LAHORE: The ongoing spate of deadly suicide bombings across Pakistan has killed 332 people in 20 deadly attacks which were carried out in the first 100 days of 2009 [between January 1 and April 10]. Of those killed, 30 belonged to the Pakistani security forces while the rest of the 302 victims were innocent civilians.
Data compiled by the Pakistani authorities shows that the human bombs struck 20 times in the first 100 days of 2009 in various parts of Pakistan and killed at least 84 people a month on average. While the per week average killing for the first 100 days comes to 24, the daily average casualty rate due to suicide attacks stands at three. Of the 30 security forces personnel killed by human bombs since January 1, 2009, 18 belonged to the Pakistan army and the Frontier Constabulary while the rest (12) were policemen. The number of those who had received injuries due to suicide attacks in the first 100 days of 2009 comes to 421, most of whom were civilians.
The figures compiled by the Pakistani authorities show that the human bombs struck four times in January 2009, killing 21 people and injuring 52. The month of February saw seven suicide hits, killing 118 people and injuring 158. The month of March proved worst for Pakistanis as six human bombs exploded themselves killing 130 people and injuring 147. The deadliest suicide hit of 2009 was carried out on March 27 on a mosque at the Peshawar-Torkham Highway in the Jamrud sub-division of Khyber Agency in FATA during the Friday congregation, which killed 85 persons, including over a dozen security forces personnel. In the first ten days of April, three human bombs have exploded themselves so far, killing 63 people and injuring 64 others.
The North Western Frontier Province was the most affected by the deadly attacks which was struck eight times by human bombs in the first 100 days, targeting Mingora, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Peshawar. The Federally Administered Tribal Areas were hit six times by the suicide bombers during the same period, targeting different areas in the Khyber and North and South Waziristan agencies. The suicide bombers struck five times in Punjab – twice in Islamabad and once in Rawalpindi, Dera Ghazi Khan and Chakwal respectively. The first suicide attack of 2009 [in Islamabad]was carried out on March 23 when a bomber blew himself up at the entrance of the Special Branch (SB) headquarters located in the Sitara Market, killing himself and a policeman.
In the second suicide hit on April 4, a bomber exploded himself close to a camp set up on a main road of Islamabad for the protection of the area’s foreign diplomats, killing eight Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel. While just one suicide attack was carried out in Balochistan during the first 100 days of 2009, no such strike was carried out anywhere in Sindh. The lone suicide attack in Quetta was carried out on March 2 in a JUI-run religious seminary in the Pishin district of the provincial capital, killing six people.
The Pakistani authorities probing the ongoing spate of suicide bombings are of the view that the velocity of the deadly hits and the diversity of their location – from Waziristan to Islamabad – shows a high level of preparedness and planning. In the last three years, suicide bombers have become a more common weapon. Investigations show that most of the human bombs are coming from the Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan, led by Commander Baitullah Mehsud, the ameer of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Mehud has already claimed responsibility for many of the suicide attacks carried out in the first 100 days of 2009, including the first ever ‘fidayeen attack’ which was carried out on March 30 on the Manawan police training school in Lahore.
For years, the Pakistani agencies have been accused of indoctrinating, motivating and training jehadi cadres for export in the neighbourhood – to Jammu Kashmir and Afghanistan. As a matter of fact, the Indian-held Kashmir had witnessed the first suicide hit in 1999 and since then there had been a steady stream of deadly suicide operations. But these human bombs had excluded their home ground in Pakistan from the scope of their holy war. However, as things stand, there has been a sharp decline in deadly suicide attacks in Jammu Kashmir, with Pakistan apparently has emerged as a favourite target of these deadly strikes. Therefore, the human bombs originally designed and nurtured by the Pakistani establishment to rip apart the enemies of Islam and Pakistan have apparently started exploding themselves inside their own country and killing their fellow Muslims. Pakistan’s chickens have come home to roost.
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