Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
October 31, 2007 By Salman Masood and Graham Bowley
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Oct. 30 — A suicide bomber set off explosives about one mile from the military offices of Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, in this garrison town near Islamabad on Tuesday, killing seven people, including himself, and wounding 14 others, according to police officials and the Interior Ministry.
General Musharraf was working in his office in Rawalpindi at the time of the attack, one of his spokesmen said. He is also chief of the army, and often prefers to work at his office in this tightly guarded city, which is home to the headquarters of Pakistan’s military.
The president’s spokesman, Rashid Qureshi, denied that the president was a target of the attack and said the bomber was stopped well before he entered the security zone around the military compound. “The attack took place right on a public highway that leads to the eastern city of Lahore,” he said.
General Musharraf, an important ally of the United States in its campaign against terrorism, has survived at least three assassination attempts here. The attack on Tuesday took place a few feet from the residence of Gen. Tariq Majeed, who was recently appointed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.
It is a tense time in Pakistani politics. On Oct. 18, as Benazir Bhutto, the opposition leader, was returning to Pakistan after eight years of self-exile, bomb blasts aimed at her procession through Karachi killed 140 of her supporters.
General Musharraf was re-elected president this month. However, constitutional challenges to his eligibility for that contest have yet to be decided by the Supreme Court.
Before the bombing on Tuesday, Pakistani intelligence agencies had given warnings of possible suicide attacks in the capital and in Rawalpindi by militants sympathetic to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, who have become increasingly active in the country, especially in the semiautonomous tribal regions and northern parts near the border with Afghanistan.
Security was put on high alert over the weekend. Several police checkpoints had been set up at various entrance points to the two cities. Although the police thwarted the attack, the ability of the suicide bomber to penetrate at least some of the security arrangements suggests that Pakistan is confronted with a determined and deadly enemy.
The suicide bomber, who was estimated to be 19 to 23 years old, was on foot and tried to force himself past a police checkpoint when he was stopped by two officers shortly after noon, according to a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Javed Iqbal Cheema.
An intelligence official at the site of the blast said the bomber, who was wearing a traditional tunic and trouser suit, was holding a bag as he walked up to the police checkpoint before he detonated the explosives.
At least three policemen were among the dead, and at least six others were wounded.
Rawalpindi is becoming a potent target for the militants, who have staged an increasing number of attacks on military targets elsewhere in the country. Last month, powerful coordinated explosions set off by two suicide bombers in the heart of Rawalpindi killed at least 25 people, some from Pakistan’s intelligence agency, and wounded at least 68, according to government and military officials.
This month, four people were killed and five others wounded when one of the three helicopters escorting the president on a visit to Kashmir crashed, but military officials ruled out the possibility of an assassination attempt, blaming a technical problem.
In July, unidentified gunmen fired on General Musharraf’s plane as it took off from Rawalpindi during a government siege of a mosque complex in nearby Islamabad, where Islamic militants were holed up. He was not hurt.
Salman Masood reported from Rawalpindi, and Graham Bowley from New York.
October 31, 2007 By Salman Masood and Graham Bowley
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Oct. 30 — A suicide bomber set off explosives about one mile from the military offices of Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, in this garrison town near Islamabad on Tuesday, killing seven people, including himself, and wounding 14 others, according to police officials and the Interior Ministry.
General Musharraf was working in his office in Rawalpindi at the time of the attack, one of his spokesmen said. He is also chief of the army, and often prefers to work at his office in this tightly guarded city, which is home to the headquarters of Pakistan’s military.
The president’s spokesman, Rashid Qureshi, denied that the president was a target of the attack and said the bomber was stopped well before he entered the security zone around the military compound. “The attack took place right on a public highway that leads to the eastern city of Lahore,” he said.
General Musharraf, an important ally of the United States in its campaign against terrorism, has survived at least three assassination attempts here. The attack on Tuesday took place a few feet from the residence of Gen. Tariq Majeed, who was recently appointed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.
It is a tense time in Pakistani politics. On Oct. 18, as Benazir Bhutto, the opposition leader, was returning to Pakistan after eight years of self-exile, bomb blasts aimed at her procession through Karachi killed 140 of her supporters.
General Musharraf was re-elected president this month. However, constitutional challenges to his eligibility for that contest have yet to be decided by the Supreme Court.
Before the bombing on Tuesday, Pakistani intelligence agencies had given warnings of possible suicide attacks in the capital and in Rawalpindi by militants sympathetic to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, who have become increasingly active in the country, especially in the semiautonomous tribal regions and northern parts near the border with Afghanistan.
Security was put on high alert over the weekend. Several police checkpoints had been set up at various entrance points to the two cities. Although the police thwarted the attack, the ability of the suicide bomber to penetrate at least some of the security arrangements suggests that Pakistan is confronted with a determined and deadly enemy.
The suicide bomber, who was estimated to be 19 to 23 years old, was on foot and tried to force himself past a police checkpoint when he was stopped by two officers shortly after noon, according to a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Javed Iqbal Cheema.
An intelligence official at the site of the blast said the bomber, who was wearing a traditional tunic and trouser suit, was holding a bag as he walked up to the police checkpoint before he detonated the explosives.
At least three policemen were among the dead, and at least six others were wounded.
Rawalpindi is becoming a potent target for the militants, who have staged an increasing number of attacks on military targets elsewhere in the country. Last month, powerful coordinated explosions set off by two suicide bombers in the heart of Rawalpindi killed at least 25 people, some from Pakistan’s intelligence agency, and wounded at least 68, according to government and military officials.
This month, four people were killed and five others wounded when one of the three helicopters escorting the president on a visit to Kashmir crashed, but military officials ruled out the possibility of an assassination attempt, blaming a technical problem.
In July, unidentified gunmen fired on General Musharraf’s plane as it took off from Rawalpindi during a government siege of a mosque complex in nearby Islamabad, where Islamic militants were holed up. He was not hurt.
Salman Masood reported from Rawalpindi, and Graham Bowley from New York.