Source: The News

By Javed Aziz Khan
10/9/2008
PESHAWAR: Suicide bombers have struck 116 times in Pakistan since the first incident of its kind in March 2002 at an Islamabad church, disclosed data collected by a law-enforcement agency.

It was March 16, 2002, when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a church in Islamabad, killing five people and injuring 40 others, including Sri Lankan high commissioner to Pakistan. Fifty days after the March 16 attack, French nationals were attacked by a suicide bomber in Karachi, killing at least 14 persons, including nine French nationals. Since then suicide bombings have continued unabated.

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up the very next year while the number of this kind of attacks went to 7 in 2004. Four suicide attacks were recorded in 2005 while another seven suicide bombers hit their targets in 2006.

A total of 37 suicide blasts have occurred in the first nine months of the current year, perishing over 570 people. Twelve of these blasts occurred in Frontier alone. The year 2007 witnessed the most number of suicide bombings as terrorists attacked 57 targets during the year all over the country, killing over 760 persons.

During the period, the country lost a former prime minister and late chairperson of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, Benazir Bhutto, in one such attack in Rawalpindi on December 27. At least 30 people were killed and over hundred injured in the incident.

Benazir Bhutto had survived a suicide attack on October 18, soon after she landed in Karachi after years of self-imposed exile. Around 150 people were killed in that suicide attack and over 550 sustained injuries. The former premier, however, remained unhurt.

Similarly, the then interior minister, Aftab Ahmad Sherpao, was also attacked by suicide bombers on two occasions. In the first attack, 31 people were killed when a suicide bomber struck at public meeting at the Station Koroona locality in Charsadda on April 27.

In the second attempt on his life on the occasion of Eidul Azha prayers at a mosque, Sherpao survived once more but over 60 villagers were killed and around 100 sustained injuries. The first suicide attack on police was occurred on January 27, 2007, wherein the then capital city police officer (CCPO) Peshawar, Malik Mohammad Saad, was killed along with 16 other people.

The first suicide attack on Marriott Hotel also occurred on January 25, 2007. The second suicide attack on the hotel on September 20, 2008 was reported in the media as 9/11 of Pakistan. The attack was said to be the worst one in Pakistan as 600 kilogram of explosives were used in the blast that killed over 60 people but destroyed infrastructure in two square kilometres area.

A few days earlier, on September 6, a powerful suicide blast ripped through the Zangali police post in Peshawar that killed 39 people and injured innumerable others. The latest high-profile target of the suicide bombers was Asfandyar Wali Khan, the chief of Awami National Party. Four persons were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up after breaking the alert security cordon outside Wali Bagh. Asfandyar remained safe.

A couple of days later, another suicide bomber struck in Bhakkar, a district of Punjab province bordering Dera Ismail Khan, where sectarian strife has taken heavy toll of life and property. The target was Rasheed Akbar Niwani, an MNA of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

Punjab has suffered a total of 12 suicide blasts during the years 2007 and 2008. The number of suicide attacks in Frontier, however, remained 40 in the last three years, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Twenty-three of these blasts ripped through different towns of NWFP in the previous year while 12 blasts occurred in the current year. The volatile Waziristan region, comprising North and South, witnessed 18 suicide blasts so far. The twin cities, Islamabad and Rawalpindi, have recorded 17 suicide blasts.

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Tags: Islamabad, Killings, Suicide bombing