News
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Attack on army leaves 8 dead near Wazirabad* Seven soldiers, one policeman killed in attack on army camp
* Four others injured
* Taliban claim responsibility
* Prime Minister Raja condemns attack
ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Gunmen killed eight security personnel at an army camp near Wazirabad on Monday, officials said, hours after a protest march of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) passed through the area.
The encampment was attacked from a bridge over the river Chenab. Hours earlier, thousands from the DPC coalition of right-wing groups crossed the bridge on a "long march" from Lahore to Islamabad to protest against the reopening of NATO supply routes to Afghanistan.
Pakistan is battling an insurgency in its northwest tribal region, but attacks in the area of Monday's incident, in a generally peaceful Punjab, are unusual.
"At least seven security personnel, including a police official, embraced martyrdom and five others were injured due to firing by unidentified assailants near Wazirabad," the military said in a statement.
However, the number of dead reached eight when one of the injured soldiers succumbed to his injuries.
A military rescue party had camped by the Chenab to look for the body of a pilot missing in a helicopter crash in May, the statement said, and the camp came under attack from a bridge.
"The exact number of attackers is not known but they came by motorbike and sprayed bullets on the troops from the bridge," a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the killings. The TTP spokesman said the Punjab wing of the group had carried out the attack. They would continue such attacks in the future also, particularly in Punjab, he added.
Condemning the attack, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said that such cowardly acts of terrorism would not weaken the resolve of the government to defeat the forces of terrorism and extremism. He said the government was determined to defeat the scourge of terrorism no matter how many sacrifices it had to render. He offered condolences to the bereaved families.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif also condemned the attack. He said those defending the country against terrorism were writing a new history.
The country's "war on terror" alliance with Washington and the reopening of NATO supply routes to Afghanistan is bitterly opposed by the DPC. Their convoy of thousands travelling by bus, truck and car with the protest march stopped for the night in Gujrat, across the river Chenab from Wazirabad.
The prime minister's adviser on interior affairs, Rehman Malik, had said on Sunday an elaborate security plan had been put in place for the march, involving four surveillance helicopters and closed-circuit cameras to monitor proceedings. staff report/agencies
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk