Taliban Claims Lahore Bombing
A day after a suicide gun and bomb attack targeted a key police rescue operations headquarters in Lahore killing 24 and wounding another 300, the Pakistan Taliban on Thursday claimed responsibility for the strike and warned against similar attacks in other parts of the country, say media reports.
The impact of the bombing on Wednesday brought down the building located in a high security area in the vicinity of the ISI headquarters.
Soon after the strike, Islamabad had said that the attack was an act of revenge launched by the Taliban against the ongoing military operations in the Swat Valley.
The army offensive commenced after the Swat Taliban captured Buner district some 100 km from the capital, the seizure triggered the collapse of a much criticized peace pact between the government and militants.
“We have achieved our target. We were looking for this target for a long time. It was a reaction to the Swat operation,” Hakimullah Mehsud, a close aide of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, was quoted as saying over the telephone by Reuters.
“We want the people of Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Multan to leave those cities as we plan major attacks against government facilities in coming days and weeks,” he added.
The warnings add to the Islamabad’s burgeoning woes as it is already grappling with the rehabilitation of some 2.5 million internally displaced people, who have fled home since the army launched its offensive against the Taliban.
