by Fareed Khan

The army attacks the stronghold of tribal fundamentalists. The final toll from the attack on the army headquarters in Rawalpindi is three dead among hostages, eight soldiers and as many extremists killed. AsiaNews sources in Islamabad: The situation will worsen.

Islamabad (AsiaNews) - Tensions remain high throughout Pakistan, where this weekend the Taliban attacked an army headquarters in Rawalpindi. The assault lasted about 22 hours and ended with a military blitz: the final toll is three victims among the hostages (39 survivors), eight soldiers and as many among the extremists. Islamabad, meanwhile, has launched an offensive against Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan.

 

AsiaNews sources in Pakistan confirm a situation of "extreme tension" in the country, where the threat of new fundamentalist attacks remains a high. "Here the atmosphere is tense - he says - and everyone says that it will only worsen." The streets are dotted with checkpoints, "in just under an hour’s journey we crossed 15" to reach the capital, with "guards armed with machine guns pointed towards the vehicles." The source explains that "life goes on and you try to go forward," even if the action against the army headquarters and the "seizure of military soldiers" has helped to amplify the climate of fear.

 

Islamabad today launched an offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan: the air force has bombed several locations of the extremists in an attempt to prepare the ground for a large-scale ground offensive. An intelligence officer reported that the air force "hit two strongholds in Makeen and Ladha, eliminating 16 militiamen”. Over the weekend Rehman Malik, the Interior Minister, confirmed that "all roads lead to South Waziristan” and that a vast operation is" inevitable. "

 

The attack on the military base in Rawalpindi comes a few days after a series of attacks that have bloodied the country. In Peshawar, a suicide bomber in a vehicle laden with explosives, detonated in a market, causing a massacre: 50 people died. An attack on the headquarters of the UN World Food Program in Islamabad left 5 dead.

 

Pakistani security forces arrested one of the Taliban responsible for the attack on the military base. Muhammad Aqeel, who was wounded in the raid, is the alleged masterminds of the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, which took place last March in Lahore. Sources from the Pakistani Geo TV reveal a fundamentalist group , Amjad Farooqi, was behind the raid in Rawalpindi, a member of which in 2002 favoured the kidnapping and murder of journalist Daniel Pearl, correspondent for the Wall Street Journal.

 

• pakistan
• islamabda
• extremists
• taliban
• attack
• sequester
• military