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.