Suicide hits ‘response to Musharraf’s policies’ By Rahimullah Yusufzai
The News, February 7, 2007
PESHAWAR: A man introducing himself as a militant claimed responsibility for Saturday’s suicide attack against a Pakistan Army convoy in Tank district in southern NWFP and threatened more such bombings in retaliation for the pro-US policies of President Pervez Musharraf.
Identifying himself as Ashfaq Ahmad, the caller said the suicide bombing in Tank against the military was a success while the one in Lakki Marwat town ended in failure. “The attack in Lakki Marwat was bungled as the suicide bomber was killed during preparations for the act,” he explained in a call to The News.
It was not possible to determine the authenticity of the caller. It could be a hoax or an attempt to divert attention of the investigators. In the recent past, callers have phoned reporters and newspaper offices to claim responsibility for some of the suicide attacks.
Speaking in Punjabi-accented Urdu, the caller refused to identify the suicide bombers and the group to which they belonged. He also did not want to identify the particular group to which he was affiliated. “We are all the same. It doesn’t matter if we are from one group or the other because we have a similar agenda,” he argued.
The caller spoke in a low, soft and calm voice. He wasn’t in a hurry but was somewhat irritated when this correspondent repeatedly asked him to produce believable evidence of his group’s involvement in the suicide bombings. Eventually, he said he would try to provide videotape containing the final statement of the suicide bombers before embarking on their mission.
When told that the authorities were pointing accusing fingers at the tribal militants’ commander Baitullah Mahsud for the spate of recent suicide bombings in the NWFP and Islamabad, the caller said all anti-US and anti-Musharraf groups were united in their resolve to fight those trying to implement the American agenda in the Islamic countries. “Musharraf is bombing and killing his own people at the behest of America. He is handing over Muslims to the US,” he alleged.
When asked again as to why they were carrying out suicide bombings in their own country, the caller said it was in retaliation for the military operations and the killing of innocent people. “We have already carried out a number of suicide attacks and would do so again,” he stressed.
In the suicide attack on Saturday, the bomber crashed his Pajero jeep into a military vehicle on the Dera Ismail Khan-Tank road at Barakhel village about eight kilometres from Tank. Apart from the suicide bomber, two soldiers were killed and six sustained injuries in the attack.
The same day, a suspected militant was killed while trying to plant a bomb in a bazaar in Lakki Marwat town, which is headquarters of the district bearing the same name and bordering Tank. On Sunday, the police claimed it had recovered another bomb in a bazaar in Lakki Marwat.
It may be added that a man identifying himself as Abdullah had phoned the offices of an Urdu daily in Peshawar after the suicide bombings in late January and Dera Ismail Khan to claim responsibility for the attacks. His phone call was traced to a public call office (PCO) in Dattakhel near Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan tribal agency.
Earlier, a caller had claimed that his group was responsible for the suicide bombing at the Pakistan Army training centre at Dargai in Malakand Agency. He said the attack, which killed 42 soldiers, was to avenge the death of 80 students and teachers of a Madrassa which was bombed by Pakistan Army on October 30 last year. Residents of Chingai village in Bajaur Agency where the Madrassa was located and in rest of NWFP believed the US-operated pilotless Predator plane was behind the attack. However, the Pakistan Army insisted its gunship helicopters had launched the attack against the Madrassa because it was being used to train suicide bombers.
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