India-Pakistan: Sunnis Slaughter Shia

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January31, 2007: Britain has warned its citizens to reconsider travel to Pakistan during the period of Shia religious celebrations (which ends on February 18) because of the number of Sunni terrorists who have been attacking Shia worshippers. The government provided a list of the most volatile localities, which British citizens should avoid for the moment.

January 30, 2007: In Pakistans northwest tribal areas, resistance to police presence left two civilians dead, and nine policemen wounded. Tribal militants have been firing mortar shells and rockets into towns controlled by police. The local Pushtun tribes prefer to act as their own police. This has long been a contentious issue with the national government.

Elsewhere in Pakistan, violence between Sunni and Shia left two Sunni terrorists dead. The Sunni terrorists were trying to interrupt a Shia religious festival.

January 29, 2007: In Pakistan, another suicide bomb went off, killing the bomber and wounding seven bystanders. Police arrested six Sunni terrorists, and seized explosive belts and other weapons. The men were planning suicide attacks on Shia religious celebrations. Violence between Sunni and Shia terrorists has been going on for decades.

January 27, 2007: In Pakistan, Sunni terrorists set off a suicide bomb near a Shia mosque, killing eleven people (including a police commander, for the police were out in force to guard against such attacks during a Shia religious festival.) At least three dozen people were wounded.

January 26, 2007: In Pakistans capital, a suicide bomber killed himself and the employee of a major hotel. Six people were wounded, but none of them were foreign guests at the hotel. In Quetta, the capital of the Pakistani province of Baluchistan, tribal separatists fired two rockets into residential areas. There was property damage, but no casualties.

January 25, 2007: In northeast India, tribal separatists set off three bombs, killing two and wounding five. Another bomb was found and dismantled. One of the dead was a bomber whose bomb went off as it was being transported.

January 24, 2007: The United States and Pakistan continue to argue over what Pakistan should do about Taliban bases inside Pakistan's tribal territories. Officially, Pakistan denies that they exist, privately, Pakistan warns that sending in the army, to take out the bases, could trigger a major war with the tribes. The U.S. has offered air support, but Pakistan fears news of that could trigger unrest all over Pakistan. Basically, the Pakistani government, which is currently a military dictatorship, does not want any trouble, and is willing to cut deals, like allowing the Taliban to base themselves in Pakistan, in order to keep the peace and stay in power.

 

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