Pakistan: Human bombs killed 80 people a month in 2008



LAHORE: The ongoing spate of deadly suicide bombings across Pakistan killed at least 80 people a month on average in the year 2008, compared with the last year’s average of 70 killings a month.

Figures compiled by the ministry of interior show that Pakistan had suffered 66 dastardly suicide attacks during 2008, killing 965 people and wounding 2412 others, including innocent civilians and the personnel of the armed forces, the Inter Services Intelligence and the police. Of the 965 people killed by human bombs in the 12 months of 2008, the number of the civilian casualties stood at 651, the number of security forces personnel killed was 159, while 155 policemen were also among those who lost their lives. The official data shows that on average, 55 civilians, 13 policemen and 13 security forces personnel lost their lives every month in 2008 – the year which had witnessed 66 suicide attacks compared with 56 such incidents in 2007, killing 851 people.

The North Western Frontier Province was the most affected by the deadly attacks which was struck 38 times by human bombs in 2008, killing 101 people alone in the Swat district in 12 such attacks. The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) were struck 15 times by suicide bombers in 2008, with the October 10 car bomb attack on a tribal jirga proving to be the most fatal one that killed over 100 people in Hadeezai area of Orakzai tribal agency. Four suicide bombers struck in Peshawar, killing 107 people. Punjab witnessed 10 suicide blasts with five in the provincial capital, Lahore alone, killing over 50 people. The March 4 twin suicide attacks on the Naval War College in Lahore had killed ten people. However, the March 11 suicide attack on the headquarters of the Federal Investigation Agency in Lahore killed 30 people. A human bomb on a Shahzore truck rammed through the gate of the FIA building, running over a policeman before blowing himself up. The blast wrecked the eight-storey building and caused devastation in an area of about one kilometre radius.

Four suicide bombers hit their targets in twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad in 2008. On February 25, Lt-Gen Mushtaq Baig, the surgeon-general of Pakistan Army’s Medical Services and seven others were killed when a human bomb blew him up at a red signal in Rawalpindi. On June 02, a suicide car-bomber exploded his explosive laden vehicle some 30 feet from the main gate of the visa section of the Denmark embassy in Islamabad, killing eight people. On September 20, in one of the worst terror attacks in the history of Pakistan, at least 60 people were killed in a massive explosion at the Marriott hotel in Islamabad after a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the main gate of the hotel in the heart of Pakistani capital. Around 600 kilograms of explosives were used in the blast that destroyed the huge building of the five-star hotel as well as the other nearby buildings. Many analysts have termed the incident the 9/11 of Pakistan.

Those investigating the Marriott attack later claimed that the actual target of the bomber was the parliament building where the entire civil and military elite of the country had gathered in violation of the security codes, but it was thwarted by the strict security arrangements. On October 9, while a joint session of the Parliament was being briefed by the military and intelligence leadership inside the National Assembly building in a bid to forge a consensus on a homegrown anti-terror policy, a suicide bomber rammed his car into the headquarters of the Anti Terrorist Squad on the outskirts of Islamabad, killing three people. While the people of Sindh province were lucky enough not to experience even a single incident of suicide bombing in 2008, just one such incident was reported in the largest province of Balochistan when a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing a young girl student in Quetta on September 23.

The Pakistani authorities probing the ongoing spate of suicide bombings say the rapid pace at which the suicide attacks are taking place and the diversity of their location – from Waziristan to Islamabad - shows a high level of preparedness, planning and sophistication and high degree of radicalization that has already been secured in Pakistan. The phenomenon of suicide attacks in fact hit Pakistan in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks, most of which were directed against Western interests. However, in the aftermath of bloody the Lal Masjid operation, carried out against the Ghazi brothers and their followers (July 3-10, 2007), the military and paramilitary forces and the police personnel have become the prime target who have repeatedly been hit by deadly suicide bombings, giving a clear message - we can hit you anywhere we want.