ISLAMABAD, 10 February 2007 — Police said yesterday that they had foiled a terrorist plot after seizing 10 bombs on a road used by army convoys near the restive tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
The discovery in the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan comes amid a nationwide security alert following a wave of suicide attacks across the country in two weeks. The devices, weighing between eight to ten kilos (17.6 to 22 pounds), were planted near a bus stop on the road toward the Waziristan tribal zone, a hub of Al-Qaeda and Taleban militants, police said.
“The bombs were for terrorist activity and their timely discovery has foiled the plot,” town police spokesman Malik Ramazan told AFP.
Pakistan has been rocked by a series of attacks in the last few weeks which have claimed more than 20 lives, including a Jan. 29 suicide bombing in Dera Ismail Khan which killed a policeman.
Most of the attacks have been blamed on Taleban militants fighting President Pervez Musharraf’s security forces in the Waziristan tribal belt. A top Pakistani Taleban leader based in South Waziristan on Wednesday denied that his fighters were responsible.
Opposition Wants Peace Deal Made Public
The opposition yesterday called on the government to make the deal it had struck with tribal chiefs public. Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Mian Raza Rabbani, speaking in the upper house said that despite the fact that a large number of soldiers were killed in tribal areas battling the insurgents, the government did not include the opposition while striking a deal with the militants.
The deal is still secret and nobody is aware of the details, he said.
“We have lost 700 soldiers in the tribal region and we still don’t know what’s happening there,” he said.
“The tribal region has become a hotbed of terrorists and unfortunately the opposition has not been taken into confidence over the steps being taken by the government.”
He said the opposition was not in favor of decisions taken by a few individuals. Rabbani said the government must organize regular briefings for the opposition.
He also raised the issue of the reported incursion by NATO and Afghan troops in Balochistan.
Rabbani said the government has been saying that NATO or Afghan forces would not be allowed to operate inside Pakistan, but the incident indicates that they do so without any resistance.
A NATO spokesman in Islamabad denied the report. But Raziq Bugti, a spokesman for the Balochistan government, confirmed the incident and said it was being investigated.
Israel Urged to Stop Excavations
Pakistan yesterday urged Israel to stop excavation work near the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. A statement issued by the Foreign Office in Islamabad expressed concern over the recent tension followed by clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians.
“Such acts can only create further violence and pose threat to peace,” it said. Israeli actions have hurt the sentiments of Muslims across the globe, it added.
