Four bomb explosions in NWFP(Pukhtunkhwa) mosques thus far

CRUEL TALIBAN AND ALQUIDA ARE COMMITTING CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY,THEY SHOULD BE CRUSHED WITH IRON HAND,NATO SHOULD ATTACK THEIR LEADERS WHO ARE HIDDING IN RAT HOLES.WE NEED TO FIGURE OUT HOW THESE IGNORANT TALIBAN ARE GETTING WEAPONS AND BECOMING STRONGER.
Mwaqar

PESHAWAR: The devastating explosion at Bagyari near Jamrud in Khyber Agency on Friday was the fourth time in NWFP that a mosque was targeted by terrorists.

In both the Bagyari blast and the one at a mosque in Sherpao village in Charsadda district on December 20, 2007, the officially certified death toll was over 50. The number of injured was also around 200 in both cases.

There was apparently no high-profile target at the Bagyari mosque as those offering Friday prayers at the roadside place of worship were common tribesmen, travellers and low-ranked officials of the Frontier Corps and Khassadar force.

The target of the suicide bombing at the mosque in Sherpao village was the then federal interior minister Aftab Sherpao. It was Eid day, or Eidul Azha to be precise, and Sherpao, his sons Sikandar and Mustafa, and relatives and guards were praying at the village mosque. Sherpao survived and so did his sons, with Mustafa receiving some injuries, but more than 50 people were killed.

On that fateful day, it became obvious that for some people calling themselves to be Islamic fighters the mosques were no longer sacrosanct.

Incidentally, Sherpao had survived an earlier suicide bombing as well in his native Charsadda but that attack had taken place during a public meeting in an open place and not in a mosque. More than 30 people were killed in that blast.

Two other mosques were also attacked by the terrorists. One was actually a Shia place of worship, the Imambargah Qasim Beg, in Jhangi Mohalla in Peshawar where a suicide bomber blew himself up on January 18, 2008. The explosion in the congested Imambargah killed 12 worshippers and caused injuries to 20 others.

The other mosque that suffered a bomb explosion was located in the remote Miskeeni Darra area in Dir Lower district. The incident took place during the month of Ramazan last year when seven faithful offering prayers were killed and several other were injured.

Two other attempts by suicide bombers to attack worshippers during congregations were foiled. In one case, the bomber wearing suicide jacket was overpowered by policemen before he could enter an Imambargah in Dera Ismail Khan. If the young suicide bomber had succeeded in his misguided mission, the human losses at the crowded Imambargah would have been enormous.

In the second incident, the suicide bomber due to nervousness or inadequate training blew himself up before he could reach and target an Eidgah where Eidul Fitr prayers were being offered in Daggar in Buner district. Two children who happened to be in the vicinity were injured by the force of the explosion.

It was unimaginable until a few years ago that mosques, referred to as the House of Allah, would be attacked and that too in the NWFP where Islam plays a dominant role in life. In fact, attacking any place of worship was something unthinkable. But the terrorists have no qualms exploding bombs in mosques and sending suicide bombers to kill and maim the innocent Muslims who come to offer prayers.