A SUICIDE bomb, thought to have been organised by the Taliban,killed at least 25 people and wounded 60 yesterday in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province.
A lone suicide attacker blew himself up in a car just after midday in Kohat, a military garrison town in the troubled province bordering Afghanistan.
A security official in Peshawar, the provincial capital, said the attack was probably carried out by Taliban Islamist militants.
“The Taliban are still capable of carrying out significant attacks. Their recent losses do not appear to have undermined their ability to carry out suicide attacks,” said the security official. “We have to be extremely vigilant.”
Government officials say more than 3,000 Taliban militants were killed by military forces in the northern Swat valley this year when their attempt to seize control of the region was repulsed.
Several senior Taliban leaders have been arrested in the past week, including Muslim Khan, the movement’s chief spokesman in Swat, and Sher Mohammad Qasab, the architect of a campaign of beheadings. Qasab became notorious for lining up blindfolded victims and cutting their heads off. The Taliban distributed videos of the executions to terrorise people in Swat. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009)