'3000 bombers' set for Pakistan
Source: Brisbane times
DEAN NELSON DELHI 
Pakistani Christian women stand beside their destroyed houses a day after a car bomb attack in Lahore. Pakistan’s Taliban faction claimed responsibility for the attack. Photo: AFP
THE Taliban claims it is ready to unleash 3000 suicide bombers in Pakistan in protest at military operations and US drone attacks in its tribal areas.
In the past few weeks the Taliban's military commander for Afghanistan, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who is Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar's deputy, was captured in a raid in Karachi by Pakistani and US agents.
Several members of the Quetta Shura, the movement's ruling council, were later captured in the city, while the group's Pakistani leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, was believed to have been killed in a missile strike by an unmanned Predator drone.
Earlier this week, Mullah Omar's son-in-law, a former minister in the last Taliban government, was also arrested.
The threat was issued after one of its leaders claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb that killed 13 people outside an interrogation centre in Lahore where militant suspects are questioned.
Eight officials from the Federal Investigation Agency were among those killed when the bomber detonated a car packed with 590 kilograms of explosives between the office and a local religious school.
It was the third time the centre had been targeted and marked a return to its suicide bombing campaign after a number of serious setbacks for the Taliban leadership.
The bombing in Lahore indicated that the movement retains the ability to strike throughout Pakistan, while Azam Tariq, a spokesman for the Taliban, claimed that it had the capacity to intensify its campaign.
''We have around 3000 more suicide bombers. We'll target all government places, buildings and offices,'' he said.
In the Mansehra district of North-West Frontier Province, militants stormed a building used by a US-based charity in Pakistan yesterday, killing at least five people.
The gunmen attacked offices of World Vision near Oghi town. Police said five people were killed, but an aid worker said on condition of anonymity that six World Vision staff died and six were seriously wounded.
More than 3000 people were killed in terrorist attacks in Pakistan last year in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Peshawar.
The figure marked a 48 per cent increase on 2008, reflecting a furious Taliban reaction to Pakistan Army operations against Taliban militants.
Analysts believe the success of the army offensive in South Waziristan and recent arrests of senior Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders has damaged the militants' ability to strike as regularly as they did last year.
TELEGRAPH, AFP
DEAN NELSON DELHI
March 11, 2010
Pakistani Christian women stand beside their destroyed houses a day after a car bomb attack in Lahore. Pakistan’s Taliban faction claimed responsibility for the attack. Photo: AFPIn the past few weeks the Taliban's military commander for Afghanistan, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who is Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar's deputy, was captured in a raid in Karachi by Pakistani and US agents.
Several members of the Quetta Shura, the movement's ruling council, were later captured in the city, while the group's Pakistani leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, was believed to have been killed in a missile strike by an unmanned Predator drone.
Earlier this week, Mullah Omar's son-in-law, a former minister in the last Taliban government, was also arrested.
The threat was issued after one of its leaders claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb that killed 13 people outside an interrogation centre in Lahore where militant suspects are questioned.
Eight officials from the Federal Investigation Agency were among those killed when the bomber detonated a car packed with 590 kilograms of explosives between the office and a local religious school.
It was the third time the centre had been targeted and marked a return to its suicide bombing campaign after a number of serious setbacks for the Taliban leadership.
The bombing in Lahore indicated that the movement retains the ability to strike throughout Pakistan, while Azam Tariq, a spokesman for the Taliban, claimed that it had the capacity to intensify its campaign.
''We have around 3000 more suicide bombers. We'll target all government places, buildings and offices,'' he said.
In the Mansehra district of North-West Frontier Province, militants stormed a building used by a US-based charity in Pakistan yesterday, killing at least five people.
The gunmen attacked offices of World Vision near Oghi town. Police said five people were killed, but an aid worker said on condition of anonymity that six World Vision staff died and six were seriously wounded.
More than 3000 people were killed in terrorist attacks in Pakistan last year in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Peshawar.
The figure marked a 48 per cent increase on 2008, reflecting a furious Taliban reaction to Pakistan Army operations against Taliban militants.
Analysts believe the success of the army offensive in South Waziristan and recent arrests of senior Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders has damaged the militants' ability to strike as regularly as they did last year.
TELEGRAPH, AFP
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