486 dead, 1,573 injured in suicide attacks since 2007

Sunday, May 31, 2009 By Salman Aslam LAHORE AT least 486 people, including army, navy and police officials, had lost their lives and 1,573 injured in suicide attacks in Punjab since 2007 to date. The data collected by The News reveals that around 108 people were killed and 584 injured during suicide attacks across Punjab in 2009, while 274 people were killed and 722 injured in 2008. No less than 107 people were killed and 279 injured in suicide attacks in 2007. On February 5, 2009, 32 people were killed and 48 others injured when a suspected suicide bomber blew himself amidst a crowd of worshippers outside a mosque in Dera Ghazi Khan. Police said the blast targeted dozens of people converging on the Al Hussainia Mosque after dark, shortly before a religious gathering. Police blamed sectarian extremists for the incident. The explosion occurred just 50 feet short of the mosque. On March 16, 2009, around 15 people were killed and 25 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a busy bus stand at Pirwadhai in Rawalpindi. It was believed that the original target of the bomber could have been the participants of the ‘long march’. The suicide bomber riding a on a motorbike blew himself up outside a restaurant, which was set up close to a cab stand. On March 23, 2009, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of the headquarters of the Special Branch (SB), an intelligence agency of the Federal Capital Police, in Sitara Market, killing himself and a policeman. Two police officials were wounded in the attack. Over 120 personnel of the Special Branch lived on the premises of the SB headquarters and most of them were present in their barracks at that time. Police Constable Faisal Khan, deployed at the main gate of the headquarters, reportedly got hold of the suicide bomber when he was advancing towards the barracks. The bomber detonated the bomb, killing both of them. On April 04, 2009, eight Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel were killed, and seven others injured, when a suicide bomber blew himself up at an FC check post on the Margalla Road in Islamabad. The blast, which took place at 7:35pm, was followed by an exchange of fire between FC personnel and unidentified accomplices of the suicide attacker. The crossfire continued for around 20 minutes. On April 5, 2009, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of an imambargah in Chakwal, killing 24 people, including three children, and injuring 140 others, at a religious gathering. The target was the gathering of around 800 people in an imambargah in Muhallah Sarpak. The majlis ended at 12:15pm and people were preparing to leave the imambargah when a 15-year old boy, who looked like an Afghan, stormed into the crowd and blew himself up. On May 27, 2009, no less than 27 people, including ISI and police officials wee killed while over 362 injured when an explosive laden vehicle was detonated amidst ISI and Rescue 15 buildings at Fatima Jinnah Road. As per data of suicide attacks carried out during 2008, on January 10, at least 24 people, including 17 policemen, were killed and 80 others injured in a suicide bomb blast outside the Lahore High Court, minutes before the arrival of an anti-government lawyers’ procession. The blast ripped through GPO Chowk in front of the Lahore High Court as the suicide bomber walked up to around 60 riot police - who had gathered there ahead of a demonstration against President General Pervez Musharraf’s government - and blew himself up. Around 200 lawyers were inside the High Court at the time of the blast, and others were marching from a nearby district court. On February 4, at least ten people were killed and around 10 others wounded when a suicide bomber crashed his bike into an armed forces bus carrying students and officials of Army Medical College, near the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi. An eyewitness said the suicide bomber hit the 30-seater bus in front of National Logistic Cell offices close to the GHQ, blowing away the roof, windows and doors of the bus. Several other vehicles were also damaged. A van carrying schoolchildren was also partially damaged, but the children remained unhurt. On February 25, a suicide bomber killed eight people, including the Pakistan Army’s surgeon general, in Rawalpindi - the highest-ranking military official killed since the country joined the US-led war on terror. Lieutenant General Mushtaq Baig, surgeon general and director general of army’s medical services, died after a teenage suicide bomber blew himself up next to a military convoy on a busy road in Rawalpindi. Five civilians were also killed, while 25 others were injured, an army statement said. On March 4, eight people were killed and 24 others injured when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the parking area of the Pakistan Navy War College in Lahore. The incident occurred at around 1:10pm when classes in the Pakistan Navy War College were in progress. Five Navy officials and two suicide bombers died on the spot while one Navy official succumbed to injuries at a hospital. On March 11, at least 30 people were killed and more than 200 injured in suicide blasts at the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) headquarters and an advertising agency office in Lahore. The first attack was carried out at the FIA regional headquarters on Temple Road, severely damaging the eight-storey establishment and adjacent buildings. The building also housed the offices of a special US-trained unit created to counter terrorism. The second attack was carried out on Bungalow No 83/F in Model Town - the office of an advertising agency. Two children and a gardener died in the bombing and about 12 people were injured. On June 2, a suspected suicide bomber blew up his car outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad, killing at least eight persons and injuring 30 others. The Danish foreign minister said a Pakistani cleaner employed at the embassy and a Danish citizen of Pakistani origin had died and three other local employees were hurt, but the embassy’s four Danish staffers were unharmed. On July 6, 20 people, including 15 policemen, were killed and more than 40 people injured in a suicide attack near Melody Market area of Islamabad. The suicide bomber targeted policemen deployed at a rally observing the first anniversary of an army raid on the Lal Masjid in Islamabad. On August 13, a suicide blast in Lahore killed at least nine persons and injured more than 35, targeting policemen standing guard on the eve of the Independence Day. The attack took place at the busy Dubai Chowk in the Allama Iqbal Town area at around 11:34pm, as citizens poured into streets before midnight to celebrate the 61st anniversary of Pakistan’s independence, which falls on August 14. Among the dead were two policemen and a woman. On August 21, two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the gates of the Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) in the high security cantonment town of Wah, around 30 kilometres from Islamabad, killing at least 70 persons in what was described as the deadliest attack on a military installation in the country’s history. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack. The POF at Wah is a cluster of around 20 industrial units producing artillery, tank and anti-aircraft ammunition for the Pakistani armed forces. It employs around 25,000 to 30,000 workers. On September 20, a suicide bomber detonated a truck packed with explosives at the Marriott Hotel in capital Islamabad, killing at least 60 people. At least 200 people, including a Pakistan People’s Party legislator, were injured in the explosion, which ruptured a gas pipeline and triggered a huge blaze. A US national was killed and several foreigners were injured. A group calling itself Fedayeen-i-Islam claimed responsibility for the suicide attack. On October 6, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of people at the house of Rashid Akbar Niwani, a Shia Member of National Assembly from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), in Bhakkar, 260 kilometres southwest of Islamabad, killing 25 people and wounding 60 others, including Niwani. On October 9, a suspected suicide car bombing destroyed part of an Anti-Terror Squad building and wounded at least six policemen in the heavily guarded Police Lines area in Islamabad. In 2007, no less than six incidents of suicide attacks were reported in Punjab. On September 4, at least 30 people were killed and 70 others wounded in two suicide attacks at Qasim Market and RA Bazaar in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. The first suicide bomber targeted a bus that was carrying around 35 employees of a defence agency to their office near the Qasim Market, killing at least 20 people. Soon after, another blast occurred near the RA Bazaar police station, killing 10 more people. On October 30, a suicide bomber killed eight people, including three police personnel, and injured at least 18 others, including 14 police personnel, when he blew himself up at a police picket near district courts in the cantonment area of Rawalpindi. President Pervez Musharraf had reportedly been meeting governors and chief ministers at Camp Office less than a kilometre away from the site. The fortified army posts at the checkpoint and the nearby gate to the residence of Joint Chief of Army Staff Chairman General Tariq Majid were reportedly scarred with shrapnel and spattered with blood. On November 1, a suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) bus, killing seven officers of the PAF and three civilians on the Faisalabad Road in Sargodha. At least 28 people were wounded in the attack. The bus was reportedly carrying PAF staff from the Mushaf Mir Airbase to Kirana Ammunition Depot when the bomber targeted the bus at approximately 6.45am. On November 24, two suicide bombers simultaneously targeted military personnel and installations at two different places in Rawalpindi, claiming over 32 lives and wounding 55 others. In the first attack that occurred at 7:55am, the suicide bomber while trying to enter the Hamza Camp, the main office of the ISI, hit the staff bus of the agency. The blast, which occurred 200 metres from Faizabad at the Murree Road, killed over 30 personnel in the bus and guards standing at the main gate. At the same time near the GHQ, another suicide bomber blew up his car after hitting an Army check-post when he was intercepted while trying to infiltrate into the high security zone. Two Army personnel were killed while one was injured in the second attack. On December 10, eight people, including five schoolchildren, were injured when a suicide bomber exploded his car targeting a Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) bus carrying air force employees’ children at a military base at Kamra around 50 kilometres northwest of Islamabad. A suicide bomber exploded his car on the outskirts of the PAC factories on the Qutba-Attock Road on Monday at 7.30am near a PAC school bus carrying children to schools in Attock City. On December 27, Benazir Bhutto, the chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), was assassinated in a gun and suicide attack as she drove away from a campaign rally just minutes after addressing thousands of supporters at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi. At least 30 more people were killed and over 100 others wounded in the attack.