| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Bungled suicide attack injures 8 soldiers in Swat |
| 2008-01-08 |
| At least eight security personnel and four civilians were injured when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden car near a military facility in the troubled Swat valley on Monday. Security forces resorted to indiscriminate aerial fire in all directions after the incident, resulting in the killing of a college student named Imran Khan, residents told Daily Times. However, Col Nadeem, the head of the Media Information Centre, rejected the eyewitness accounts as baseless. Security forces had not killed a civilian, he said. Nadeem said eight security personnel sustained minor injuries in the attack. The blast damaged a small portion of the boundary wall of the technical college located opposite the Frontier House, he added. The suicide bomber made his way from the Sar Senai area to Kabal tehsil and detonated the explosives planted in his car in front of a security forces’ resthouse, the Frontier House Kabal, after he failed to penetrate the military facility. “At 11:15 hours today, a suicide bomber in a single cabin pickup exploded himself on the gate of Technical College near Kabal Golf Course,” the Inter Services Public Relations statement said, NNI reported. It said that two civilians including the principal of the college were also injured seriously in the attack. APP reported official sources as saying an explosive-laden Datsun parked close to the main gate was most probably detonated by miscreants by remote control. The agency quoted police as saying no evidence of a suicide attack had been found. Militants followed up on the suicide attack by firing a rocket on the Kabal Golf Ground. However, no casualties were reported in the second attack. An indefinite curfew was imposed in Kabal after the incidents. Troops consolidating, advancing: Meanwhile, troops targeted militant positions in the Totano Bandai and Manja areas on Sunday night, but no Taliban casualties were reported. Nadeem said security forces were consolidating their positions at Venai Bridge and Chaparyal, where a junction point has been established to block the re-entry of militants in the areas. The military established security posts in the two areas after their advance on Sunday. Security forces also engaged miscreants in a gun battle in areas close to Peochar last night. There are reports of heavy militant casualties and demolition of their hideouts, APP reported. According to Col Nadeem, security forces are advancing towards the strongholds of rebellious cleric Maulana Fazlullah at Gat Peochar. A curfew was in place in areas near Chaparyal and Venai Bridge. However, curfew hours were relaxed on Monday in areas between Mingora, Khwazakhela and Kalam. Buner blast: In another blast in Buner district, miscreants blew up 18 shops in the Jorre area at 3:40am, causing substantial damages, official sources and witnesses said. |
| Posted by:Fred |