PAKISTAN:THE MOTORCADE of Pakistani prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was fired on near Islamabad yesterday, prompting fresh concerns over the safety of Pakistan's leaders.
It came hours after reports of an attack by western troops based in Afghanistan on a suspected base for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants near Pakistan's Afghan border.
It was not immediately clear whether Mr Gilani was in the motorcade when two bullets hit the driver's side of the windscreen of his bullet-proof car. No one was injured.
"I can only confirm that an incident has taken place and two bullets hit the prime minister's car. For security reasons, I cannot answer any other questions," said Zahid Bashir, Mr Gilani's press secretary. Earlier, the AFP news agency quoted interior secretary Kamal Shah as saying that the prime minister and his staff were "not in the car" when it was fired on.
The incident occurred less than a week after Pakistini officials confirmed that Asif Ali Zardari, widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, had relocated for security reasons to Mr Gilani's official residence in Islamabad until this Saturday's presidential election, which Mr Zardari is expected to win.
As president, Mr Zardari will then move into the heavily-fortified presidential residence on Islamabad's high-security Constitution Avenue.
Western diplomats warned that Pakistani leaders faced a fast-mounting threat from Islamic militants determined to destabilise Pakistan because of its support for the US. "What better way to destabilise this country than to kill someone important?" one diplomat asked.
Ms Bhutto was killed last December by an assassin's bullet minutes after she emerged from a political rally in Rawalpindi, the military's main garrison city outside Islamabad.
Before yesterday's attack western troops based in Afghanistan landed in helicopters near a remote village in the South Waziristan region near Pakistan's Afghan border and attacked three houses thought to be used by militants from the Taliban and al-Qaeda movements.
According to a senior Pakistani government official, "up to 20 people were killed, including five women and children". The official said it was "not clear if this was a US military attack or a Nato attack" or one co-ordinated by both. The official said investigators were examining the possibility that yesterday's attack "may have been in retaliation for the border incident". - ( Financial Timesservice)