WANA, 21 March 2006 — Suspected militants wrecked a radio station’s transmission tower in the rugged tribal region bordering Afghanistan yesterday but there were no casualties, local officials said.
The state-run local station in South Waziristan’s main town of Wana has suspended its broadcasts indefinitely after the explosion, senior producer Humayun Khan told AFP. “The tower has been totally destroyed,” he said.
Security officials said militants placed explosives at the foot of the tower outside Radio Pakistan’s main building in the region, where troops are hunting Al-Qaeda and Taleban rebels and their local sympathizers.
The pre-dawn blast was heard several kilometers away, residents said. The station is near several government buildings and local administration offices as well as a base of the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary.
“It is the work of pro-Taleban elements. They attacked the tower last year also,” a security official said, requesting anonymity.
Separately two Pakistani military officers were wounded when a roadside bomb hit their convoy in neighboring North Waziristan tribal district, another security official told AFP. “One major and one captain were slightly injured when a remote-controlled bomb exploded near their vehicle near Mubarik Shahi village,” the official said.
The military immediately launched a search operation in the area for suspects behind both of the attacks but no arrests were made, he said.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao winding up a debate on the situation in Balochistan and Waziristan told the Senate 26 foreigners had been arrested during the past few days. “Those attacking security forces and destroying public property in north and south Waziristan are foreigners,” he said. Senators from both sides took part in the debate.
Agha Shahid Bugti, the newly-elected senator from Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti’s Jamhoori Watan Party, attacked the government’s policies, accusing it of depriving Balochistan of its constitutional rights.
Sherpao said that in 2004, tribal chieftains struck a deal with the government pledging to get all the foreigners living in their areas disarmed and registered with political authorities. “Unfortunately, the tribal elders and foreigners did not hand in their weapons, nor got themselves registered with the political authorities. Instead, they indulged in acts of terrorism.”
