at least 12 dead bodies and about a dozen wounded people. He said the victims included civilians. There were varying accounts of the toll. Provincial government spokesman Mian Iftikhar Hussain said 14 people were killed in all, mostly air force personnel, and more than 12 people were wounded. It came as Pakistani army gunship helicopters shelled suspected militant positions early Tuesday in the Bajur tribal area, which has been wracked by fighting since last week. Pakistani warplanes killed at least six civilians in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan on Monday after fierce clashes in which more than 50 Taliban militants were killed, officials said. Jets pounded suspected Islamist hideouts after rebels attacked two security posts overnight, but some bombs hit civilian houses in the Bajaur tribal zone, a known haunt of al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, local security officials said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 A similar incident occured involving Air Force members who were boarding a bus a couple of years ago. Payback raids were launched in the Wazoos a few weeks later. |
| Posted by: McZoid 2008-08-13 05:47 |