ISLAMABAD, 11 November 2006 — A roadside bomb killed a tribal chief and several others in Shakai, 25 kilometers from Wana, the main town in South Waziristan tribal region yesterday. The tribal leader, Malik Khan Jan, was among the dead, officials said.
One of the officials said Khan Jan had led a campaign in recent months to evict foreign militants from Shakai, and that authorities suspected the attack was launched by Al-Qaeda-linked Uzbek militants or their supporters.
According to one report Khan Jan was traveling with his colleagues in a vehicle that hit a roadside bomb killing him and eight others. Other reports put the toll at 19 saying three of those killed were his colleagues while others were passersby.
According to local journalists Saeedullah Khan and Haji Pazir Gul, militants opposed to the peace accord were against Khan Jan. The deceased tribal leader was a member of the committee that was facilitating peace talks between the government and militant groups.
Suicide Bomber Was Not a Pakistani
The suicide bomber who killed 42 soldiers in an attack on an army base in the North West Frontier Province on Wednesday was not a Pakistani, survivors of the attack said.
“He did not appear to be a Pakistani. He had a black beard and wore a Taleban-style jacket and a Sindhi cap,” they said.
Asif Khan, Kalim Sultan, Rajab Ali and Akram Khan, who survived the attack, told journalists at the Combined Military Hospital in Peshawar yesterday they were lining up for a parade when the bomber struck.
NCO Asif Khan, who lost his left hand in the blast, said, “We were warned before going to the training area that we should not move freely in Dargai bazar.”
Meanwhile, a Joint Investigation Team has been constituted with personnel from the ISI, Military Intelligence and the Intelligence Bureau to track down the masterminds behind the attack. Authorities say two people came to the parade ground, one of them blew himself up while the other disappeared in a nearby jungle.
Peter Bergen, an American expert on terrorism, said the attack could be a handiwork of both Al-Qaeda and Taleban. During a speech at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, Peter Bergen said Al-Qaeda and Taleban have started to regroup.
Women’s Bill
The federal government could not present the Women’s Protection Bill in the National Assembly yesterday. The session was adjourned beacuse of the death of a former legislator. Earlier, federal ministers Dr. Sher Afgan Khan and Sumaira Malik said, “We have the majority to get the bill passed.” But religious party leaders at a convention on Thursday said they would oppose the bill. The bill aims at amending the Hudood Ordinance enacted by former military dictator Gen. Zia-ul-Haq.
Girls Die in Kashmir
Five young girls were killed when a toy-shaped device they were playing with exploded in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, officials said yesterday. “Two girls died on the spot and three others succumbed to their injuries in hospital early yesterday,” senior police official Zahoor Gilani said. Three of the girls were sisters, he added.
Meanwhile, military sources denied report that the toy-shaped device was a cluster bomb.
