Quick. Somebody call Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama.
UPDATE:
Note: Photo included.
“Peshawar suicide car blast kills 41, wounds 100”
Friday, 09 Oct, 2009
PHOTO CAPTION: “Explosives were planted in a car and when it went off it hit a bus, provincial Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain said.”
SNIPPET: “PESHAWAR: A suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle along a road near a well-known market in Pakistan’s northwest city of Peshawar on Friday, killing 41 people.
The attack in the Khyber Bazaar area came as Pakistan’s army prepares for another major operation in the al-Qaeda and Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan tribal region. The militants have threatened bombings if the army doesn’t back off.
Television footage showed the charred skeleton of a bus flipped on its side in the middle of a major road. Twisted remains of a motorbike lay alongside the bus. A nearby vehicle was in flames.
Noor Alam saw the vehicle explode, and suffered wounds on his legs and face.
‘I saw a blood soaked leg landing close to me,’ Alam told The Associated Press at the overwhelmed Lady Reading hospital. ‘I understood for the first time in my life what a doomsday would look like.’
Peshawar Police Chief Liaqat Ali Khan said the attacker was in a car packed with ‘a huge quantity of explosives and artillery rounds.’
A minibus apparently carrying passengers nearby was also levelled in the blast.”
ping
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_930.html
Travel Warning
United States Department of State
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Washington, DC 20520
This information is current as of today, Fri Oct 09 2009 02:33:00 GMT-0700 (PDT).
PAKISTAN
June 12, 2009
The Department of State warns U.S. citizens against non-essential travel to Pakistan in light of the threat of terrorist activity. This replaces the Travel Warning dated February 25, 2009, updates information on security incidents and reminds U.S. citizens of ongoing security concerns in Pakistan.
Pakistani military forces are currently engaged in a campaign against extremist elements across many areas of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and parts of the Northwest Frontier Province, including the Swat Valley. In response to this campaign, militants have vowed to step up attacks against both civilian and government targets in Pakistan’s cities.
The presence of Al-Qaida, Taliban elements, and indigenous militant sectarian groups poses a potential danger to American citizens throughout Pakistan, especially in the western border regions of the country. Continuing tensions in the Middle East also increase the possibility of violence against Westerners. Terrorists and their sympathizers have successfully attacked civilian and government targets. The Pakistan government has heightened security measures, particularly in the major cities. Threat reporting indicates terrorist groups continue to seek opportunities to attack locations where Americans and Westerners are known to congregate or visit, such as shopping areas, hotels, clubs and restaurants, places of worship, schools, or outdoor recreation events.
Visits by U.S. government personnel to Peshawar and Karachi are limited and movements by U.S. government personnel assigned to the Consulates in those cities are severely restricted. American officials in Lahore and Islamabad are instructed to restrict the frequency and to minimize the duration of trips to public markets, restaurants, and other locations. Only a limited number of official visitors are placed in hotels, for limited stays. Depending on ongoing security assessments, the U.S. Embassy places areas such as hotels, markets, and/or restaurants off limits to official personnel. American citizens in Pakistan are strongly urged to avoid hotels that do not apply stringent security measures and to maintain good situational awareness, particularly when visiting locations frequented by Westerners.
On November 12, 2008, an American government contractor and his driver in Peshawar were shot and killed in their car. In September 2008, over fifty people, including three Americans, were killed and hundreds were injured when a suicide bomber set off a truck filled with explosives outside a major international hotel in Islamabad. In August 2008, gunmen stopped and shot at the vehicle of an American diplomat in Peshawar. In March 2008, a restaurant frequented by Westerners in Islamabad was bombed, killing one patron and seriously injuring several others, including four American diplomats. On March 2, 2006, an American diplomat, a Consulate employee, and three others were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives alongside the U.S. Consulate General in Karachi. Fifty-two others were wounded.
Extremist and sectarian violence has resulted in fatal bomb attacks in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Lahore, and other Pakistani cities in 2008 and 2009. According to media reports, in the last 14 months, there have been more than 1,800 incidents of terrorism across the country resulting in more than 1,300 deaths and scores of injuries. Some of the attacks have occurred outside major hotels, in market areas and other locations frequented by Americans. Other recent targets have included restaurants, Pakistani government officials and buildings, police and security forces, mosques, and international NGOs. Since late 2007, occasional rockets have targeted areas in and around Peshawar.
Since 2007, several American citizens throughout Pakistan have been kidnapped for ransom or for personal reasons. Kidnappings of foreigners are particularly common in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) and Baluchistan. In 2008, one Iranian and two Afghan diplomats, two Chinese engineers, and a Polish engineer were kidnapped in NWFP. In February 2009, an American UNHCR official was kidnapped in Baluchistan. Kidnappings of Pakistanis also increased dramatically across the country, usually for ransom.
Access to many areas of Pakistan, including the FATA along the Afghan border, and the area adjacent to the Line of Control (LOC) in the disputed territory of Kashmir, is restricted by local government authorities for non-Pakistanis. Travel to any restricted region requires official permission by the Government of Pakistan. Failure to obtain such permission in advance can result in arrest and detention by Pakistani authorities. Due to security concerns the U.S. Government currently allows only essential travel within the FATA by American officials. Travel to much of the Northwest Frontier Province and Balochistan is also restricted.
Rallies, demonstrations, and processions occur regularly throughout Pakistan on very short notice. In the aftermath of the December 2007 death of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, widespread rioting in Karachi led to multiple deaths and injuries as well as widespread property damage. Demonstrations have often taken on an anti-American or anti-western character, and Americans are urged to avoid large gatherings.
U.S. citizens who travel to or remain in Pakistan despite this Travel Warning are encouraged to register with the Embassy in Islamabad or the Consulates in Karachi, Lahore, or Peshawar. This registration can be completed online through the Department of State’s travel registration website. Alternatively, Americans without Internet access should contact the nearest Embassy or Consulate for information on registering in person. Registration enables citizens to obtain updated information on travel and security within Pakistan via the emergency alert system (Warden network).
Americans in country should take measures for their safety and security. These measures include maintaining good situational awareness, avoiding crowds and demonstrations and keeping a low profile. Avoid setting patterns by varying times and routes for all required travel. Ensure that travel documents and visas are valid at all times. Official Americans are instructed to avoid use of public transportation and restrict their use of personal vehicles in response to security concerns.
Security threats may on short notice temporarily restrict the ability of U.S. Missions, particularly in Peshawar, to provide routine consular services. All American citizens are encouraged to apply for renewal of travel documents at least three months prior to expiration.
The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad is located at Diplomatic Enclave, Ramna 5; telephone: (92-51) 208-0000, including after hours emergency assistance; Consular Section telephone: (92-51) 208-2700; fax: (92-51) 282-2632; website: http://islamabad.usembassy.gov.
The U.S. Consulate General in Karachi is located at 8 Abdullah Haroon Road; telephone: (92-21) 520-4200 or (92-21) 520-4400 for after hours emergency assistance; fax: (92-21) 568-0496; website: http://karachi.usconsulate.gov.
The U.S. Consulate in Lahore is located on 50 Sharah-E-Abdul Hamid Bin Badees (Old Empress Road), near Shimla Hill Rotary; telephone: (92-42) 603-4000, including after hours emergency assistance; fax: (92-42) 603-4200; website: http://lahore.usconsulate.gov.
The U.S. Consulate in Peshawar is located at 11 Hospital Road, Cantonment, Peshawar; telephone: (92-91) 526-8800, including after hours emergency assistance; fax: (92-91) 528-4171; website: http://Peshawar.usconsulate.gov.
For the latest security information, Americans traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department’s Internet web site at http://travel.state.gov where the Worldwide Caution and the Pakistan Country Specific Information can be found. Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the United States and Canada, or, for callers outside the United States and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).
Peshawar is the location of the former US Air Force base before we were kicked out in the late 60’s. If the world had a rectum, this would be its location.
not one of our drones is it/
Can’t be bozo, he would never be responsible for a death seeing as he is the nobel prize winner and had been in power for two weeks before the nomination process ends.
AMAZING
ZERO’s peace plan: Imagine the spectacle when the Taliban (the good guys as opposed to the bad guys the qaeda) takes over in afghanistan and Pakistan goes down...with all its nukes. India will just sit back and watch its navel...? China? Russia?
Face it - our nation is being run into the ground. It is the final days.
More details...
Note: Photo included.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\10\10\story_10-10-2009_pg1_1
Saturday, October 10, 2009
“48 killed in Peshawar suicide bombing”
By Manzoor Ali Shah
SNIPPET: “PESHAWAR: A suicide attack at Khyber Bazaar on Friday killed 48 people and injured more than 148, officials and hospital sources have said. An official at the Lady Reading Hospital said four people had succumbed to their injuries at hospital.
The blast occurred at 12:15pm after a white car rammed into a public transport bus, Cantt Superintendent of Police Nisar Marwat told reporters. He said the car was packed with 100 kilogrammes of explosives. Bomb Disposal Squad chief Shafqat Malik confirmed that a suicide attacker was responsible, adding the device was planted in the door panels of the vehicle and included machinegun ammunition, designed to inflict maximum casualties, AFP reported.
The blast left a charred skeleton of a bus flipped on its side in the middle of the road, with the twisted remains of a motorbike nearby. Passers-by rushed to cover the bodies of victims whose clothes were burned off, while a man carried an injured woman. One man staggered from the scene, his face covered with blood, the Associated Press reported.
No option: Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the attack meant the country now “had no other option but to carry out an operation in South Waziristan”. “All roads are leading to South Waziristan,” he told a private TV channel.”