Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Militants strike again near Parachinar



Militants strike again near Parachinar

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:58:01 GMT
Unidentified armed men have reportedly opened fire at a passenger bus in Pakistan's lawless Kurram Agency, kidnapping 14 Shia Muslims.

The attackers had targeted the vehicle in the Tut Kas area in the agency on Monday, a Press TV correspondent in Pakistan reported.

Unknown gunmen opened fire on the bus' tires, forcing it to stop. They then took the male passengers to an undisclosed location, local officials and residents said.

The three women on board the bus en route from the northwestern city of Peshawar to Parachinar have been left behind.

Sunday saw at least four other Shia Muslims injured in the same area when another passenger bus was targeted with a remote control bomb.

Local residents told a Press TV correspondent that the Thall-Parachinar road, which acts as a lifeline connecting the remote area to the rest of Pakistan, has witnessed the Shia community beome the target of violence on a daily basis.

Militants are kidnapping people traveling on the road only to release them after receiving heavy amounts of ransom, Hussain Afzal, a local resident said.

Most of the violence in the territory bordering the Tora Bora region in Afghanistan has been attributed to the Taliban.

Taliban militants have launched deadly attacks against the Shias settled in Parachinar and have been blocking road routes to the city since April 2007 when sectarian violence between Shias and Sunnis broke out after provocative remarks by a Wahhabi against historical Shia figures.

The Taliban sided with the Sunni majority in the country, imposing an ongoing 20-month blockade which has caused serious food shortages.

The Pakistani government has on various occasions dispatched relief convoys loaded with food and medicines to the area, but most supplies are confiscated by the militants and the drivers are killed or kidnapped.

Source:  http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=86618&sectionid=351020401
 


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12 men abducted in Hangu

Daily Times

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

 

12 men abducted in Hangu

HANGU: Unidentified armed men on Monday opened fire on a Peshawar-bound vehicle before abducting 12 of its passengers near Kurram Agency's border with Hangu district, officials said. An official told Daily Times that the vehicle was on its way to Peshawar when the armed men intercepted it in Tootkas area and abducted 12 of its 15 passengers.Hangu District Police Officer Sajjad Khan confirmed the incident. He added that even though the Khasadar force was deployed in the area, the Taliban were openly operating there. saboor khan.


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14 bus passengers kidnapped in NWFP



14 bus passengers kidnapped in NWFP

Tuesday February 24, 2009 (0627 PST)


PARACHINAR: Unidentified armed men first fired at the tyres of a Parachinar-bound passenger coach in the Tut Kas area on Monday and later kidnapped 14 travellers.

Sources said the kidnappers left behind three women travelling in the same vehicle while shifted the male passengers to an undisclosed location. The vehicle was on way to Parachinar from Peshawar and it was stopped at the place where four passengers of a Peshawar-bound coach were seriously wounded in a roadside explosion on Sunday.

Locals said people were being kidnapped on daily basis from the Thall-Parachinar road near the Tor Ghar area, while the administration was looking the other way. They said 38 people had been picked from the same area so far. The residents maintained that criminals in the garb of the militants were making travellers hostage and later released them after receiving hefty amounts as ransom.


Source: http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?211807

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