39 killed in attacks by insurgents in Pakistan

TEAMS of gunmen attacked three law enforcement facilities across the eastern city of Lahore yesterday, paralysing Pakistan’s cultural capital, while car bombs in two cities near the Afghan border killed 39 people in an escalating wave of terror.

Another bombing in the north-western city of Peshawar later in the day wounded five people.

The bloodshed, aimed at scuttling a planned offensive into the militant heartland along the Afghan border, highlights the militants’ ability to carry out strikes on heavily fortified facilities and exposes the failure of intelligence agencies to infiltrate the extremist cells.

No group claimed responsibility but suspicion fell on Pakistani Taliban, who have claimed other recent strikes.

The attacks were the latest to underscore the growing threat to Punjab, the province next to India where Taliban are believed to have made inroads and linked with local insurgents.

President Asif Ali Zardari said the bloodshed would not deter the government from its mission to eliminate the violent extremists. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said: “The whole nation should be united against these handful of terrorists.”

The wave of violence practically shut down daily life in Lahore. All government offices were shut, roads were nearly empty and stores pulled down shutters.

The assaults began just after 9am when a group of gunmen attacked a building housing the Federal Investigation Agency, a law enforcement branch that deals with matters ranging from immigration to terrorism.

The attack lasted about 90 minutes and ended with the death of two attackers, four government employees and a bystander. Senior police official Chaudhry Shafiq said one of the dead wore a jacket bearing explosives.

Soon after, a second band of gunmen raided a police training school in Manawan. Nine police officers and four militants were killed. One of the gunmen was killed by police and the other three blew themselves up.

A third team of at least eight gunmen entered a police commando training centre near the airport and attacked the facility.

Meanwhile a suspected US missile strike killed four people when it hit a compound in North Waziristan tribal region where members of the militant network led by Jalaluddin Haqqani are believed to operate, two intelligence officials said.