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| India-Pakistan |
| South Wazoo: Suicide boomer kills eight soldiers |
| 2008-11-03 |
| A suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into a checkpoint in South Waziristan on Sunday, killing eight paramilitary troops. The deadly blast occurred near the main gate of the Zalai Fort as Frontier Corps troops gathered nearby, said Maj Gen Athar Abbas, the army's top spokesman. "We have confirmed reports of eight deaths," he said. Four people were wounded. The fort is 20 kilometres outside Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan Agency. The troops were washing their vehicles when the suicide attacker came, two intelligence officials said. They described the explosion as 'large' and said it destroyed the checkpoint and damaged the front wall of the fort. The intelligence officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to media. In a statement, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the suicide attack, saying he 'deplored the loss of innocent lives'. Zardari said in another statement he would 'continue the fight against extremists and terrorists and to make Pakistan a safe place'. The attack came after two missiles fired by a suspected US drone at a Taliban hideout near Wana killed 12 suspected Taliban on Friday. It was the second strike that evening. The first strike was made in the neighbouring North Waziristan, where two missiles hit a pick-up truck and a house west of the town of Mir Ali, killing 20 mainly Arab men, security officials said. Among the dead was an Egyptian Al Qaeda operative, Abu Jihad al-Masri, described by the United States as the terror network's propaganda chief. Washington had offered a one-million-dollar bounty for his death or capture. On Friday, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the house of a senior police official in Mardan. At least eight people were killed. The previous day, Pakistani troops had killed five Taliban and captured an explosives expert known to have links with Afghan Taliban. |
| Posted by:Fred |