"Blasts kill 59 at Pakistan arms plan; Taliban say it is reprisal for army offensive" by Robin McDowell, Associated Press | August 22, 2008
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Suicide bombers killed 59 people at a huge arms factory yesterday in one of Pakistan's deadliest terror attacks, adding to turmoil from political squabbling that is threatening to tear apart the ruling coalition now that Pervez Musharraf has quit as president.
The two bombings, which also wounded 70 people, hit one of Pakistan's most sensitive and heavily guarded military installations, underlining the threat posed by Islamic militants to the Muslim world's only nuclear-armed nation as well as its war-ravaged neighbor, Afghanistan.
Just hours before the blasts, which were claimed by the Pakistani Taliban as a response to army attacks on militants, a key party in the government coalition threatened to quit in a power struggle that has dismayed many Pakistanis and the country's Western backers.
Workers were streaming through two gates of the sprawling factory complex in Wah, 20 miles west of Islamabad, during a shift change about 2 p.m. when the bombers attacked outside the walls. The force of the explosions knocked many people to the ground and sprayed others with shrapnel.
The complex, which employs some 25,000 people making rifles, machine guns, ammunition, grenades, and tank and artillery shells.
Maulvi Umar, a spokesman for Pakistani Taliban groups, said yesterday that the arms factory attack was to avenge air strikes on militants in the Bajur tribal area, an extremist stronghold in the mountainous frontier region. More bombings will be carried out in major cities, including the capital and the southern metropolis of Karachi, unless the offensives are halted, he said.
The peace effort was popular with many Pakistanis who are angry over the conflict's toll on civilians.
Yeah, PEACE is POPULAR amongst EVERYBODY -- except the WAR-MONGERING CONTROLLERS!!!
But it has met only limited success, and the government is again pursuing military operations against militants in the rugged region along the Afghan border.
Translation: The army and civilian leadership of Pakistan is still under US control!
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Here is what the Zionist-controlled, Muslim-hating, agenda-pushing War Daily did NOT report
"US raid 'killed Afghan civilians'; Karzai said that attacks by foreign forces had only succeeded in killing civilians [EPA]
At least 20 civilians have been killed in an air attack by US-led troops in Afghanistan's Laghman province, according to Afghan officials. The official disputed a statement by US military forces on Thursday that said more than 30 fighters were killed in the attack, which took place a day earlier.
A US-military spokesman said he had no knowledge of the non-combatant deaths.... About 20 people were wounded in the attack, including an elderly man, four children and eight women, Asadullah Rauf, a surgeon, was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying. The others wounded were adult males, he said.
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Now why would a Zionist-controlled, Muslim-hating, agenda.... never mind.
