Thursday, June 11, 2009

Fresh wave of terror confines Peshawarites to homes





PESHAWAR: The fresh wave of terror in the provincial metropolis has triggered extreme fear and sense of insecurity among the residents, confining most of them to their homes.

Grief, fear and terror loomed over the city after the Tuesday’s deadly blast at Pearl Continental Hotel that killed 17 people, besides damaging the symbol of Peshawar, the city’s lone five-star hotel.

The residents had not yet come out of the trauma of Qissa Khwani bomb blast - though the situation had improved marginally and the city started coming back to normal life - when the blast at the Pearl Continental plunged them in a profound sense of insecurity.

Quite thin presence of people could be witnessed in main shopping hubs of the city, including Qissa Khwani Bazaar, Khyber Bazaar, Namak Mandi, Chowk Yadgar, Hashtnagri, Saddar, University Road, etc, where roads used to be jam-packed.

The shopkeepers have taken security measures on self-help basis. They have encircled the areas surrounding their shops with ropes to avert car parking there.Bazaars and markets full of loud voices and laughter, the inviting songs of salesmen especially for cold drinks, the beautiful evenings with the family visiting restaurants and hotels appear to be the past story, said Zahid Khan, a shopkeeper in Khyber Bazaar.

Dull days and disturbing nights marred the Peshawarites due to ever-increasing security threats. “The people have lost the spirit to enjoy and laugh and even work. Stress and anxiety are visible on people’s faces,” said another shopkeeper sitting idle in his shop at Saddar Bazaar.

Fear can be noticed on the faces of people who visit these bazaars under compulsion. “It’s very painful to see the deserted bazaars of Peshawar which in peacetime were thronged by dwellers, especially in the evening,” said Nouman Shah, a resident of Saddar.

Even the very busy Dabgari Gardens - an area known for housing a lot of clinics of private medical practitioners - which is visited by patients from every nook and corner of the province and tribal areas, also wore a deserted look. “Only those who are in extremely serious condition visited the clinics,” said a doctor.

“A large number of patients come from south and north of the province but due to prevailing situation in these areas coupled with the increasing threat in Peshawar, have also left doctors idle,” a busy practitioner at the Khyber Medical Centre said.

The newspapers are full of stories about war and miseries in NWFP be it Bannu, Dir, Buner, Swat, Hangu or Peshawar. A lawyer Muhammad Anwar said Peshawarites feel they are being squeezed from all the sides. “While feeling sorrow for their brethren around, we find ourselves helpless in the face of emerging security threat,” he added.

However, there were some people, who appeared to be quite optimistic. They said peace and tranquillity would return to the province soon. Abdul Ali, a human rights activist, said “the dark nights will be over soon, terrorists will be defeated and we will have a peaceful Peshawar once again. But we will have to stand united and strong to face the menace of terrorism.”

Pakistan public opinion turning against Taliban

washingtonpost.com

ISLAMABAD -- The footage was chilling - a woman crying out in pain, held face-down on the ground, as a man with a long beard flogged her in front of a crowd.

It could be the video that changed Pakistan.

That two-minute clip, purportedly shot in the Swat Valley where the Taliban held sway until a recent military offensive, has come to represent the militants and their extreme form of Islam. The footage is increasingly seen here as a turning point - perhaps even more persuasive than all the bombings, beheadings and other violence, most recently Tuesday's suicide attack on a luxury hotel.

The circumstances of the beating are murky, no one is sure where exactly it happened, and the woman's identity remains unclear more than two months after the whipping was shown repeatedly on TV.

No matter. She remains irrevocably linked with the Taliban, an instant icon the government has used to ask Pakistanis if this is what they want for their country.

The answer from many seems to be no.

There are no scientific polls, but in informal interviews by The Associated Press with more than three dozen Pakistanis across the country Wednesday and Thursday, not a single person expressed sympathy or allegiance toward the Taliban. The most common answer was the militants should be hunted down and killed.

Many people told the AP they used to support the Taliban but no longer do so. The finding is supported by those of Pakistani analysts and commentators, who say they detect a similar shift in public opinion recently against the Taliban.

Certainly, the militants retain some support, particularly in the lawless tribal regions bordering Afghanistan that the Taliban and al-Qaida have used as sanctuary. The extremists would likely retreat to these areas if they continue to suffer defeats elsewhere.

But the change in public mood is empowering the army in its offensive against the militants - a campaign supported by the Obama administration, which believes security in Pakistan is vital to defeating the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.

Now the army says it has the Taliban on the run, helped by tips from residents in villages under fire. It's quite a change from several months ago, when the Taliban was on the march within 60 miles of the capital, Islamabad, and there was talk of the entire country falling to the militants.

"Like all of us, I was welcoming the Taliban in the beginning," said Abdul Jabbar Khan, a 52-year-old shopkeeper. Khan now lives with eight family members in a relief camp in Mardan, along the northwest border with Afghanistan. They said they were forced from their home by fighting in Mingora, Swat's biggest town.

"When Maulana Fazlullah started giving sermons on the radio, he was talking about good things - heaven and Islamic teachings," Khan said, referring to the Taliban leader in Swat.

"Now we have the result," he continued. "It is very miserable, painful for all of us. We had a good life there. We had a good home and everything. Now we are begging for even daily meals. These people are responsible. They betrayed us and played with our religious emotions."

Nadeem Ahmad Awan, a 31-year-old bookseller in the southwestern city of Quetta, said the army should "kill each and every Taliban."

"No Taliban should go unharmed," agreed Asma Arshad, 23, a college student in the central city of Multan. "The killing of Taliban is good for Islam and it is good for Pakistan."

A majority of Pakistanis have always opposed Islamic extremists. Previous army offensives against the militants, however, have resulted in public backlashes as many people concluded the only way to end the bloodshed and destruction was for the weak central government to strike a deal with the extremists.

That may be changing.

"The mood has changed toward the Taliban even among those who had empathy with them," said Mahmood Shah, a retired military officer. "Now I don't think they can talk openly in favor of the Taliban. They will be stoned or something."

Attacks like Tuesday's bombing of the Pearl Continental hotel in Peshawar that killed at least nine people, including two U.N. workers, also have hardened people's resolve.

"I get the sense that setting off bombs on any civilian target in the North West Frontier Province - particularly in a place like Peshawar, which might otherwise be a hotbed of support for the insurgency - is fairly obviously a counterproductive strategy," Shah said.

The militants' efforts to expand their sway beyond Swat also appear to have been a miscalculation. Under a February peace deal signed with the government, they imposed sharia, or Islamic law - the whipping in the video appeared to be punishment for an offense - and have been accused of murders, rapes and pillaging.

Sufi Muhammad, an influential Taliban cleric, further stirred outrage with a speech in which he denounced democracy and elections - an unpopular pronouncement in a country that recently has emerged from a decade of military rule.

When the Taliban advanced from Swat into the neighboring Buner district in April, the deal collapsed and the government sent the army to oust the militants from the region.

The rising public sentiment against the militants has played into the government's efforts to build support for offensives against the Taliban that started, with strong encouragement from Washington and other allies, in Swat and may yet head for tougher targets in the tribal areas of North and South Waziristan.

Sheik Maqsood, a 47-year-old social worker in Multan, said he used to like and respect the Taliban, but that over the years their atrocities in the tribal regions have changed his mind.

"These Taliban are unpopular to such an extent that not a single person is willing to utter even one word in their favor," Maqsood said.

The sea change in sentiment appears to have started with the video, said Mehdi Hasan, a journalism professor and political commentator.

The two-minute video, widely aired on local television in early April, shows the woman face down on the ground with two men holding her arms and feet. Her all-enveloping burqa has been hitched up to expose a pair of pink trousers.

A third man in a black turban with a long beard whips her backside more than a dozen times, causing her to scream repeatedly and shout "Stop it, stop it! It is painful!" A crowd of men watches silently in the background.

"After the flogging of the girl in Swat, the people of the country's mood changed," Hasan said. "Before that, the public attitude was apologetic and defensive because of the word Islam."

The Taliban's other actions had an impact, too.

"The militants were blasting saloons, destroying girls' schools. They were stopping women from coming out of their homes or going to the doctor," Hasan said. "People became fed up with this. They are reclaiming Islam. ... For the first time in Pakistan, they are taking a strong stand against the Taliban and the extremists."

Zahid Omar, 37, a local trader in the eastern city of Lahore, said people had been forced to see the Taliban's "ugly faces."

Zafar Hilaly, a former Pakistani ambassador, wrote in the influential daily The News that the Taliban's actions already have cost them any chance of destabilizing the government.

"They helped the public make up its mind," he wrote. "They helped the army do what it should have done much earlier, which was to fight. They encouraged parliament to acquire some spunk. Pakistan's victory in the present war against the Taliban is preordained for no other reason than the nation is finally united against the enemy."

The government has shown more savvy than in previous offensives against militants that left civilians dead. They appear to have been careful to avoid collateral damage as much as possible this time, though it's impossible to know for sure because the military has severely restricted access to the combat zones.

In addition, there has been a nearly monthlong pause in U.S. drone-fired missile strikes against militant targets near the Afghan border. Such strikes are unpopular in Pakistan, though U.S. officials say the lull was not timed to allow the government to build good will.

The Pakistani army - whose reputation took a beating under former military leader Pervez Musharraf - says it's succeeding in Swat partly because it has more public support. Many residents are now more helpful in tipping off security forces to Taliban presence, military officials say.

The military also quickly dispatched helicopter gunships to the Upper Dir region in support of a citizens' militia that sprang up after the bombing last week of a mosque that was blamed on the Taliban. Some similar efforts have foundered for lack of government support.

Still, critics say the Pakistani army does not have the will or ability to vanquish the militants, given its close links to extremist groups.

While the peace deal with the Taliban was widely criticized at the time as a capitulation, President Asif Ali Zardari says he signed off on it because he knew the militants would violate it and show their true colors.

The flogging and other Taliban actions seemed to resonate with Pakistanis because Swat is much more a part of the Pakistan they're familiar with than the tribal areas. People who live in Punjab have vacationed in Swat and gone there to honeymoon. The tribal areas, on the other hand, are like another planet.

The surge in support for the offensive still could end if the government fails to address the more than 2 million people displaced by the fighting or to hold Swat once it's cleared. Bringing law and order to that stretch of the northwest is critical to preventing the Taliban's re-emergence.

Residents in the troubled Bajur tribal region cursed the Taliban in interviews with the AP - but also complained the government did nothing for them after a successful military operation last year against the Taliban.

When the militants were in power, "we were facing threats from the Taliban but at least we could still live in our homes," said Dost Mohammed, one of thousands who fled their town of Mamund during the fighting - only to return to find their homes and crops destroyed.

Mohammed still favors army action against the Taliban. But he said that the government should help those who pay a heavy price for the war on terror.

How Sarkozy stood up to Obama




French President sets himself up for a little mockery. Here's a classic example, taken at Saturday's D-Day commemoration in Normandy.

Speaking from the same podium as Barack Obama, Sarkozy added about six inches to his five feet five by standing on a little stool. Added to his custom-crafted elevator shoes, this took him up to the same altitude as the six-feet-two US president.

Jimmy Carter in Syria





Damascus, SANA _President Bashar al-Assad said Thursday that Syria was and is still clear in its position and committed to the option of peace that will return the land to their owners and the legitimate rights to the Palestinian people.

That came when President al-Assad received former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

President al-Assad and Carter reviewed the current situation in the Middle East and ways of activating the stalled peace process.

For his part, President Carter hoped to see an improvement in the Syrian-US relations under the administration of President Barack Obama who wishes to pursue a new policy with all countries of the region dominated by dialogue and mutual respect.

Carter pointed out that Syria is an important player in the region, and that he believed that the U.S. administration is willing to develop this relation.

He stressed that the current Israeli government has to stop settlement and adopt the bases of peace.

The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, Presidential Political and Media Advisor Dr. Buthaina Shaaban, Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Fayssal Mikdad and the delegation accompanying President Carter.

In a press conference following the meeting Carter said: " I discussed with President al-Assad the cooperation built on the goodwill between Syria and the United States, George Mitchell's forthcoming visit and the situation in Iraq as I briefed the President on plans of my tour which I intend to complete in the region.

He expressed his belief that President Barack Obama wants to establish
relations of cooperation and friendship with Syria, and this includes the lifting of sanctions and sending US ambassador to Damascus.

President Carter added: " Our main task is to support the Middle East peace process with the hope of resumption of negotiations between Syria and Israel, and Israel's withdrawal from the Golan , and I hope a positive progress would be achieved in the peace process, where today there is a commitment by the President Obama to play an active role."

Carter added that there is no doubt that U.S. involvement is necessary to ensure the success of the peace process, but I can not predict the final result… there is no doubts that the international community, the Europeans, Russia and the United States are deeply interested in the success of the initiative launched by President Obama, which set a deadline before end of his term in 2012 for the completion of a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians and between Israel and Syria.

He called on the US government to conduct, as soon as possible, a dialogue with Hamas, adding, "It's impossible to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians without inserting Hamas directly in this process.

Carter pointed out to Israel's detention of 11700 Palestinian captives, among them 400 women and children as well as members of the Palestinian Legislative Council who were elected in 2006 in addition to Marwan al-Barghouthi.

This is Carter's third visit to Damascus in 2008 and 2009 with the aim of pushing the Syrian-US relations forward and removing the obstacles facing them.

Earlier, the U.S. State Department announced that U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell visits Damascus at the end of this week as a part of efforts to revive the peace process and President Obama's efforts to reach a comprehensive peace in the region.

Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and National Security Council Senior Director Daniel Shapiro, held talks in Damascus last March and May with Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and agreed on continuing the existing dialogue to address the standing differences to achieve the two countries' interests.

Six delegates from the U.S. Congress also visited Damascus this year to discuss bilateral relations and ways to move them forward through a serious and constructive dialogue based on mutual respect and common interests.

U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Is Given More Leeway


NYT.COM
WASHINGTON — The new American commander in Afghanistan has been given carte blanche to handpick a dream team of subordinates, including many Special Operations veterans, as he moves to carry out an ambitious new strategy that envisions stepped-up attacks on Taliban fighters and narcotics networks.

The extraordinary leeway granted the commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, underscores a view within the administration that the war in Afghanistan has for too long been given low priority and needs to be the focus of a sustained, high-level effort.

General McChrystal is assembling a corps of 400 officers and soldiers who will rotate between the United States and Afghanistan for a minimum of three years. That kind of commitment to one theater of combat is unknown in the military today outside Special Operations, but reflects an approach being imported by General McChrystal, who spent five years in charge of secret commando teams in Iraq and Afghanistan.

With his promotion approved by the Senate late on Wednesday, General McChrystal and senior members of his command team were scheduled to fly from Washington within hours of the vote, stopping in two European capitals to confer with allies before landing in Kabul, the Afghan capital.

General McChrystal’s confirmation came only after the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, went to the floor to make an impassioned plea for Republicans to allow the action to proceed, fearing that political infighting would delay approval of the appointment. He told of a phone call on Wednesday from Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Mr. Reid said that Admiral Mullen had told him that there was a sense of urgency that General McChrystal be able to go to Afghanistan that very night. He said that according to Admiral Mullen, “McChrystal is literally waiting by an airplane” to go to Afghanistan as the new commander.

Almost a dozen senior military officers provided details about General McChrystal’s plans in interviews after his nomination. The officers insisted on anonymity because of the sensitivity of the effort, and insisted that their comments not be used until the Senate vote, so as not to preempt lawmakers.

For the first time, the American commander in Afghanistan will have a three-star deputy. Picked for the job of running day-to-day combat operations was Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, who has commanded troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Generals McChrystal and Rodriguez have been colleagues and friends for more than 30 years, beginning when both were Ranger company commanders as young captains.

General McChrystal also has picked the senior intelligence adviser to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Maj. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, to join him in Kabul as director of intelligence there. In Washington, Brig. Gen. Scott Miller, a longtime Special Operations officer now assigned to the Joint Chiefs of Staff but who had served previously under General McChrystal, is now organizing a new Pakistan-Afghanistan Coordination Cell.

Admiral Mullen said that he personally told General McChrystal that “he could have his pick from the Joint Staff. His job, the mission he’s going to command, is that important. Afghanistan is the main effort right now.”

Just how this new team will grapple with the increasingly violent Taliban militancy in Afghanistan is unclear, although General McChrystal has said he will focus on classic counterinsurgency techniques, in particular protecting the population.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has asked General McChrystal to report back within 60 days of taking command with an assessment of the mission and plans for carrying out President Obama’s new strategy.

“Success will be difficult to define but will come in reduction in I.E.D.’s, reduction in poppy, more interdiction of Taliban crossing the border, some anticorruption arrests/exiles, and greater civilian effort possible as a result of a reduction in the threat,” said Maj. Gen. Peter Gilchrist, a retired British officer and a former deputy commander of allied forces in Afghanistan who praised General McChrystal’s appointment.

At the Pentagon, under General McChrystal’s direction, a large area of the Defense Department’s underground, round-the-clock emergency operations facility — called the National Military Command Center — has already been shifted to the Afghan war effort.

The makeover in the American military command is not the only major set of personnel changes in Afghanistan.

The Obama administration has surrounded the new United States ambassador to Kabul, Karl W. Eikenberry, a recently retired three-star Army general, with three former ambassadors to bolster diplomatic efforts in the country.

Francis J. Ricciardone Jr., a former ambassador to Egypt and the Philippines, has been tapped as General Eikenberry’s deputy. Earl Anthony Wayne, a former ambassador to Argentina, is heading up economic development initiatives in the embassy. Joseph A. Mussomeli, the former ambassador to Cambodia, will be an assistant ambassador in Kabul.

As director of intelligence on the Joint Staff, General Flynn holds a position, called the J-2, that has often been a springboard to a senior executive position across the alphabet soup of American intelligence agencies. But General Flynn, who was General McChrystal’s intelligence boss at the Joint Special Operations Command, has chosen to return to the combat zone.

In a sign of the importance being given to explaining the new strategy to Afghans, across the region and the world, General McChrystal will also be taking the first flag officer to serve as chief of public affairs and communications for the military in Afghanistan.

Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, who has served as director of communications and spokesman in Iraq during the troop increase under Gen. David H. Petraeus, had been scheduled to retire this summer. But officials said he received a personal request from Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to serve in the same capacity for General McChrystal.

Failure to protect


Dawn Editorial



The devastating strike against the Pearl Continental hotel in Peshawar is another sobering reminder that the terrorists are continually adapting their modus operandi and probing gaps in security arrangements in what should be high-security areas.

The attacks on the FIA centre in Lahore in March 2008 and the Marriott hotel in Islamabad last September introduced the devastation of truck-bombing to Pakistan and led to a scramble to put up heavy-duty security barriers at the entrances to buildings that could be potential targets of terrorists across the country. Then last month in Lahore, a similar attack on an ISI building may have been thwarted but it did severely damage a Rescue 15 building and killed dozens. Seemingly having learned from that experience, the terrorists in Peshawar arrived at the hotel in an innocuous looking car, and when the barrier was lowered for them they fired in the air dispersing the guards. Then, followed closely by the truck filled with the explosive material, they drove to their target. Even more alarmingly, the terrorists appear to have thoroughly reconnoitred their target: they exploded their truck at a point that caused maximum damage to the portion of the hotel that reportedly was occupied mostly by foreigners.

What is equally clear though is that there was a spectacular failure of security at the hotel itself and the surrounding neighbourhood. Private security guards at the hotel were clearly not up to the task of fending off sophisticated terrorists on a suicide mission. Or were they complicit in the crime, as NWFP senior minister Bashir Bilour suspects. But where were the police and other law-enforcement personnel? With humanitarian workers and officials from international aid agencies flocking to help the IDPs in the north-west, the local, provincial and federal administrations should have already had a plan in place to protect the hotel.

After all, terrorist strikes in retaliation against the military operation in Malakand had already occurred and more were expected. Clearly, more — much more — needs to be done on the security front. If there is a shortage of personnel, then they must be urgently recruited. If there is a shortage of other resources, the relevant administrations must provide them to the law-enforcement agencies immediately. If the intelligence apparatus is stretched thin, then it must quickly be beefed up.

The neighbourhood in which the hotel is located ought to be kept in mind. The provincial assembly, Supreme Court registry, Governor House, Chief Minister House and Corps Commander House are all a stone’s throw from the Pearl Continental. True, the road on which the hotel is located is a major artery and security concerns must be balanced against the need of the population to move around. But the fact that a truck laden with explosives could travel unchecked on the road is extremely disconcerting. A system needs to be put in place that can screen all traffic, particularly heavy vehicles.

UN halts operations in NWFP after PC blast





PESHAWAR: The United Nations has suspended its activities including humanitarian assistance to the internally displaced persons till Monday next in the wake of devastating bombing at Pearl Continental Hotel, sources say.

According to sources, the UN has communicated to all its employees to stay away from offices till Monday. A meeting of the UN will be held on Monday to review the situation and decide about resumption or stoppage of relief work for IDPs.

Sources said that the UN had evacuated its entire expatriate staff to Islamabad and the local employees had been asked to stay home till further orders.

Sources in the UN told Dawn that they had cancelled all their activities in Peshawar an elsewhere in NWFP due to the blast at a local five-star hotel on Tuesday night.

They said that suspension of relief work by the UN agencies at this stage would adversely affect the internally displaced persons because in all areas, including water, sanitation, shelter, food and health etc the UN had been playing major role.

‘Earlier, the UN offices in Peshawar were asked to remain closed for Wednesday, but later they were told about the new decision to remain off the office and fields till Monday,’ said officials.

They said that their activities regarding relief to IDPs could not be compromised. They hoped that UN would soon revive its decision of abandoning work in view of the help needed by million of IDPs from Swat, Buner and Dir districts of Malakand region.

Sources maintained that the decision to suspend work was taken after the death of at least five UN employees, including UNHCR, World Food Programme and United Nations Population Fund which had prompted the global agency to provide protection to its employees.

Sources said that the roles of WFP, World Health Organisation, UNHCR and UNICEF were extremely vital for the IDPs and the provincial government had been persuading the high-ranking officials of the UN to rescind the decision and ask its staffers to get back to field work.

At the time of the blast, officials of the WFP, UNHCR and UNFPA, who had arrived in Peshawar, were present at the hotel to take stock of the IDPs situation, sources added.

Sources said that WFP had lost three of its staffers in the explosion besides two employees including a woman of UNICEF and UNHCR were also killed. Two drivers of the UNFPA were also killed in the blast and three UN employees sustained injuries in the blast, they said.

Sources said that NWFP had been placed in phase-III of the UN security from the past several months due to law and order situation and the expatriate staff had been asked to stay away from Peshawar.

In the next security phase, the UN would completely halt its operations that could deal a severe blow to the government’s relief work at IDP camps, they added.

However, after the military operation in Malakand and subsequent mass exoduses from the region, the UN expatriate staff began arriving here to take part in high-level meetings with the officials regarding the relief activities at the camps established for IDPs, they added.

The World Food Programme (WFP) had suspended work at food distribution points for internally displaced persons (IDPs) of Swat and Buner here on Wednesday due to killing of the UN officials in the explosion in a five-star hotel in Peshawar on Tuesday.

Officials at WFP distribution points told Dawn that work remained suspended from June 5 to June 9 and they were told that food supply would be resumed on Wednesday but the whole scenario was changed after Peshawar blast.

A number of displaced persons visited the WFP food points. However, after confirming the suspension of food supply the visiting displaced persons were told by the WFP staff that they got the order from the high-ranking officials that there would be no food distribution till further order.

The WFP staff said that there all preparations were completed and even the wheat supply to their stores had been completed during the five-day break.

The officials said that they were not in a position to tell the IDPs that they should visit the food distribution point on a particular day.

The IDPs said that those who were responsible for the destruction of the five-star hostel should be punished by the government. They demanded an immediate resumption of the food supply.

Four killed, many injured in Peshawar police attack


Unknown miscreants targeted a police party with hand-grenade followed by a suicide attack at Ring Road area here Thursday that killed four people and injuring many others, a private TV channel reported. According to preliminary reports, unknown miscreants hurled a hand grenade at a police patrolling vehicle at Ring Road area, injuring one cop. Police has installed a security checkpoint at the attack site. When heavy contingents of police were rushed to the scene soon after the grenade attack another powerful blast hit the security convoy, killing at least three policemen and injuring many others, it was reported. The second attack was supposed to be suicidal and killed the bomber among three policemen and injured ten others. The injured and corpses have been rushed to Lady Reading Hospital of Peshawar where emergency have already been declared.