Human bomb attack in Pakistan kills 23

NY Times:

A powerful explosion, detonated apparently by a suicide attacker and targeting police officers, killed at least 23 people and injured 58 others in the eastern city of Lahore Thursday, police officials said.

The attack took place at about 11:45 a.m. near the Lahore High Court and the General Post Office, minutes before a rally organized by opposition lawyers protesting against the government was due to pass by.

Twenty-two of the dead were policemen, and many of the wounded were said to be in a critical condition. A heavy contingent of police officers had been deployed around the court ahead of the protest rally against the sacking of the former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Images on local television showed a grim scene of devastation including the mangled wreckages of several vehicles and pools of blood. Two rickshaws and a motorbike could be seen at the site of the attack. Witnesses described rescuing policemen lying on the asphalt, their uniforms shredded to pieces.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility but suspicion was immediately laid on the Taliban militants and their sympathizers who are battling the government of President Pervez Musharraf in the semi-autonomous tribal areas straddling the border with Afghanistan.

Khurram Latif Khosa, one of the organizers of the protest rally, said in a telephonic interview that more than two thousand lawyers were supposed to gather at the blast site. “We were saved as we got late just by minutes,” he said.

Mr. Khosa said he was inside the High Court premises when he heard a loud explosion and immediately rushed outside. “I saw at least 60 policemen lying on the road after the blast. Their helmets and caps were scattered. They were crying in an injured state. We rushed to help them.” Mr. Khosa said he saw shards of glass and metal pellets and nails at the blast site.

Police in riot gear cordoned off the area after the bombing, and the injured were taken to nearby hospitals.

...

It appears that is time for Pakistan to withdraw from Pakistan to stop the violence. That is the logic of Democrats in Iraq and surely they will follow the same in Pakistan. In fact, it is time for Obama to drop his Pakistan invasion plans and change course in order to avoid this type of attack. If he were not acting in such a belligerent manner toward the enemy in Pakistan, surely they would stop the violence.

Then again, the religious bigots who are at war with the US are also at war with much of Islam and one of their leaders was arrested a few days ago in Lahore. That is at least some evidence that al Qaeda has a presence in that city.

CNN has a more comprehensive story on the human bomb attacks in Pakistan. "The attack brought to 20 the number of suicide attacks in Pakistan in the last three months, including a failed attack on Bhutto's life in October. The bombings have killed close to 400 people and wounded nearly 1,000 others in the last three months, according to government officials."

This reflects a strategic decision on the part of al Qaeda to make Pakistan the central front in their war with the world after their losses in Iraq where our counterinsurgency strategy has virtually destroyed their operation. They are helped in Pakistan by a government which refuses to engage at this point in a similar strategy or accept non economic help from the US. That refusal is going to get a lot of Pakistanis killed.

The Belmont Club also discusses the war against Pakistan. There is some discussion of whether this is just the opening salvo. Strategy Page also has a lengthy analysis of the fighting in Pakistan. It is somewhat more optimistic than the others.