11-09-2006, 12:08 AM
<img src='http://www.dailypioneer.com/images4/home_stories/front_page/big/story3.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' /><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Suicide attack at Pak army camp kills 42 </b>
Riaz Khan | Dargai
A suicide attacker detonated a bomb at the Pakistan army's main training base on Wednesday, killing at least 42 soldiers and injuring 20 as they started their callisthenics exercises, the military said.
"A man wrapped in a cloak came running into the training area and exploded himself where recruits had gathered for training," the army said in a statement.Â
No one claimed responsibility for the explosion that occurred north of Peshawar, the capital of North West Province. If it is confirmed that Islamic militants carried out the attack, it would be the deadliest so far by the insurgents on the Pakistani army.
Shortly after the explosion, security agents captured an alleged accomplice of the suicide bomber after chasing him into a nearby village, an intelligence official said on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorised to speak to the media.
The official didn't reveal the identity of the suspect, and only said he had been moved to an army detention facility for questioning.
<b>Local resident Lal Zaman, 25, told The Associated Press that he was sitting at a nearby shop when the attack occurred. "I saw body parts and injured people everywhere in the ground where soldiers exercise every day," he said. "I helped soldiers transport the bodies and wounded soldiers to hospitals."
Inside the grounds, an AP reporter saw officers collecting shoes and other belongings of the dead and injured soldiers. The military has been waging a campaign to clear pro-Taliban militants from the border region, which it says is used as a staging area for attacks into Afghanistan.</b>
Dargai is also a stronghold of an outlawed Islamic group, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi, or Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law, which has been fighting Government forces in the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan since 2002.
The group's fugitive leader, Faqir Mohammed, vowed last week to retaliate against the army with suicide bombers for an October 30 Pakistani army raid on an Islamic school that killed 80 people and sparked furious protests across the country.
Pakistan Government said the school in the Bajur tribal region, about 75 kilometres (45 miles) from Dargai, served as a front for training militants. Local people and an Islamic opposition party said almost all the victims were children or teenagers studying at the school.
The drill area where Wednesday's attack occurred is not fenced off and is surrounded only by trees and bushes. An official said a search had been launched for other possible accomplices of the attacker.
Pakistan Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao condemned Wednesday's explosion and said it was linked to the Bajur attack. In an interview with Pakistan's private Geo television, he said the religious school in Bajur was targeted after authorities received intelligence reports that "miscreants there were receiving training for suicide attacks."
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Riaz Khan | Dargai
A suicide attacker detonated a bomb at the Pakistan army's main training base on Wednesday, killing at least 42 soldiers and injuring 20 as they started their callisthenics exercises, the military said.
"A man wrapped in a cloak came running into the training area and exploded himself where recruits had gathered for training," the army said in a statement.Â
No one claimed responsibility for the explosion that occurred north of Peshawar, the capital of North West Province. If it is confirmed that Islamic militants carried out the attack, it would be the deadliest so far by the insurgents on the Pakistani army.
Shortly after the explosion, security agents captured an alleged accomplice of the suicide bomber after chasing him into a nearby village, an intelligence official said on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorised to speak to the media.
The official didn't reveal the identity of the suspect, and only said he had been moved to an army detention facility for questioning.
<b>Local resident Lal Zaman, 25, told The Associated Press that he was sitting at a nearby shop when the attack occurred. "I saw body parts and injured people everywhere in the ground where soldiers exercise every day," he said. "I helped soldiers transport the bodies and wounded soldiers to hospitals."
Inside the grounds, an AP reporter saw officers collecting shoes and other belongings of the dead and injured soldiers. The military has been waging a campaign to clear pro-Taliban militants from the border region, which it says is used as a staging area for attacks into Afghanistan.</b>
Dargai is also a stronghold of an outlawed Islamic group, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi, or Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law, which has been fighting Government forces in the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan since 2002.
The group's fugitive leader, Faqir Mohammed, vowed last week to retaliate against the army with suicide bombers for an October 30 Pakistani army raid on an Islamic school that killed 80 people and sparked furious protests across the country.
Pakistan Government said the school in the Bajur tribal region, about 75 kilometres (45 miles) from Dargai, served as a front for training militants. Local people and an Islamic opposition party said almost all the victims were children or teenagers studying at the school.
The drill area where Wednesday's attack occurred is not fenced off and is surrounded only by trees and bushes. An official said a search had been launched for other possible accomplices of the attacker.
Pakistan Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao condemned Wednesday's explosion and said it was linked to the Bajur attack. In an interview with Pakistan's private Geo television, he said the religious school in Bajur was targeted after authorities received intelligence reports that "miscreants there were receiving training for suicide attacks."
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