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Suicide bomber kills 30 near Pakistan's capital; UN suspends work
Monday, November 02, 2009 | No comments posted.
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber killed 30 people outside a bank near Pakistan’s capital today, as the U.N. said spreading violence had forced it to pull out some expatriate staff and suspend long-term development work in areas along the Afghan border.
Islamist insurgents have carried out numerous attacks in Pakistan in recent weeks, killing some 250 people in retaliation for an army offensive in the Pakistani Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan, also along the frontier shared with neighboring Afghanistan.
Several U.N. personnel have been among those killed, and the organization’s decision to suspend development work could imperil Western goals of reducing the allure of extremism by improving Pakistan’s economy.
Monday’s attack in Rawalpindi, a garrison city just a few miles from Islamabad, occurred as many people waited outside the National Bank on pay day to could collect their salaries.
The bank is close to the army’s headquarters, and a majority of the people waiting in line were from the military, said Mohammad Mushtaq, a soldier wounded in the attack. Militants raided the headquarters last month in a siege that lasted 22 hours and left 23 people dead.
Islamist insurgents have carried out numerous attacks in Pakistan in recent weeks, killing some 250 people in retaliation for an army offensive in the Pakistani Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan, also along the frontier shared with neighboring Afghanistan.
Several U.N. personnel have been among those killed, and the organization’s decision to suspend development work could imperil Western goals of reducing the allure of extremism by improving Pakistan’s economy.
Monday’s attack in Rawalpindi, a garrison city just a few miles from Islamabad, occurred as many people waited outside the National Bank on pay day to could collect their salaries.
The bank is close to the army’s headquarters, and a majority of the people waiting in line were from the military, said Mohammad Mushtaq, a soldier wounded in the attack. Militants raided the headquarters last month in a siege that lasted 22 hours and left 23 people dead.
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