Pakistan rounds up usual suspects in court bombing

AP/CNN:

Police in southwestern Pakistan have detained 36 people, mostly Afghan refugees, for questioning about a suicide bombing inside a courtroom that killed a judge and 15 other people, an official said Sunday.

The suicide bomber struck a crowded courtroom in the city of Quetta on Saturday in the deadliest of a series of attacks in recent weeks.

There is suspicion in Pakistan that pro-Taliban militants are targeting sensitive sites to undermine the country's support of the United States, and an official in the region where Saturday's attack took place hinted at Afghan involvement.

The explosion wounded 24 people and left bloodied clothes and body parts scattered next to wrecked furniture and shattered glass in the Quetta District Courts. It forced police -- already on alert -- to further tighten security nationwide.

The chief of police in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, said Sunday that 36 people, including at least 22 Afghan refugees living in the city, have been detained in a probe into the bombing.

"We will investigate them to determine whether anyone among them has any link with the incident," said police chief Raho Khan Brohi.

The men were picked up in separate raids in various parts of Quetta late Saturday but no one was a suspect or formally arrested in the case, Brohi said.

"Afghans have been involved in previous such attacks here. I cannot rule out their involvement," said Jam Mohammed Yousaf, the top elected official in Baluchistan, on Saturday. "We don't have any evidence to prove it," he added.

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It is curious that the suspects would be described as Afghans and not as what they really are Taliban. I suspect that is because Pakistan claims that there are no Taliban in Quetta. This fiction invented to avoid taking action against the Taliban that have come to dominate the area will be harder to maintain under the circumstances, but don't expect an early admission of failure from the Paks.