The city of my birth, Wah Cantt, has seen twin suicide bombings today:
At least 63 people have been killed in twin suicide bombings outside a munitions factory in the Pakistani town of Wah, hospital sources say.
The attack is the deadliest on a military site in Pakistan’s history.
The bombs hit the city, 30km (18 miles) north of Islamabad, as workers left. Many people were injured.
A spokesman for the Pakistani Taleban said they had carried out the attacks, which he said were a response to army violence in the country’s north-west.
Correspondents say Wah, in the province of Punjab, is a strategically important town normally under heavy security as it is home to a large industrial complex producing conventional arms and ammunition.
Local police chief Nasir Khan Durrani told the BBC: “Many others have been injured and we expect casualties to rise in the coming hours.
“At least 25 people have been critically injured.”
Mr Durrani said none of the dead was military personnel.
The first blast took place outside the gate of the factory as workers were leaving work during a shift change.
Minutes later, another blast took place at another gate of the same factory.
The two bombings were just outside Main Gate and Aslam Market gate. According to my information, the Main Gate was mostly for workers on bicycles and motorcycles and that’s where most of the casualties were. The other gate is for cars and officers. So the Taliban murdered poor workers.
Wah Cantt is home to Pakistan Ordnance Factories which has a huge campus and is the biggest employer there, employing 25,000 to 30,000 people. The suicide bombings happened at their gates.
Wah Cantt is a somewhat restricted area as any private vehicle going there has to stop at a security checkpost and identify themselves. However, public transport is not stopped.
I am still in shock at these bombings. I lived in Wah Cantt for a total of 15 years. My inlaws still live there. All I can say in response to these killings is: Fuck the Taliban! Fuck Jihad!
POSTSCRIPT: I forgot to mention the suicide bombing of a hospital two days ago.
Thirty-two people, seven policemen and two health officials among them, were killed and 55 others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near the emergency ward of the District Headquarters Hospital [in Dera Ismail Khan] on Tuesday.
[…] The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Inhuman scum!
OMG, i am so heartbroken over this. I was born in Wah too. Its such a small city… and most of the people there are factory workers. They have no opportunity for women to earn their living… so each one of the workers killed was the family earner… so much senseless loss.
There was a man on TV today, crying and telling about this worker who was killed at the factory gate; he had six unmarried, and now orphaned, daughters. I mean, tell me, who the hell is going to Jannah for the hell he’s put this ONE family into, let alone the 30 or so people who died. We all know how Pakistanis treat orphans, let alone grown girls.
I hope he burns in the deepest pits of hell, who ever did this. Bastard.
Didn’t almost each and every Pakistani voice support for the “taliban” before 9/11? And actually Pakistani Govt. and intelligence agency elements kept supporting militants even after that, especially against India. And this is not the illiterate or semi-educated crowd I’m talking about. I’ve met very highly educated Pakistanis and they all seemed to support their Government’s role in backing, sponsoring, training, encouraging militants/terrorists.
So why the outrage now?
” Fuck the Taliban! Fuck Jihad!”
Why not add “Fuck Muslims, fuck Islam” too to that? After all the culprits were probably Muslims and followers of Islam….
can’t american missiles target mehsud?
By attacking hospitals, burning schools and killing massive numbers of innocents workers they proved them self FASADI.
Faraz:
Not almost each and everyone by any stretch, but yes a lot of Pakistanis were wrong to support the Taliban and violent groups against India/Kashmir.
In my case, I was never in favor of those groups, so the outrage is not new. In general, however, people often react differently when they are the victims than when someone they perceive as the “other” is a victim. That’s unfortunate, but it is how it is.
That would imply a reading of Islam being the same as the Taliban and Jihad being the essential element of Islam. I disagree with that.
The name “Taliban” is a mis-nomer. There are several groups with different ideologies in the tribal area of Pakistan. They are neither Taliban (students) nor they have links with Mulla Omer of Afghanistan who is called Taliban’s leader though he never called himself to be Taliban.
Jihad is a valid struggle (and may be war) against oppression and killing of innocent people, and should not be abused by any person who thinks he/she is a Muslim. In Pakistan, nobody is carrying out Jihad. It is a war between Pakistan Government and the people of tribal area who also are citizens of Pakistan. Pakistan government is too weak to say no to orders given by USA government to kill their own people, and people of tribal area are taking revenge on behalf of their dead most of whom were innocent including women and children.
all of you low life mooslems should eat shit and die.you bring misery and death where ever you go you are not fit to live with descent people.why don’t you take your pedophile prophet and kill your self?
Khudkushistan
While late, here’s the account of our trip to Pakistan in October last year.