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An A Suicide car bomb attack on an office of the Federal Investigation Agency ( FIA), Pakistan's main police probe agency, killed 13 people and injured about 90 more in Lahore's Model Town residential area on Monday.

The blast demolished the two- storey FIA office, where the police used to interrogate high- value suspects. On Monday, there were no suspects inside the building but more than 40 people were manning the place. The attack partially destroyed at least 15 nearby houses.

Three attackers, riding a car, approached the investigation agency's office at 8.15 am ( local time). But when the security guards stopped them at the gate, "two of the attackers ran away but the third exploded himself and the car", Rana Ayaz, the area's senior superintendent of police, said.

"The dead include one woman, a schoolgirl and at least eight security officials," medical and rescue officials said. The injured -- many of whom are women and schoolchildren -- were rushed to nearby hospitals. Most of them were discharged after first-aid. "Nearly 45 people are still being treated and the condition of at least three is not stable yet," a doctor at the Jinnah Hospital said.

The explosion was so powerful it shook almost the entire northern part of Lahore. People reported hearing its bang more than five km from the site of the blast. "With the huge bang, blocks and pieces of roof fell upon us and six of us were wounded. There was total chaos outside.

source: Mail Today By Badar Alam Pak Interrogation Centre Suicide Car Blast kills 13

The attacks appeared to be targeted at the Indian presence in the Afghan capital as one of the hotels attacked was rented by the Indian embassy for its staffers and those attached to India's developmental projects in Afghanistan.

Those killed included Indian embassy officials, army doctors and an Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) jawan. This is the third attack on Indian officials in Afghanistan in the past 20 months. The attacks on the embassy in July 2008 and October 2009 had killed diplomats and officials apart from several Afghan nationals.

"As per the preliminary information provided by the Afghan government officials, up to nine Indians, besides a few others from Afghanistan and third countries, have lost their lives," foreign minister S.M. Krishna said in a statement.

He added that arrangements were being made for their adequate and expeditious treatment, if necessary, by evacuating them to India. The bodies of those slain are expected to be brought back by a special plane. Praising the contribution of the Indians killed in Friday's ghastly attacks, PM Manmohan Singh said: "The Indians who have lost their lives were on a mission of goodwill and friendship, helping to construct a peaceful, democratic Afghanistan that our Afghan friends desire. I convey my heartfelt condolences to their families and near and dear ones, and assure them that we stand with them in this hour of grief, and will render all possible support to them."

The PM added: "I am deeply saddened and grieved at the loss of lives of Indian nationals in the bomb attack in Kabul, which has also claimed the lives of several innocent Afghan civilians. I condemn in the strongest possible terms this senseless act of violence and barbarism which strikes at the core of everything a civilised society holds dear." Assuring all assistance to the families of the deceased officials, Krishna said, "Though the irreplaceable loss of these families can never be recompensed, all necessary steps will be taken for the welfare of the dependents of the deceased officials."

Source: Mail Today Suicide Attack on Kabul Hotel Kills 9 Indians

More than 50 people were also injured in the blast in Bannu district in North West Frontier Province, which is plagued by attacks by Taliban rebels avenging military offensives aimed at crushing their northwestern strongholds.

"The villagers were watching the match between the two village teams when the bomber rashly drove his double-cabin pick-up vehicle into them and blew it up," district police chief Mohammad Ayub Khan told AFP. "At least 47 people have died and the toll is likely to rise." Another local police chief Habibullah Khan said 50 people were wounded in Shah Hasan Khan village, 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of Lakki Marwat town and near the tribal district and Taliban stronghold South Waziristan.

Mushtaq Marwat, a member of a local anti-Taliban group, told the private Geo television station that the so-called "peace committee" was meeting at a nearby mosque when the bomber stuck the village field outside. "Suddenly there was a huge blast. We went out and saw bodies and injured people everywhere... ten houses and three shops were destroyed," he said, estimating that the death toll was going to rise significantly. Mohammad Ayub Khan said that women and children were pulled from the rubble of a nearby house that collapsed in the blast, and said that the remote area was struggling to cope with the scale of the attack.

Source: Economic Times Suicide bomber kills 47 at Pak volleyball game

A suicide bomber attacked a Shiite Muslim procession in Karachi on Monday.

The GEO television network, citing hospital sources, said at least 40 people had been killed and more than 100 had been injured in the attack, which struck the procession as it made its way along Muhammad Ali Jinnah Road on Monday afternoon.

The attack, the third against Shiites in three days, appeared to deeply unsettle the Pakistani government, which ordered the director general of the Rangers, a paramilitary force under the control of the Interior Ministry, to take control of Karachi.

A man yelling at the site of a suicide attack Monday against a Shiite procession in Karachi, Pakistan.

The interior minister, Rehman Malik, also asked Shiite clerics to postpone religious processions , especially in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, to avoid "providing soft targets to militants," according to the state-run news agency. Government leaders urged people not to take the law into their own hands.

Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, warned that "a deliberate attempt seems to be afoot by the extremists to turn the fight against militants into a sectarian clash and make the people fight against one another."

Police officials said that Sunni extremists, possibly with links to the Taliban, had been behind the attack. Sunni extremists believe Shiites are apostates and have in the past attacked the group, which makes up 20 percent of Pakistan's population.

Shopkeepers stood by a market set ablaze by protesters in Karachi after the blast.  

Two people were arrested in connection with the bombings, though no group claimed responsibility.

The bombing defied Pakistani security, which had deployed more forces in anticipation of an attack against Shiites during their annual observance of Ashura, which commemorates the death of the revered Shiite martyr Imam Hussein.

Karachi, Pakistan's commercial hub and main port of entry for goods shipped through the country to the United States military in Afghanistan, had largely been spared the violence that has swept the country since October, when Pakistani forces began an offensive against Taliban militants in the South Waziristan tribal area.

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In retaliation for that offensive, Taliban commanders have overseen a wave of attacks against large and interior cities, including the northwestern frontier hub of Peshawar, the military garrison city of Rawalpindi, and the Punjabi heartland.

Monday's blast, which occurred just after 4 p.m., sent a huge plume of smoke over the Shiite procession as it wound down one of the main thoroughfares of the city. A security camera caught the explosion, which left people shrieking and running for cover.

Dr. Sagheer Ahmed, the health minister of Sindh Province, where Karachi is located, said soon after the attack that 63 people had been wounded, some critically.

Source: www.nytimes.com Death Toll Climbs in Attack on Pakistani Shiites

Also, over 2,227 civilians and around 1,004 security personnel were martyred during terrorist attacks, including bombings and rocket attacks, throughout the country. The reported number of militants killed during the year was over 8,000.

About 49 suicide attacks were carried out in NWFP alone. Statistics revealed that Punjab was the next major target of suicide bombers after NWFP. Twenty-two suicide bombers succeeded to carry out attacks in various parts of Punjab and Islamabad during the last 12 months.

Seven suicide bombings occurred in the federally administered tribal areas (Fata), while two bombers struck in Balochistan. Sindh was spared as there was no suicide bombing there during 2009.

The year 2009 recorded over 33 percent more attacks than 2008. Fifty-nine bombers struck in 2008 and 56 in 2007. The number of such attacks was seven in 2006, four in 2005, seven in 2004 and two each in 2003 and 2002.

January, July and September remained a little peaceful. Nine suicide bombings were carried out across the country during the current month, nine each in October and November, four in September, six in August, four in July, nine in June, seven in May, six in April, seven each in March and February and three in January.

The deadliest suicide attack was the one at Meena Bazaar in Peshawar on October 29 in which over 120 people were killed and 200 were injured. Several people, still missing, are now believed to have been blown to pieces.

The bombing at Parade Lane Mosque in Rawalpindi during the first week of December was another deadly bombing that claimed the lives of several senior military officials, including a major general, two brigadiers and two colonels. The lone son of Corps Commander Peshawar was among several children of the army officers who lost their lives in this attack.

Among the high-profile figures killed during the terrorist attacks in 2009 were two members of the NWFP Assembly. Dr Shamsher Ali Khan was killed in a suicide bombing in Swat last month while Alamzeb Khan was killed in a roadside bomb attack on his car in Peshawar in January.

NWFP Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour survived second suicide attack on him on March 11, which left six people including two suicide bombers dead.

The suicide bombers detonated a vehicle loaded with 100 kilograms of explosives near offices of the capital city police officer (CCPO) and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Lahore on March 11, killing at least 27 persons and injuring 326 others. An ISI colonel and 15 police officials were among those killed.

The blast at the entrance to the ISI headquarters on Khyber Road in Peshawar was the most powerful. The bang was heard even in other districts. At least 13 people, including 10 security men, were killed in the attack and the destruction of infrastructure was huge.

The suicide attack on Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar on June 9 and the huge blast in Soekarno Square on October 9 were the two other deadly blasts. Over 17 people were killed and over 60 wounded in the bombing in Peshawar's lone five-star hotel, prompting foreigners and diplomats to leave the provincial capital. The blast in Soekarno Square left over 55 people killed and many wounded. It was later removed from the list of suicide bombings, and classified as a car bomb.

On June 5, a suicide bomber killed 49 worshippers, including 12 children, at a mosque in a remote village of Dir Upper District. Dozens more were injured as a young man detonated explosives fastened to his body minutes before the Friday congregation in the Hayagay Sharqi village.

Two successive blasts killed around 50 people and injured more than 100 at the crowded Moon Market in Allama Iqbal Town of Lahore in Punjab. The two bombs exploded with an interval of 30 seconds.

A total of four attacks, which included a suicide car bomb attack on a police patrol, marked the third time since August that government buildings were targeted with multiple blasts that caused massive bloodshed.

The core of the attacks hit central Baghdad with three car bombs exploding in the span of a few minutes. The attacks were directed at Iraqi authorities: the targets were the labour ministry building, a court complex near the Iraqi- protected Green Zone and near the new site of the finance ministry after its previous building was destroyed in major attacks in August.

An official for Iraq's interior ministry said at least 99 people were killed in those three car bombs and at least 192 injured.

About an hour before the Baghdad blasts, a suicide car bomber struck a police patrol in the Sunni- dominated district of Dora in southern Baghdad, killing at least three policemen and one civilian and wounding five persons, a police officer said.

Iraqi police said at least one of the Baghdad blasts was a suicide bomber -- driving a bomb- rigged ambulance heading for the finance ministry. The other two explosions may have been car- rigged bombs detonated by timer or trigger.

" What crime have we committed? Children and women were buried under debris. Why did they ( Iraqi troops) let this car bomb pass!" cried Ahmed Jabbar as he staggered through the debris near the new finance ministry building. The blast tore through a nearby market and toppled at least one building nearby. Rescue teams -- some using construction cranes -- tried to clear the rubble to look for survivors.

The breakdown of casualties among the sites was not immediately clear, but the most serious bloodshed had been reported outside the finance ministry building and the court complex.

Rescue workers climbed through twisted steel bars and crushed concrete at the court building. Dozens of cars and trucks were burnt and crushed. Firefighters pulled out survivors from behind huge slabs of toppled concrete.

Militants are said to have killed at least 35 people, including 17 children, at a mosque near the Pakistani army's headquarters in Rawalpindi.

At least four attackers opened fire on worshippers during Friday prayers attended by many military staff in the garrison city.

Security forces fought back in an hour-long gun battle before three attackers blew themselves up, reports say.

The Pakistan Taliban later said they had carried out the strike.

Ten adult civilians were also among the dead, as well as military staff, the army said.

The Pakistani security forces have been attacked recently, and this attack has shown that the militants can still penetrate supposedly secure areas, says the BBC's Orla Guerin in Islamabad.

One witness told Pakistan's Dawn TV: "They attacked the mosque from the side ... the windows. They took the people, got hold of their hair, shot them.

Military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said the latest attack had been co-ordinated. It ended once the military had made sure all the gunmen were dead, AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

Revenge motive?

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said explosions from at least one suicide bomber caused the roof of the building to collapse.

"They are taking revenge for the Pakistan army's successful operations in the Swat and Waziristan region," Mr Malik told the ARY television channel.

One witness, Nasir Ali Sheikh, told the BBC he had seen three attackers, one of whom threw hand grenades into the mosque.

He said two grenades had landed in the men's section of the mosque and one in the women's.

Other attackers were firing randomly in the Parade Lane mosque, said Nasir Ali Sheikh, adding that visitors had had to go through tight security, including metal detectors, to get inside the building.

"As soon as we finished prayers, I heard a blast and firing," witness Bakhtawar Hussain told Reuters.

He said he had seen wounded people lying in the courtyard of the mosque.

Police cordoned off the area around the mosque.

The mosque is a short distance from the army headquarters, in an area housing several offices of the defence establishment and the intelligence agencies.

Nineteen people were killed in an army base attack in Rawalpindi in October.

There has been a pattern of militant groups trying to attack security targets inside Pakistan recently as the army pursues an offensive against militants in South Waziristan.

A spokeswoman for the rescue services says another 32 were wounded in the attack.

A suicide bomber on a motorcycle ripped through workers queuing for their salaries nearthe four-star Shalimar Hotel, killing 20 people as the United Nations pulled expatriate staff from the country's north-west.

''We were sitting on the second floor of our office. It was a huge blast,'' Raja Sher Ali, a marketing manager in a local company, said.

''Our building shook as if in an earthquake and when we came out there was smoke everywhere and body parts were thrown into our office.''

A surge in militant attacks left more than 300 people dead last month as the military pressed its offensive against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan movement in the tribal belt, where there are many al-Qaeda-linked operatives.

A senior police official said the suicide bomber drove a motorcycle towards the queue of people waiting for their salaries when he blew up.

Source: www.theage.com Suicide bike bomber kills workers

The twin blows to Pakistan eclipsed the military's announcement that troops had captured a key Taliban- held town as it stepped up a major offensive in the tribal belt and offered $ 5 million ( Rs 41 crore) for Taliban chiefs dead or alive.

Image From : Times Of India

Monday's attack, near army headquarters in Rawalpindi, turned another routine day into bloodshed for the second time in less than a week -- showing the enormity of the threat that al- Qaeda- linked militants pose in Pakistan.

The blast showered the area with pieces of flesh, smeared blood on the ground and shattered the windows of a multistorey block housing the bank and four- star Shalimar Hotel.

" Our building shook as if in an earthquake and when we came out, there was smoke everywhere and body parts were strewn in our office," said Raja Sher Ali, a marketing manager in a local company.

A senior police officer said the latest attack was the work of a suicide bomber, although rescue workers said the cause of the blast was still unclear.

The suicide bomber came on a motorcycle and blew up close to people gathered to collect their salaries. " We found parts of a suicide vest and some body parts of the suicide attacker," said senior police officer Aslam Tarin.

" Thirty- five people were killed and more than 60 were wounded," said information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira.

Four security personnel were among the dead and nine others wounded, the military said.

The attack took place near the upmarket Pearl Continental Hotel and Pakistan's army headquarters, where 10 gunmen kept up a nearly 24- hour siege last month that left 23 people dead and deeply embarrassed the military.

The plummeting security situation saw the UN announce on Monday it was pulling out international staff from northwest Pakistan, days after at least 118 people were slaughtered in a car bomb in its local capital Peshawar. " They will be relocated immediately," Ishrat Rizvi, a UN spokesperson said of the international workers in the area.

UN secretary general Ban Kimoon raised the security level to phase four in the North West Frontier Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which US officials say are hotbeds of militancy. " The decision has been taken bearing in mind the intense security situation in the region," the statement reads.

TWIN ASSAULT IN LAHORE
Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a police checkpoint near bus terminals at the entrance to Lahore late on Monday, wounding seven people, a senior police officer said. The only casualties were the two bombers.

They struck after dark in the congested area on a link road to Pakistan's intercity motorway that dissects the country from the northwestern city of Peshawar to the capital Islamabad and east to Lahore.

" A car was stopped at the checkpost and the two suicide bombers in the car exploded themselves. We have found legs and a head," city police chief Pervez Rathor told reporters.

One warden and two constables were critically wounded and four civilians are also injured. " Bomb disposal staff are defusing remaining explosives in the car. Thank god no one died," Rathor added.

Geo TV showed security officers inspecting a small mangled car in front of a truck and a few other vehicles on a wide road where low concrete blast barriers were visible in front of the damaged car. There were small pieces of debris scattered across the road.

A surge in violence left more than 300 people dead last month as Pakistan presses a major offensive against the Tehreek- e- Taliban Pakistan in the tribal belt, where US officials say al- Qaeda are plotting attacks on the West.

Two suicide car bombs exploded in downtown Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 136 people and delivering a powerful blow to the heart of the fragile city's government in the worst attack of the year, officials said.

 Black smoke could be seen billowing from the frantic scene, as emergency service vehicles sped to the area. Even civilian cars were being commandeered to transport the wounded to hospitals.

"The walls collapsed and we had to run out,'' said Yasmeen Afdhal, 24, an employee of the Baghdad provincial administration, which was targeted by one of the car bombs. "There are many wounded, and I saw them being taken away. They were pulling victims out of the rubble, and rushing them to ambulances".

The car bombs, which targeted the justice ministry and the Baghdad provincial administration, come as Iraq is preparing for elections scheduled this January.

 There have been no claims of responsibility so far, but massive car bombs have been the hallmark of the Sunni insurgents seeking to overthrow the country's Shia-dominated government. At least 25 members of the Baghdad Provincial Council, which runs the city, were killed in the blast.

 The area where the blasts occurred is just a few hundred yards from the Green Zone that houses the US embassy as well as the PM's offices. The street where the blasts occurred had just been reopened to vehicle traffic a few months ago, in what was supposed to be a sign that safety was returning to the once devastated city.

The explosive-laden vehicles were sitting in parking garages next to the two government building, police said. "This is a political struggle, the price of which we are paying,'' said provincial council member Mohammed al-Rubaiey. "Every politician is responsible and even the government is responsible, as well as security leaders.''