20 Killed At Pakistan Military Checkpoint

A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a military checkpoint in Pakistan's troubled northwest on Saturday, killing at least 20 people, officials said.

The checkpoint is near the Orakzai tribal region, which has emerged in recent months as a major base for Taliban militants waging war on the Pakistan government.

The explosion wrecked a building housing troops and police next to the checkpoint, said Farid Khan, a senior police official in the nearby town of Hangu.

At least 18 members of the security forces as well as two civilians died, Khan said. More than a dozen other people were wounded, including the local police chief, other officials said.

Western nations are pressing Pakistan to take tougher action against Taliban and al Qaeda strongholds in the tribal belt along the Afghan border.

Militants most frequently attack security forces in the northwest. However, recent attacks including assaults on the Sri Lanka cricket team and a police academy in the eastern city of Lahore have fanned fear that their reach is spreading across the country.

An apparent U.S. missile strike reportedly killed 14 suspected militants in Orakzai on April 1, the first such attack in the area since the CIA escalated attacks from unmanned aircraft last year.


Security Fears Cost Pakistan Hosting Duties For Cricket Championship

The Pakistan Cricket Board expressed disappointed Saturday after the game's governing body removed it as co-host of the 2011 World Cup because of security fears.

"It's disappointing to lose the hosting rights of the World Cup," PCB chief operating officer Salim Altaf was quoted as saying by the Urdu-language daily Express.

The ICC board said it acted due to the "uncertain security situation" in Pakistan, which was due to co-host the event with India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Pakistan's viability as host of a scheduled 14 World Cup matches was put in serious doubt after the Sri Lankan team bus was attacked by a dozen gunmen in Lahore last month, injuring several players and killing six police officers and a van driver.

Former test batsman and national coach Javed Miandad, who was named PCB director general earlier this month, said the ICC should have waited before making a decision.

"I am deeply hurt by this decision because it's still two years to go in the World Cup," Miandad said. "I think the ICC should have waited for some time before deciding to remove Pakistan as co-host."

About 100 protesters in the southern city of Karachi burnt cricket bats and chanted slogans, blaming India as being behind the ICC's decision.

The protesters demanded that the ICC reverse its decision and asked former test cricketers like Miandad, Imran Khan and Zaheer Abbas to also protest throughout Pakistan.

"We are being deprived of watching international cricket," said protester Usman Moazzam. "It's an absolute injustice."

The ICC not only removed Pakistan as one of the four World Cup hosts, it also signaled a warning that international cricket might not return to Pakistan for several years.

"It's hugely doubtful that Pakistan will stage any international cricket at home before 2011," ICC chairman David Morgan said Friday after the World Cup decision.

The Asia Cup was the only major cricket event hosted in Pakistan last year, and the security fears of foreign teams did not allow for a single test at home.

[ayatoldya]

Let Pakistan thank the generous Saudi Arabs for importing their extremist beliefs into Pakistan by teaching their lies and hate in brain washing centers disguised as Madras; the spawing point of the Taliban. Let the world thank the generous Saudis for their continued monetary support of the Taliban and al Qaeda movements in the middle east, asia, and africa.