Suicide bomber kills four in Peshawar; 16 militants killed - dnaindia.com

Suicide bomber kills four in Peshawar; 16 militants killed - dnaindia.com

The wave of homicide bombings continues
unabatted in Pakistan.


Islamabad/ Peshawar: Violence continued to grip Pakistan's lawless northwest as heavy clashes between Taliban fighters and Army took a toll of 16 militants, as a suicide bomber blew up his explosive laden truck at a police station in Peshawar killing another four people.

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Carrying out the seventh suicide attack in ten days, a militant bomber targeted a police station at Badabher on the outskirts of Peshawar in the restive NWFP just after dawn killing four persons and wounding 31 others, police said.

Hospital sources said two women, nine children and two paramilitary personnel were among the injured which took the toll of those killed in the provincial capital to 302 civilians and security personnel in the last 30 days.

Stepping up their hunt for Taliban and foreign militants, intelligence agencies claimed to have nabbed a top Tehrik-i-Taliban militant from the Punjab province and also seized a explosive laden truck on its way to Peshawar from Lahore, media reports said.

Pakistani troops killed four militants in fresh clashes in the northwestern Swat valley even as they consolidated their positions around key Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan tribal region, the military said. Twelve militants were killed in the valley located 160 km from Islamabad over the past two days.

A top foreign Taliban leader was captured from a city in Punjab was while he was preparing to carry out terror attacks in the province. The arrested Taliban leader, identified only by his initials "NAZ", was nabbed after being tailed byintelligence agencies for a week.

Even as these reports commented that the Pakistani forces in their almost six-month long military campaign had failed to nab any top ranking Taliban or al-Qaeda commander.

Security forces killed four militants during a gun battle that erupted while they were conducting a search operation near Gulibagh, a former militant stronghold.

Four suspects were captured during search operations at two other areas in Swat. The city has witnessed an upsurge in clashes between soldiers and militants after a relative lull during the past few weeks.

A leader of the Awami National Party and his bodyguard were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in northwest Pakistan today, police said.

In South Waziristan, troops strengthened their positions in areas around the former Taliban strongholds of Sararogha, Kaniguram and Makeen.

Soldiers occupied important heights around Sararogha and sanitised several villages. Militants targeted troops with rockets and small arms at two places near Kaniguram.

The soldiers "effectively responded" to the attack, said a statement issued by the military. There were no reports of casualties. Security forces cleared a vital road near Ladha, a former Taliban stronghold, and found and destroyed amilitant training centre, a hideout and a tunnel in areas around Kaniguram.

Troops also conducted search operations and occupied strategic heights near Makeen. The Pakistani military says over 545 militants and more than 60 soldiers have died so far in fighting in South Waziristan though these figures cannot be independently verified as reporters have no access to the conflict zone.

The army has mobilised over 30,000 troops for Operation Rah-e-Nijat (Path to Salvation), which was launched nearly a month ago to flush out an estimated 10,000 Taliban and foreign fighters from South Waziristan.




http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_four-killed-31-injured-in-peshawar-suicide-bombing_1312228