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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan: Nationwide security alert after new Taliban threats |
| 2008-08-23 |
| (AKI) - Pakistan was on high alert on Friday after the Taliban threatened to carry out more terrorist attacks across the country. The Interior Ministry has ordered tighter security measures in the country's four provinces following an ominous statement from the leader of Tehrik-i-Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, that the group was planning more suicide attacks. Two suicide bombers killed 70 people and injured at least 80 others when they blew themselves up on Thursday outside the Pakistan Ordinance Factory in the high security town of Wah, near Islamabad. It was described as the deadliest attack on a military installation in the country's history. Interior Ministry sources said on Friday that six suicide bombers from Baitullah Mehsud's group had entered different parts of the country to carry out more terrorist acts in protest against military action in the Bajaur Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas bordering Afghanistan. "We carried out this attack and soon similar blasts will happen all across the world if the military operations do not stop in the Swat Valley and Bajaur," spokesperson for Pakistan's Tehrik-i-Taliban, Moulvi Omar, said in a statement issued to the national media on Thursday. Pakistani Taliban leaders had threatened earlier this month to carry out suicide attacks in major cities, including Karachi and Islamabad, unless the military stopped its offensive against militants. Tehreek's spokesman, Maulvi Umer told Geo News from an undisclosed location that suicide attackers have been sent in different cities including Islamabad, Multan, Lahore and Karachi to target military installations there. He said the Wah suicide blasts were carried out in reaction to the actions against Taliban in Bajaur Agency, the Swat Valley in the North West Frontier Province and other areas. The ministry has directed all four provincial governments and police to strengthen their security and monitoring arrangements. Meanwhile, at least 11 people were killed and 15 others were injured when security forces attacked suspected militant hideouts in Bajaur Agency on Thursday. More than 250,000 people have been displaced by the ongoing conflict. |
| Posted by:Fred |