* Three killed, 24 hurt in Peshawar Press Club suicide attack
* Bomber blows himself up after being challenged by guard at club’s entrance
* Journalists to observe three-day mourning
PESHAWAR: Three people, including a woman, were killed and another 24 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the main gate of the Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday.
The building is situated on the Sher Shah Suri Road close to the Cantonment Railway Station. Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) officials confirmed the toll in the first ever suicide attack in the country aimed specifically at journalists.
They said two of the bodies were identified as police constable Riazuddin and a passer-by, Rubina.
Rubina, who died of a cardiac arrest, was travelling in a rickshaw close to the press club when the blast occurred.
Peshawar Press Club accountant Mian Iqbal Shah died at the hospital later.
Several passers-by, including those travelling in a minibus, were injured in the blast besides Peshawar Press Club employees Yasir, Ayub and Kamran. A photo journalist, Khurram Pervez, also sustained injuries in the blast.
Peshawar City Police chief Liaqat Ali Khan told reporters that the suicide attacker had tried to enter the premises. The police guard at the gate frisked the man and tried to overpower him when he discovered that the person was wearing a suicide vest, however, the bomber detonated his vest during the scuffle.
The press club employee Yasir Jamil, who was also injured in the blast, told Daily Times that the suicide bomber was trying to enter the press club when the police guard stopped him. He said the attacker had an argument with the guard, and blew himself up moments later. He said the bomber had a dark complexion and short height and seemed around 18 to 19 years of age.
Nadir Khawaja, a journalist, said he saw the guard and the bomber arguing from the opposite side of the road as he was approaching the press club.
NWFP Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain told reporters at the scene that targeting journalists was “militants’ compulsion”, as the journalists were exposing the terrorists to the public.
He said no one was safe in the country, as the terrorists were targeting mosques, graves and even funeral prayers. Hussain hoped that the journalists would become more organised after the attack and would not bow down to the terrorists.
Mourning: The Peshawar Press Club has announced a three-day mourning. “The press club was already receiving threats and warning letters – journalists here are practically working in a war zone,” Peshawar Presc Club President Shamim Shahid told AFP. manzoor ali shah/afp
Sourcedailytimes.com.pk/
Showing posts with label Investigators of Taliban. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Investigators of Taliban. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Somali militants enforce Taliban-style dress code
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Residents of a southern Somali town say Islamists are enforcing a Taliban-style dress code.
Kismayo resident Abdulahi Omar Dhere says members of the al-Shabab insurgent group are targeting young men who have long hair, no beards and wear Western-style trousers below the ankle.
Dhere said Wednesday that Islamists are publicly cutting off parts of trousers that violate the order and giving haircuts to anyone with long hair. The group has ordered men to grow beards and shave mustaches.
Al-Shabab has already banned movie theaters, musical ringtones and dancing at weddings — echoing rules ones imposed by the Taliban when they ruled most of Afghanistan in the late 1990s, though the group didn't oppose long hair.
Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g7OaI4_kjeHA-o4UhlmP7vlWmrrwD9CP1I2G0
Kismayo resident Abdulahi Omar Dhere says members of the al-Shabab insurgent group are targeting young men who have long hair, no beards and wear Western-style trousers below the ankle.
Dhere said Wednesday that Islamists are publicly cutting off parts of trousers that violate the order and giving haircuts to anyone with long hair. The group has ordered men to grow beards and shave mustaches.
Al-Shabab has already banned movie theaters, musical ringtones and dancing at weddings — echoing rules ones imposed by the Taliban when they ruled most of Afghanistan in the late 1990s, though the group didn't oppose long hair.
Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g7OaI4_kjeHA-o4UhlmP7vlWmrrwD9CP1I2G0
Friday, December 18, 2009
Investigators probe link of Taliban with bank heist
KARACHI: The main suspect in the country’s biggest bank robbery used the identity card of another person to get the job of a guard in a security company.
Five men led by a security guard had robbed the I.I. Chundrigar Road branch of Allied Bank of foreign currency equivalent to Rs311.2 million on Sunday morning.
After the robbery, police got hold of the file of the guard, Shahid Mehmood, and his fake CNIC, original photograph and copies of the CNIC of his guarantors were taken into possession.
Particulars on the CNIC misled police into thinking that the man was from Faisalabad.
On Monday, when police reached the Faisalabad address, mentioned on the CNIC, it transpired that Shahid Mehmood ran a canteen at a commercial centre in Qayyumabad area near DHA in Karachi.
A senior police officer told Dawn that the main suspect had used the CNIC of Shahid Mehmood to get a job in the security company.
‘He didn’t even replace the picture of Shahid Mehmood with that of his own. However, he had submitted his own photograph along with the copy of the CNIC at the company,’ the officer said.
Similarly, the photocopies of the CNIC of the two guarantors were attached by the main suspect in his job application and the guarantors were questioned by police on Monday.
It emerged that the two didn’t know the suspect and he had misused the copies of their CNIC.
However, it has been established that the unnamed ‘main suspect’ belongs to Peshawar, prompting police to include the possibility of Taliban linkage, an investigator told Dawn.
An injection of Rs311 million in the terror network would add to the capacity of Taliban to continue their attacks across the country, an investigator remarked. Such a huge amount of cash cannot be taken home by someone for personal use.
Meanwhile, Karachi police have been instructed to check the offices of private security agencies and report any irregularity to higher authorities.
CCPO Waseem Ahmed issued orders to SPs of all towns to check the record of the companies which have offices in their jurisdiction.
Police have also requested the Home Department that punishment for offences committed by security companies should be increased to jail terms of three years (from two years) and the amount of fine to Rs200,000 to Rs50,000.
Sources said that a police team headed by a senior officer had been sent to Peshawar to trace the whereabouts of the main suspect with the help of local police.
About a dozen bank robberies took place in Karachi in 2009, but none matched the latest one in precision and planning.
The last major heist in the country took place in 2007 when two security guards robbed Rs160 million from a foreign exchange company in Karachi.
Several recent bank robberies in Karachi have been traced to the Taliban.
Souece:dawn.com/
Five men led by a security guard had robbed the I.I. Chundrigar Road branch of Allied Bank of foreign currency equivalent to Rs311.2 million on Sunday morning.
After the robbery, police got hold of the file of the guard, Shahid Mehmood, and his fake CNIC, original photograph and copies of the CNIC of his guarantors were taken into possession.
Particulars on the CNIC misled police into thinking that the man was from Faisalabad.
On Monday, when police reached the Faisalabad address, mentioned on the CNIC, it transpired that Shahid Mehmood ran a canteen at a commercial centre in Qayyumabad area near DHA in Karachi.
A senior police officer told Dawn that the main suspect had used the CNIC of Shahid Mehmood to get a job in the security company.
‘He didn’t even replace the picture of Shahid Mehmood with that of his own. However, he had submitted his own photograph along with the copy of the CNIC at the company,’ the officer said.
Similarly, the photocopies of the CNIC of the two guarantors were attached by the main suspect in his job application and the guarantors were questioned by police on Monday.
It emerged that the two didn’t know the suspect and he had misused the copies of their CNIC.
However, it has been established that the unnamed ‘main suspect’ belongs to Peshawar, prompting police to include the possibility of Taliban linkage, an investigator told Dawn.
An injection of Rs311 million in the terror network would add to the capacity of Taliban to continue their attacks across the country, an investigator remarked. Such a huge amount of cash cannot be taken home by someone for personal use.
Meanwhile, Karachi police have been instructed to check the offices of private security agencies and report any irregularity to higher authorities.
CCPO Waseem Ahmed issued orders to SPs of all towns to check the record of the companies which have offices in their jurisdiction.
Police have also requested the Home Department that punishment for offences committed by security companies should be increased to jail terms of three years (from two years) and the amount of fine to Rs200,000 to Rs50,000.
Sources said that a police team headed by a senior officer had been sent to Peshawar to trace the whereabouts of the main suspect with the help of local police.
About a dozen bank robberies took place in Karachi in 2009, but none matched the latest one in precision and planning.
The last major heist in the country took place in 2007 when two security guards robbed Rs160 million from a foreign exchange company in Karachi.
Several recent bank robberies in Karachi have been traced to the Taliban.
Souece:dawn.com/
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