TALIBAN MILITANTS yesterday killed five people in a bold gun and bomb attack targeting the US consulate in Pakistan’s northern city of Peshawar, after a suicide bomber killed 38 people elsewhere in the northwest of the country, officials said.
At least three bomb attacks targeted paramilitary posts along routes leading to the heavily fortified US consulate building in Peshawar. Police officials said eight people, including three guerrillas and at least two Pakistani security guards, died in the attack.
In spite of the target, no US nationals were reported to have been killed.
Azam Tariq, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, said it was responsible for the attack on the consulate. “Americans are our enemies. We carried out the attack on their consulate in Peshawar. We plan more such attacks,” he said.
A White House spokesman condemned the attack. “Extremists in Pakistan have succeeded in killing Pakistanis,” said Robert Gibbs. “We strongly condemn the violence.”
Ahead of the Peshawar attack, at least 38 people were killed in a suicide attack targeting a political gathering in Timergara in the remote Dir district along the Afghan border. The gathering was organised by the Awami National party, a secular political party that leads the ruling coalition in the North-West Frontier Province.
Later in the day, President Asif Ali Zardari promised to fight insurgency and announced his backing for a constitutional amendment that seeks to transfer more authority to the prime minister.
Mr Zardari told parliament: “The people of Pakistan are keenly watching and waiting for this crucial reforms bill to pass.”
In response, western diplomats said it was unclear if more democracy would help improve security conditions. Analysts said the attacks highlighted the continued risk of Taliban violence, in spite of the military’s success in blocking their advance to parts of the north-west, notably the Swat valley, once an insurgent stronghold.
“An attack on such a sensitive location in Peshawar, with the US consulate protected by paramilitary, the army and the police, shows that the militants are still capable of staging significant attacks,” Aftab Sherpao, the former interior minister said.
“The capacity of the Taliban to stage attacks may have been reduced in the past year, but they still have enough might to stage such attacks anywhere in Pakistan.” (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010)