Dozens killed in Pakistan market blasts

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Thirty-six people were killed and dozens were injured in explosions at a market in Lahore, Pakistan, on Monday, an official said.

Rizwan Naseer, chief of Lahore's rescue service, also said 109 people were wounded.

The explosions did not appear to be a suicide attack, but could instead have been bombs detonated by remote control, Punjab Police Chief Tariq Salim said.

The nation's state-run news agency, Associated Press of Pakistan, said the blasts were the result of "bomb explosions."

The explosions occurred at Moon Market in the Iqbal Town neighborhood, the news agency said. It cited Iqbal Town Division's Ali Nasir Rizvi as saying most of the victims were women.

Khusro Pervaiz, a senior government official in Lahore, said in a television interview that 60 people had been taken to five Lahore hospitals.

The blasts happened around 8:45 p.m. at the popular market, said Rai Nazar Hayat, a spokesman for Lahore police.

Earlier, ten people were killed -- including two police officers -- when a suicide bomber detonated outside a district courthouse in Peshawar on Monday, officials said.

Read the rest of the story here.

Well it seems the violence is never ending in the middle east. I wonder how Pakistan will react when the US attempts to push into their land more and more with the drone attacks.

Even after Afghanistan and Iraq are completely over with, I bet you they will look at going to Iran and then Pakistan.

Multiple attacks on the same day, one suicide the other detonation? Are things escalating? Or this just more of the same?

Thoughts?

~Keeper



[edit on 12/7/2009 by tothetenthpower]

This isn't the first mindless terror attack in Pakistan, aimed at random civilians.

In Pakistan, a devastating car bomb tore through a congested market in the northwest city of Peshawar, killing as many as 101 people, many of them women and children. Pakistani authorities said the attack was the country’s most serious in two years, and the deadliest ever in Peshawar, which has become a front line for Taliban efforts to destabilize the government through violence.

www.nytimes.com...

The Taliban are fundamentalists and have brutally killed many people for dubious reasons. If they have to sacrifice innocent people “for the greater good”, I doubt many Taliban will feel much remorse. Yet, I don't believe they are responsible for this attack and the attack in Peshawar.

After all, the Taliban are a guerilla organisation. They need the backing of civilians. Civilians provide supplies, information and hiding places. New guerilla fighters are recruited from the civilians. It is simply asinine for guerillas to go out and kill some random civilians.

Killing military and government personal - yes
Killing collaborators and snitches – yes
Killing people in remote areas who refuse to help the guerillas – possible
Killing random citizens - unlikely

The Taliban haven't acknowledged these attacks. In fact, they have even claimed that foreigners are responsible for these terror attacks. They blamed Blackwater. I agree, maybe Blackwater is responsible. After all, Blackwater is in Pakistan and helps assassinate Taliban leaders.

At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, "snatch and grabs" of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help direct a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus.

www.thenation.com...

The ISI is another possible candidate. It wouldn't be the first time that a government backed organisation commits terror attacks and then tries to connect opposition forces with these horrible deeds. Operation Susannah and Operation Gladio are just two of many cases that happened in the past.

I wonder how Pakistan will react when the US attempts to push into their land more and more with the drone attacks.

US wouldn't be pushing if the Pakistanis weren't letting IMO.

Maybe you might have some info on this.

Are you aware of any attempts by Pakistan to go to any International agency like world court, UN or similar organization to get the US to stop using drones in their country?

As far as article, it is sad that they have to go after the civilian population instead of the military.

Originally posted by jam321

I wonder how Pakistan will react when the US attempts to push into their land more and more with the drone attacks.

US wouldn't be pushing if the Pakistanis weren't letting IMO.

Maybe you might have some info on this.

Are you aware of any attempts by Pakistan to go to any International agency like world court, UN or similar organization to get the US to stop using drones in their country?

As far as article, it is sad that they have to go after the civilian population instead of the military.

A read a story a few months back about Pakistan really angry about the ammount of civilian deaths involved in the drone attacks, but nothing since. I am sure they have some cooperation, but I believe it's only along the border and not further in land.

~Keeper

Pakistani officials react angry to US drone strikes.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan opposes expanded U.S. drone attacks against militants on its tribal areas, as well as any strikes on Baluchistan, where Washington believes Afghan Taliban leaders are hiding, the foreign ministry said on Friday. Missile strikes from pilotless drone aircraft have created fierce anti-American sentiment in Pakistan, a strategic ally Washington wants to crack down harder on Taliban fighters operating along the porous border with Afghanistan.

www.nytimes.com...

and www.morningstaronline.co.uk...

But previously major US newspapers like the Washington Post have reported about a secret agreement between US- and Pakistani-officials.

The United States and Pakistan reached tacit agreement in September on a don't-ask-don't-tell policy that allows unmanned Predator aircraft to attack suspected terrorist targets in rugged western Pakistan, according to senior officials in both countries. In recent months, the U.S. drones have fired missiles at Pakistani soil at an average rate of once every four or five days.

www.washingtonpost.com...

The Washington Post quotes senior government officials. The strategy to disseminate propaganda, based on anonymous government sources, has been used by the Washington Post before. So it is very difficult to determine, if Pakistan has really given the USA a secret permission.

Jeremy Scahill gave an interesting interview on democracynow. Mercenaries have been used inside Pakistan for intelligence operations. One of their tasks was it to mark the targets for predator drone strikes.
www.democracynow.org...

[edit on 7-12-2009 by Drunkenshrew]