Al Qaeda, Taliban Eyed In Pakistan Blasts
Former Prime Minister Benezir Bhutto, her return from exile shattered by a suicide attack that killed up to 136 people and wounded 250, blamed militants Friday for trying to kill her and said she would not "surrender our great nation" to them.
Bhutto said there were two attackers in the deadly bombing, and that her security guards found a third man armed with a pistol and another with a suicide vest. Ahead of her arrival, she said, she was warned suicide squads were dispatched to kill her.
CBS News' Farhan Bokhari reported that Bhutto's return to Pakistan had been preceded by intelligence reports suggesting that members of Al Qaeda were planning to target her.
According to CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar, even before her return, Bhutto was so convinced there would be an assassination attempt that she sent the names of three suspected conspirators to Pakistan's president and a senior American journalist, Arnaud de Borchegrave.
The message read, "I have been informed that Baitur Massoud, an Afghan; and Hamza bin Laden, an Arab; and a Red Mosque militant have been sent to kill me."
Upon her arrival on Thursday, she set aside the security plan to be visible only from behind a bullet proof glass and instead chose to stand on an elevated platform, raising objections from Karachi police officials who said Bhutto had compromised her security.
The first blast came from a suicide bomber who got through lines of police protection. A second, bigger bomb transformed the streets into a burning hell of burning bodies, some with terrible injuries, others simply dead from the explosion, MacVicar told The Early Show.
Bhutto survived unscathed, but the back-to-back explosions that went off near a bulletproof truck in which she was riding turned her jubilant homecoming parade through the city streets into a scene of blood and carnage, ripping victims apart and hurling a fireball into the sky. The attack shattered the windows of her truck. She appeared dazed afterward and was escorted to her Karachi home.
"There was one suicide squad from the Taliban elements, one suicide squad from al Qaeda, one suicide squad from Pakistani Taliban and a fourth - a group - I believe from Karachi," she said.
Baitullah Mehsud, a top militant leader on the unstable Afghan border, threatened this month to meet Bhutto's return to Pakistan with suicide attacks, according to local media reports. An associate of Mehsud, however, denied Taliban involvement.
Bhutto said her guards prevented more carnage.
"They stood their ground, and they stood all around the truck, and they refused to let the suicide bomber - the second suicide bomber - get near the truck," she said.
"We believe democracy alone can save Pakistan from disintegration and a militant takeover," she told a news conference. "We are prepared to risk our lives and we are prepared to risk our liberty, but we are not prepared to surrender our great nation to the militants."
She did not blame the government, but said it was suspicious that streetlights failed after sunset Thursday when her convoy was inching its way through the streets of Karachi. She said attempts to reach the national security advisor to have the lights restored were unsuccessful - phone lines were also apparently down.
"I'm not accusing the government but certain individuals who abuse their positions and powers," she said. "We were scanning the crowd with the floodlights, but it was difficult to scan the crowds because there was so much darkness."
Pakistan did everything it could to protect Benazir Bhutto on her homecoming, a top government official insisted on Saturday, dismissing accusations that officials may have been complicit in the attack.
"I think we should stop playing blame games. The government provided the best possible security to her," Deputy Information Minister Sen. Tariq Azim told The Associated Press. "The trauma of the attack has made them say things which probably in coolness of things they will not repeat."
"Peoples names have been mentioned and names have been hinted at without giving any reason or without giving any proof of their involvement, and that is unfair," he said.
Bhutto said the next attack against her would target her homes in Karachi and her hometown of Larkana, using attackers posing as supporters of a rival political faction.
She blamed the attack on militants trying to quash democratic reforms.
The attack - one of the deadliest in Pakistan's history - bore the hallmarks of militants linked to pro-Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud and al Qaeda, according to Ghulam Muhammad Mohtarem, the top security official in Sindh province, where Karachi is located. He suggested that Bhutto's camp had gotten carried away celebrating her return after eight years in exile, and had not taken the need for security seriously.
"We were already fearing a strike from Mehsud and his local affiliates and this was conveyed to the (Bhutto's Pakistan's) People's Party but they got carried away by political exigencies instead of taking our concern seriously," Mohtarem said.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the nation's leader, phoned Bhutto Friday to express his shock and profound grief over the bombing and prayed for the former premier's safety and security, his spokesman said.
"The president and Ms. Bhutto both expressed their unflinching resolve to fight this scourge of extremism and terrorism. They also agreed that there was a need for the entire nation to unite in order to rid the country of this menace of suicide bombings, terrorism and extremism," Qureshi said.
Musharraf resolved to "bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice."
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Bhutto said there were two attackers in the deadly bombing, and that her security guards found a third man armed with a pistol and another with a suicide vest. Ahead of her arrival, she said, she was warned suicide squads were dispatched to kill her.
CBS News' Farhan Bokhari reported that Bhutto's return to Pakistan had been preceded by intelligence reports suggesting that members of Al Qaeda were planning to target her.
According to CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar, even before her return, Bhutto was so convinced there would be an assassination attempt that she sent the names of three suspected conspirators to Pakistan's president and a senior American journalist, Arnaud de Borchegrave.
The message read, "I have been informed that Baitur Massoud, an Afghan; and Hamza bin Laden, an Arab; and a Red Mosque militant have been sent to kill me."
Upon her arrival on Thursday, she set aside the security plan to be visible only from behind a bullet proof glass and instead chose to stand on an elevated platform, raising objections from Karachi police officials who said Bhutto had compromised her security.
The first blast came from a suicide bomber who got through lines of police protection. A second, bigger bomb transformed the streets into a burning hell of burning bodies, some with terrible injuries, others simply dead from the explosion, MacVicar told The Early Show.
Bhutto survived unscathed, but the back-to-back explosions that went off near a bulletproof truck in which she was riding turned her jubilant homecoming parade through the city streets into a scene of blood and carnage, ripping victims apart and hurling a fireball into the sky. The attack shattered the windows of her truck. She appeared dazed afterward and was escorted to her Karachi home.
"There was one suicide squad from the Taliban elements, one suicide squad from al Qaeda, one suicide squad from Pakistani Taliban and a fourth - a group - I believe from Karachi," she said.
Baitullah Mehsud, a top militant leader on the unstable Afghan border, threatened this month to meet Bhutto's return to Pakistan with suicide attacks, according to local media reports. An associate of Mehsud, however, denied Taliban involvement.
Bhutto said her guards prevented more carnage.
"They stood their ground, and they stood all around the truck, and they refused to let the suicide bomber - the second suicide bomber - get near the truck," she said.
"We believe democracy alone can save Pakistan from disintegration and a militant takeover," she told a news conference. "We are prepared to risk our lives and we are prepared to risk our liberty, but we are not prepared to surrender our great nation to the militants."
She did not blame the government, but said it was suspicious that streetlights failed after sunset Thursday when her convoy was inching its way through the streets of Karachi. She said attempts to reach the national security advisor to have the lights restored were unsuccessful - phone lines were also apparently down.
"I'm not accusing the government but certain individuals who abuse their positions and powers," she said. "We were scanning the crowd with the floodlights, but it was difficult to scan the crowds because there was so much darkness."
Pakistan did everything it could to protect Benazir Bhutto on her homecoming, a top government official insisted on Saturday, dismissing accusations that officials may have been complicit in the attack.
"I think we should stop playing blame games. The government provided the best possible security to her," Deputy Information Minister Sen. Tariq Azim told The Associated Press. "The trauma of the attack has made them say things which probably in coolness of things they will not repeat."
"Peoples names have been mentioned and names have been hinted at without giving any reason or without giving any proof of their involvement, and that is unfair," he said.
Bhutto said the next attack against her would target her homes in Karachi and her hometown of Larkana, using attackers posing as supporters of a rival political faction.
She blamed the attack on militants trying to quash democratic reforms.
The attack - one of the deadliest in Pakistan's history - bore the hallmarks of militants linked to pro-Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud and al Qaeda, according to Ghulam Muhammad Mohtarem, the top security official in Sindh province, where Karachi is located. He suggested that Bhutto's camp had gotten carried away celebrating her return after eight years in exile, and had not taken the need for security seriously.
"We were already fearing a strike from Mehsud and his local affiliates and this was conveyed to the (Bhutto's Pakistan's) People's Party but they got carried away by political exigencies instead of taking our concern seriously," Mohtarem said.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the nation's leader, phoned Bhutto Friday to express his shock and profound grief over the bombing and prayed for the former premier's safety and security, his spokesman said.
"The president and Ms. Bhutto both expressed their unflinching resolve to fight this scourge of extremism and terrorism. They also agreed that there was a need for the entire nation to unite in order to rid the country of this menace of suicide bombings, terrorism and extremism," Qureshi said.
Musharraf resolved to "bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice."
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http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/ED31BEE1-C832-4051-A11A-9837225559BF.htm
Pakistan''s deputy information minister has dismissed accusations that officials may have been complicit in an attempt to kill Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, on her return to the country.
Tariq Azim said on Saturday that the "best possible security" had been provided ahead of Thursday''s suicide attack that killed at least 140 people.
Bhutto blamed al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters for the bombing, but also suggested that government or military officials could have been involved. She questioned why street lighting had been off during part of her procession.
Posted by fibonacci_gr at 12:20 PM : Oct 20, 2007
What is so intellectual abnout the following;
SINS comitted by ADAM and EVE, SINNERS are those NEW BORN CHILDREN born in sins who can''t even differentiate between what is a SIN and what is not a SIN and the price is paid by a THIRD PARTY FREE OF SINS named JESUS.
Those who believe in JESUS as a MESSIAH and SON of GOD are GOD-NEGLECTED, whereas; those who deny JESUS as a MESSIAH and SON OF GOD and accuse his mother of FORNICATION, are GOD-CHOSEN.
If HITLER killed innocent people in EUROPE, price is paid by those PALESTINIANS who can''t even speak the language spoken by HITLER.
If CONCENTRATION CAMPS were in GERMANY, Israel is founded in a completely different continent in PALESTINE.
OSAMA BEEN-FORGOTTEN was in TORA BORA and the country bombed was Iraq which had nothing to do with 9/11.
After all these above mentioned NON-SENSE, the conclusion I reached is
"CHRISTIANTY is PSYCHOSIS and CHRISTIANS are PSYCHOTICS".
Please feel free to refute my points with valid and sound reason. If I''ll be proven wrong, I''ll acknowledge my defeat and change my point of view.
God gave us free will as a gift. How we use it is up to us.
Posted by realpatriot1 at 11:58 AM : Oct 20, 2007
Thank you so much for your comments. It means god gave US Citizens FREE WILL to decide whether they want HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE or HETEROSEXUAL MARRIAGE. No Religious Radical should have a right to denounce HOMOSEXUAL''S right of marriage while advocating same right for the HETEROSEXUAL CITIZENS (DISCRIMINATION BASED ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION which is a VIOLATION of HUMAN RIGHTS), using BIBLE, GOD, CHRISTIANTY and JESUS.
Same way, god gave free will to the women if they want to choose PROSTITUTION as a PROFESSION. Government should not have a right to decide about their profession.
What about the FREE WILL to ROBBERS to rob BANKS and free will to terrorist to terrorize people.
This Free will is a NON-SENSE just like other CHRITIAN VALUES.
Are you going to bless OSAMA BEEN-FORGOTTEN with US tax dollars since jesus told you to
BLESS THOSE WHO CURSE YOU
Are you going to LOVE OSAMA BEEN-FORGOTTEN since BIBLE taught you to love those who HATE you. How can you kill or fight against somebody you love?
Do you have COMMON SENSE to understand how NON-SENSE and UNPRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY is in this 21st century.
+ report abuse
******
do you really want GOD to be involved in every human life??
The points of doubt that you raise are all good questions to ask. I''ve asked them myself and have come to different conclusions than you and that''s ok.
I won''t argue with your take, but I would urge you to not close the book, so to speak, on the tree of knowledge yourself because you just might find that if you keep asking questions you might be surprized how your answers might change over time.
When faith becomes certainty it''s no longer faith. When doubt becomes certainty it becomes cynicism. Both are counter-intellectual.
God gave us free will as a gift. How we use it is up to us.
Why do some people want to sit back and blame God for what God gave us the ability to fix ourselves?
You can blame God for earthquakes and floods and other natural disasters if you like, but mankind is responsible for what we''ve been given the ability to fix ourselves.
I hadn''t seen that before; very thought provoking.
What an all time classic!