CHAKDARA: Four Pakistan Army troops, including a major and a lieutenant, were killed on Friday in an improvised explosive device attack on a military convoy in Dir a stronghold of the Jamaat-e-Islami and the banned Tehrik Nifaz-e-Shariah Muhammadi. Four soldiers have been martyred in an IED explosion, ISPR Director General Maj Gen Waheed Arshad told Daily Times. He, however, denied that the attack was a reaction to the standoff with the Lal Masjid brigade in Islamabad.Eyewitnesses said army helicopters airlifted the injured soldiers and the convoy later moved to its destination. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. According to the local people the outlawed TNSM could be behind the blast.
We are concerned at the situation that may turn Lal Masjid-like, Shakirullah Khan, a trader union leader said. The attack is the second such in as many days and comes after cleric Fazlullah in Swat gave a call to his supporters for jihad on his illegal FM radio channel following the action against two Lal Masjid mullahs and their supporters.
Rockets were also fired at a military base in Khyber Agency on Thursday. No major damage was reported. Six soldiers were killed in a suicide attack in Bannu frontier region near North Waziristan on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, a police constable and four civilians were killed in a remote-controlled explosion aiming district police officer in Mingora. Sources said the army was ordered to move to Dir and Malakand the two areas NWFP police chief Sharif Virk declared sensitive after the operation against Lal Masjid was launched on Tuesday.
Agencies add: Police said the suicide bomber, who was riding a bicycle, killed four security officials. They are Major Afaq, Lieutenant Zia, Tanvir and Barkat. The driver of the convoy sustained injuries and was admitted to Bat Khela Hospital in critical condition.
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One of the robbers who carried out the Rs2.2 million robbery at the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in Swat has told investigators that the robbery was carried out with the aim of acquiring money to buy necessary military hardware required to attack army troops in Malakand Agency. He also revealed that suspects in the robbery case were affiliated with banned militant organisation, Jaish-e-Muhammad and included veterans of the Afghan and Kashmir jihad as well as newly-trained militants. The armed robbery took place on December 3, 2004 but Malakand police chased the militants and killed and arrested several after a pitched battle on the border between Swat and Dir districts. Investigators probing the robbery case have revealed that one of the arrested militants told the joint investigation team that the robbery was carried out to raise money to buy horses so that military equipment could be easily moved around the region. "Our amir [the militant did not name him] told us that every possible effort should be made to involve the army in Malakand so that a situation similar to South Waziristan would be created and we would be able to launch an attack on the army," a police investigator quoted an arrested militant. "We are not at war with the Pakistani people and the police; our war is against the Pakistan army that is fighting the mujahideen on behalf of the United States. We will finish it [the army] before it finishes us."