LAHORE: The unending spate of lethal suicide bombings across Pakistan
has killed 465 people and injured 1121 in 36 attacks carried out by
human bombs in the first six months of 2009 – between January 2 and
July 2 – literally turning the country turned into the suicide bombing
capital of the world.
The July 2 attack in Rawalpindi on a bus carrying the staffers of the
Inter Services Intelligence was the 36th incident of suicide bombing
since the beginning of 2009. Data compiled by the Pakistani
authorities, shows that the human bombs struck 36 times in the first
six months of 2009 in various parts of Pakistan and killed at least 90
people a month on average. While the per week average killing for the
first 180 days of 2009 comes to 18, the daily average casualty rate
due to suicide attacks stood at three persons.
Available figures 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. March
proved worst for Pakistanis as six human bombs exploded themselves
killing 130 people and injuring 147. The deadliest suicide attack of
2009 came on March 27, targeting a mosque on the Peshawar-Torkham
Highway in the Jamrud sub-division of the Khyber Agency in FATA during
Friday congregation, which killed 85 persons, including over a dozen
security forces personnel.
In five incidents of suicide bombings carried out in April 2009, 103
people were killed and 137 injured. The human bombs killed 63 people
in five more attacks conducted in May 2009 and injured 286 others. The
worst hit of the month was carried out on May 27, 2009 when 35 people
were killed and over 200 injured in Lahore, after a massive bomb
attack targeted the provincial headquarters of the ISI. The blast was
so powerful that it bulldozed a part of the ISI building killing a
serving Colonel of the Pakistan Army besides demolished the nearby
Rescue 15 building, which was adjacent to the head office of the
Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore.
However, the month of June 2009 saw the highest number of suicide
attacks as eight deadly hits killed 101 people and injured 231 others.
The worst hit of the month was carried out on June 9, 2009 when at
least 23 persons, including many foreigners working for the United
Nations, were killed and over others iinjured as a suicide bomber
rammed his explosive-laden truck into Peshawar’s lone five-star Pearl
Continental Hotel, adjoining the residence of the corps commander
Peshawar. In yet another incident of suicide bombings on June 12,
2009, a known religious scholar Dr Sarfraz Naeemi was martyred, along
with five others, as a 17-year-old boy blew himself inside the Jamia
Naeemia premises in Garhi Shahu area of Lahore, soon after the Friday
prayers.
On June 26, 2009, in the first ever incident of suicide bombing in
Azad Kashmir, three army soldiers were killed and three wounded as the
bomber blew himself up after approaching a military vehicle. On June
30, 2009, five people were killed and 11 seriously injured in the
first ever incident of suicide bombing in the Kalat area of
Balochistan, targeting a hotel. In the first suicide attack of July, a
human bomb riding a motorbike struck an ISI staff members’ bus in
Rawalpindi, killings six people.
The authorities investigating the endless wave of suicide attacks say
Pakistan has apparently been turned into the suicide bombing capital
of the world, with the security forces, especially the Army and the
Police, frequently being targeted by human bombs. According to the
figures compiled by the ministry of interior, a total of 2267 people
have so far been killed in 158 incidents of suicide attacks between
July 2, 2007 and July 2, 2009, in the aftermath of the bloody
Operation Silence carried out against the fanatic Lal Masjid clerics
in the heart of Islamabad by the security forces exactly two years ago
which killed Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi and many others
The year 2007 was considered to be the bloodiest year since Pakistan
joined the war against the al-Qaeda, Taliban and other militant
groups. During the year, a series of deadly suicide attacks and
roadside bombings rocked the four provinces of the country as well as
the federal capital, Islamabad, claiming the lives of more than 1,100
people. The dangerous trend of suicide strikes, targeting the
Pakistani security forces touched alarming heights in 2007, averaging
more than one hit a week. While Benazir Bhutto’s 27 December 2007
assassination in Rawalpindi was the most high-profile suicide attack
of the year 2007, there were total 56 incidents of suicide bombings
across Pakistan.
Figures compiled by the Ministry of Interior show that Pakistan
witnessed a ten-fold increase in the incidents of suicide bombings in
2007 as compared to 2006. The year 2007 witnessed 56 suicide hits,
killing 837 people and injuring 1227 others, mostly belonging to the
law enforcement agencies. In fact, there had been only 12 such attacks
all over Pakistan between 1 January and 3 July 2007, killing 75
people. Yet the turning point came with the Operation Silence against
the Lal Masjid clerics, killing hundreds. The rest of 44 suicide
attacks took place between 4 July and 27 December 2007 after the Lal
Masjid action was launched, spreading to Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar,
Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Islamabad etc, killing 567 people, mostly
belonging to the Pakistan Army, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI)
and the police.
The number of suicide attacks rose up from 56 in 2007 to 66 in 2008,
killing 965 people during that year compared with the 837 people
killed by human bombs in 2007. The bombers killed 78 people a month on
average in 2008 across Pakistan, compared with the average of 70
killings a month in 2007. But if the brutal trend of suicide strikes
recorded across Pakistan in the first six months of the year 2009 is
anything to go by (465 people killed in 36 attacks), it may turn out
to be the worst year ever for the people of Pakistan.
amir.mir1969@gmail.com