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http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=129132&d=5&m=12&y=2009
Saturday 5 December 2009 (18 Dhul Hijjah 1430)
Terrorists kill 40 worshippers
Azhar Masood | Arab News
RESCUE BID: Soldiers rush to the aid of worshippers in the
Rawalpindi mosque under attack. (AP)
ISLAMABAD: Terrorists attacked a mosque frequented by military officers
and their families in the garrison town of Rawalpindi on Friday killing 40
people. Six military officers were among the dead.
A military statement said four attackers hurled grenades, then opened
fire as they rushed toward the mosque, which was located on Parade Lane in a
military residential colony, just a few kilometers from the capital. Two
suicide bombers then blew themselves up inside, while the other two were killed
in an exchange of gunfire, it said.
Among the dead were Maj. Gen. Bilal Omar, director general of Armored
Corps and brother-in-law of former Prime Minister Mustafa Jatoi; a brigadier;
two lieutenant colonels; one major and a retired major as well as three regular
soldiers, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said. Seventeen children and
10 civilians were also killed.
Witnesses said two of the militants entered the mosque, which had up to
200 worshippers inside, while others ran into buildings nearby. They opened
fire as the imam was about to begin the Friday prayers after the sermon.
Security forces exchanged fire with the assailants for an hour before they blew
themselves up.
Khawaja Suhail, a resident of Westridge, told Arab News that the mosque
was partially destroyed. He said access to the mosque was mostly restricted to
soldiers and their families. Nasir Ali Sheikh saw the attackers at the mosque
as he walked there to pray. He said they were dressed in traditional Pakistani
shalwar-kameez and carried hand grenades, automatic weapons and ammunition
belts slung around their shoulders. "They were killing people like animals," he
said. "I couldn't believe what was happening."
TV footage showed the mosque's walls and prayer mats covered in blood and
shattered glass lining the floor. Three helicopters hovered overhead while
trucks carrying commando teams and ambulances raced through the cordoned-off
area as soldiers with rifles ready kept onlookers and traffic away.
Nasir Ali, the son of an army officer, told the private Dawn television
channel: "It was a terrible scene ... They were firing on whoever was there.
There were bodies on the road. I was hiding behind the trees nearby."
"They are taking revenge for the Pakistani Army's successful operations
in Swat and Waziristan regions," Interior Minister Rehman Malik said.
Pakistan is in the grip of a fierce insurgency, with more than 2,600
people killed in attacks in the last two and a half years. Taleban fighters
frequently target security forces and military installations.
In October, militants stormed the army headquarters in Rawalpindi,
sparking a daylong siege that left 22 people dead and struck at the heart of
the nuclear-armed country's most powerful establishment.
There had been a lull in attacks in recent weeks, until on Wednesday when
a young man wearing a suicide vest approached a checkpoint outside a navy
complex in Islamabad, blowing himself up and killing two naval policemen. -
With input from agencies
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