Pakistan in Media

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Anybody who thought that the Taliban were close to defeat or on the run had better think again. Saturday saw attacks on Peshawar and Bannu. At the time of writing five people are reported dead and fifty injured when a police station was destroyed in Bannu. In the heart of Peshawar, in an area normally regarded as well-guarded and secure, a car bomb containing an estimated 100kg of explosives was detonated killing at least 10 and injuring 70 – both figures are likely to rise. The TTP has claimed responsibility for the Bannu blast, but nobody as yet owns the Peshawar bomb. Both atrocities need to be seen in the context of a statement issued by Qari Hussain Mehsud, a Taliban commander in North Waziristan who said to an AP reporter last Friday that their movement had gained more strength after Baitullah Mehsud and that a group of suicide bombers would be activated if the army launched another offensive against the Taliban.