Taliban admit guilt in mass murder at arms plant

NY Times:

At least 52 people were killed and scores injured in a suicide attack Thursday outside the entry gates of Pakistan’s largest military munition plant, the police and hospital officials said. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility.

The large military compound is located in the city of Wah, about 22 miles northwest of Islamabad, the capital of the country.

Nasir Durrani, a regional police official in the Rawalpindi district, which includes Wah, said the police were investigating the possibility that the attack involved two suicide bombers. One explosion occurred outside the main gate to the compound, and there may have been another attack outside a second gate, he said.

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... the country is facing an emboldened Taliban insurgency that is rapidly moving beyond its sanctuaries in the tribal regions of Pakistan and reaching into other parts of the country.

In an attack within the tribal region on Tuesday, for which the Taliban claimed responsibility, a suicide bomber ripped into the emergency room of the district hospital in a town near Waziristan, killing 32 people and wounding 55,

Unlike Mr. Musharraf — who was a ready if not always effective ally of the United States in its war on terror — the new elected coalition has so far been unwilling or unable to confront the expanding Taliban insurgency, which seems determined to topple the government.

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The campaign against the militants is unpopular here in Pakistan because it is seen as an American conflict foisted on the country. But for Pakistan, the Taliban threat is becoming increasingly a domestic one. In the past month, for example, more than 130 girls’ schools have been burned by the Taliban in the region of Swat alone, and in the past two weeks there have been daily casualties in clashes in the tribal areas between the insurgents and the military.

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It is not clear why a campaign to stop mass murder would be unpopular. It is not clear why a campaign to stop those who want to prevent the education of girls is unpopular. What is clear is that the Taliban are in open rebellion and the government appears weak and vacillating in its response. Instead of going after the Taliban a majority of the government went after Musharraf. That appears to be a real skewed priority from this distance.

The government must send the army in to destroy the Taliban sanctuary and leadership. If it does not it will see more mass murder of non combatants.

CNN reports that the mass murder total is now at 100 dead in this attack on non combatants. The Taliban is pushing the the government to make a decision on whether it will be serious in in making war against the mass murderers.