Pakistan: 8 Killed in Tragic Car Bomb
March 7th, 2009 at 4:56 pm - by Lindsay Amantea
On Saturday March 7, 2009 a car bomb was detonated in Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. What is so terrifying about the recent attack is that police were baited into checking the car after a telephone tip that said there was a body inside of the car along the highway.
There was indeed a body in the car, and as police tried to extract it the explosive went off, having been detonated remotely. In total five police officers were killed, along with two soldiers and one passer-by: several others were injured. The manner in which the bomb was planted suggests that the militants responsible are now targeting security forces specifically.
The bombing also happens to be just outside of the small town of Badaber, where only recently did locals expel a militant group with assistance from the local police. At the time there were threats issued suggesting retaliation. Pakistan has also recently defeated a group of militants in Bajur, a nearby area that is part of Pakistan’s semi-autonomous ‘tribal belt’.
Pakistan has renewed it’s commitment to fighting terrorist groups in the last few months at the urging of the United States and Britain. This has likely been the cause of the increase of attacks, including two other bombings on the same day that killed a total of 7 more people; less than a week ago a bus full of Sri Lankan cricket players was attacked leaving dead six police officers and the driver.
These attacks could not come at a worse time for Pakistan. The Opposition leader of the Punjab province, Nawaz Sharif, and his brother were both disqualified from running for political office, which prompted the federal government to dismiss the provincial one. There are plans by the Sharifs’ party to join in a march on the capital sometime in the next week, saying that Pakistan should have an independent judiciary.
This has essentially turned into a protest of the removal of the chief of the Supreme Court. Without an effort to heal this rift in the government, Pakistan is going to have an even harder time trying to wipe out all the militant groups that seek to occupy its northwestern lands.
