The Telegraph UK
written by Rob Crilly, in Islamabad and Laura Roberts
Friday May 13, 2011
Two suicide bombers have killed at least 80 people at a paramilitary training centre in northwestern Pakistan in apparent revenge for the killing of Osama bin Laden.
The Pakistan Taliban immediately claimed responsibility and said bigger attacks were to follow.
The attack on Friday morning in Charsadda district is the bloodiest since US forces killed bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2.
William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, this morning condemned the attacks as "cowardly and indiscriminate".
A suicide bomber on a motorbike struck at the gates just as young recruits boarded buses to go on leave after their course.
Police in Shabqadar, close to the border with Afghanistan, said a second explosion came seconds later.
At least 65 of the dead were recruits at the Frontier Constabulary training site while the rest were civilians. More than 100 people were also injured.
"This was the first revenge for Osama's martyrdom. Wait for bigger attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan," Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said afterwards.
"Two of our fedayeen (suicide bombers) carried out these attacks."
Last week the group threatened to attack security forces to avenge bin Laden's killing in a US helicopter raid.
Senior police official Nisar Khan said nearly all of the dead were recruits at the Frontier Constabulary training site.
He said: "The suicide bomber came on a motorcycle and blew himself up among Frontier Constabulary personnel.
"When other FC people came to the rescue to help their colleagues, the second bomber came on another motorcycle and blew himself up."
The bombs detonated beside a group of Pakistani paramilitary police as they were about to travel home on leave from a training centre.
The explosions detonated as newly trained cadets were getting into buses and coaches. They were wearing civilian clothes, police said. Twelve vehicles were destroyed in the blasts along with 20 shops.
Ahmad Ali, a wounded paramilitary policeman, said: "I was sitting in a van waiting for my colleagues. We were in plain clothes and we were happy we were going to see our families.
"I heard someone shouting 'Allah Akbar' and then I heard a huge blast. I was hit by something in my back shoulder. In the meantime I heard another blast and I jumped out of the van. I felt that I was injured and bleeding."
A vegetable vendor near the Frontier Constabulary training centre said some recruits were seated in white minivans and others were loading luggage atop the vehicles.
"There was a big blast," he said. "I saw smoke, blood and body pieces all around."
Speaking hours after the attack, Mr Hague said: "These attacks were cowardly and indiscriminate, killing many innocent bystanders and targeting those who serve to protect Pakistan.
"They prove once again that such extremist groups have no regard for the value of human life.
"I offer my sincere condolences, in particular to the families of those whose lives were lost and to those who were injured.
"The UK is committed to standing with Pakistan in the fight against violent extremism and we will continue to work with Pakistan to tackle this shared threat."
Pakistan's civilian government said on Thursday it would review counter-terrorism co-operation with the United States as it comes under growing domestic pressure to punish Washington for the apparently unauthorised bin Laden raid.
It has been accused of sheltering the world's man but officials point out that no country has paid a higher price for tackling the Islamist threat, with more than 30,000 people killed since Sept 11 2001.
The attacks took place in the Shabqadar area, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) north of Peshawar, the main city in the northwest region where militants linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda have repeatedly attacked government forces.
They were the deadliest attacks in Pakistan since November 5 when a suicide bomber killed 68 people at a mosque in the northwest area of Darra Adam Khel.
More than 4,300 people have been killed in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan in the past four years since government forces raided an extremist mosque in Islamabad in 2007.
Pakistan's senior military officer, General Khalid Shameem Wynne, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, has cancelled a scheduled visit to the United States, a military official said.
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