15 Killed In Pakistan Courtroom Bombing
A suicide bomber killed 15 people — including a judge — after blowing himself up inside a courtroom in a southwestern Pakistani province that has seen intense civil conflict for years, police said.
Elsewhere, authorities announced the arrests of three people who they accused of planning similar attacks.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack at the District Courts complex in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. At least 24 people were wounded in the suicide attack, said Jam Mohammed Yousaf, the top elected official the province.
He said a civil judge, five lawyers and some of the relatives of prisoners on trial were among those killed.
Information was not immediately available about who was on trial. The blast shattered windows and destroyed furniture inside the courtroom. Shoes, strips of clothing and body parts littered the scene.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz — who was visiting the northwestern city of Peshawar on Saturday to meet with families of some police officials who died in a separate suicide attack — condemned the bombing.
"It is an attack on humanity," he said.
Shortly after the attack, a crowd gathered outside the District Court complex and chanted anti-government slogans. Hundreds of relatives thronged a main government hospital where the dead and injured were taken. Rauf Khan, city police chief, said the situation was under control.
The latest attack came a day after police announced they had arrested five suspected militants from the southern city of Karachi and Rawalpindi, a garrison city near Islamabad, and that the suspects were planning suicide attacks on foreigners and minority Shiite Muslims.
Also Saturday, police in southern Pakistan said they arrested three Islamic militants who were planning suicide attacks to take place at forthcoming Shiite Muslim gatherings in Sindh province. The arrests were made late Friday, said Mazhar Sheikh, the police chief in Sukkur, a city about 300 miles northeast of Karachi, the provincial capital.
In Baluchistan province — made up of vast deserts — government forces have clashed with ethnic Baluch rebels in long-running unrest over political rights and royalties from rich natural gas fields.
Authorities in recent months have also arrested hundreds of suspected Taliban from Quetta and elsewhere as part of a campaign aimed at deporting Afghans living here without valid travel documents.
The conflict in the sparsely populated and impoverished region has drawn little attention from Western nations more concerned about Taliban militants believed to launch attacks from border regions of Baluchistan into Afghanistan, where NATO forces operate.
Humanitarian concerns emerged in the spring amid reports that tens of thousands of Baluch people had fled their homes in the volatile districts of Dera Bugti and Kohlu.
In August, a UNICEF survey counted 84,000 displaced and recommended to the provincial government that they needed help.
The latest attack came a day after police announced that they had arrested five suspected militants from the southern city of Karachi and Rawalpindi, a garrison city near Islamabad, and that the suspects were planning suicide attacks on foreigners and minority Shiite Muslims.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Elsewhere, authorities announced the arrests of three people who they accused of planning similar attacks.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack at the District Courts complex in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. At least 24 people were wounded in the suicide attack, said Jam Mohammed Yousaf, the top elected official the province.
He said a civil judge, five lawyers and some of the relatives of prisoners on trial were among those killed.
Information was not immediately available about who was on trial. The blast shattered windows and destroyed furniture inside the courtroom. Shoes, strips of clothing and body parts littered the scene.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz — who was visiting the northwestern city of Peshawar on Saturday to meet with families of some police officials who died in a separate suicide attack — condemned the bombing.
"It is an attack on humanity," he said.
Shortly after the attack, a crowd gathered outside the District Court complex and chanted anti-government slogans. Hundreds of relatives thronged a main government hospital where the dead and injured were taken. Rauf Khan, city police chief, said the situation was under control.
The latest attack came a day after police announced they had arrested five suspected militants from the southern city of Karachi and Rawalpindi, a garrison city near Islamabad, and that the suspects were planning suicide attacks on foreigners and minority Shiite Muslims.
Also Saturday, police in southern Pakistan said they arrested three Islamic militants who were planning suicide attacks to take place at forthcoming Shiite Muslim gatherings in Sindh province. The arrests were made late Friday, said Mazhar Sheikh, the police chief in Sukkur, a city about 300 miles northeast of Karachi, the provincial capital.
In Baluchistan province — made up of vast deserts — government forces have clashed with ethnic Baluch rebels in long-running unrest over political rights and royalties from rich natural gas fields.
Authorities in recent months have also arrested hundreds of suspected Taliban from Quetta and elsewhere as part of a campaign aimed at deporting Afghans living here without valid travel documents.
The conflict in the sparsely populated and impoverished region has drawn little attention from Western nations more concerned about Taliban militants believed to launch attacks from border regions of Baluchistan into Afghanistan, where NATO forces operate.
Humanitarian concerns emerged in the spring amid reports that tens of thousands of Baluch people had fled their homes in the volatile districts of Dera Bugti and Kohlu.
In August, a UNICEF survey counted 84,000 displaced and recommended to the provincial government that they needed help.
The latest attack came a day after police announced that they had arrested five suspected militants from the southern city of Karachi and Rawalpindi, a garrison city near Islamabad, and that the suspects were planning suicide attacks on foreigners and minority Shiite Muslims.
Popular on CBSNews.com
-
One year after Afghan massacre, villagers work with U.S. troops One year after U.S. Staff Sgt. Robert Bales was accused of slaughtering 16 Afghan civilians, the villagers in the town where the atrocity took place have joined the U.S. special forces stationed there to assist in the fight against the Taliban.
- 50th Paris Air Show 13 Photos
- Basement living in China 6 Photos
- Italy top court cites "erotic game" hypothesis in Knox case
- Widespread protests in Brazil 22 Photos
- Torrential rain devastates Northern India 15 Photos
- 100,000 line streets of Brazil to protest corruption
- Hungary indicts 98-year-old for Nazi war crimes
- Egypt and Ethiopia try to roll back threats of war
http://www.carlosmencia.com/content/videos.php?id=66
We tend to hold blame at crappy resturants, or crappy places to work, on crappy management. In a situation like this, the U.N (what ever is left of it) needs to hold these presidents or governments responsible for the crappy lifestyle these M-80's bring to the table and drop extreme sanctions on materials that can be used as explosives, no matter how common the item is. Or have ONE huge single depot where these M-80's can buy this stuff and have a test room for them to see if it works :) What a bunch of idiots these radicals are, maybe this is natures way of doing natural selection with the unfortunate way of taking innocent lives with the idiots.
The problem in Pakistan is Afghan barbarian refugees, Pakistan should kick these *** back to their cave civilization in Afghanistan, build a big fence and put mines in there.
Judging From his/her grammar and choice of words, patriotic9 may not be American born and raised. It is obvious that he/she is prone to overly emotional comments and responses. It is also fairly obvious that he/she is well read, and in this case, pretty close to being right.
To believe the unproven one must resort to radicalism to some degree; the stronger the belief the more radical the response. People who choose to become suicide bombers, themselves, are far stronger believers in their faith than most Christians or Jews.
Being a strong believer does not make one right or wrong but to UNEQUIVOCALLY assert that religious faith as fact, is very offensive to those not of that faith.
In any debate, all faith based (religious) statements or comments should always be qualified/stated as such.
You have a full right to disagree with whatever I say but please come up with valid reasons to prove your point.If you'd be proven right,I'll accept that and change my point of views.
I know one thing for sure that we were attacked on 9/11 because the enemies of United States had decided to support the illegitimate and unjustified existance of Israel on the world map on the cost of American money,American lives and USA herself as Americans are GOD-NEGLECTED and the NON-AMERICAN EUROPEAN INVADERS IN PALESTINE are GOD-CHOSEN,America which has given us every thing is an UNHOLY LAND and ISRAEL which can't survive without stealing our money is a HOLY LAND.Our constitution which separates CHURCH from STATE is UNHOLY,whereas the BIBLE which discriminates against Americans by not promising them a single penny while promising NON-AMERICAN GOD CHSOEN ENEMIES of the GOD'S ONLY SON,is HOLY.
I've seen thousands of Americans dying on 9/11 and don't wanna see million more to die for an UNJUST and RACIST GOD whose existance is not proven by any scientific evidence.
Your mixing up a lot of stuff, giving credit where credit is not due, and ignoring a blatant threat to freedom.
In the real world, that means your opinion short circuits its self, because you dont have any idea what your talking about.