ISLAMABAD, 6 September 2007 — Pakistan yesterday probed suspected links between pro-Taleban militants and the twin suicide blasts that killed 31 people and heightened the crisis facing President Pervez Musharraf. The bombings on Tuesday in Rawalpindi, a city near Islamabad, added to insecurity in the country as Musharraf seeks re-election as president in the face of mounting opposition.
Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Javed Cheema said there were suspected links to pro-Taleban militants backed by Al-Qaeda who are fighting military operations in Pakistan’s tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Investigators are focusing on Baitullah Mehsud, one of the most senior militant commanders in the region, who is based in South Waziristan, he said.
“No one has claimed responsibility but the previous several attacks were linked to Baitullah Mehsud,” Cheema told AFP.
“The investigations are continuing.”
Officials have previously connected Mehsud with the radical clerics who ran the Red Mosque in Islamabad, which government forces besieged and stormed in July in an operation that cost more than 100 lives.
