W O R L D

Teen suicide bomber kills 53 in Pakistan mosque
Islamabad, August 19
At least 53 persons were killed and 123 injured when a teenage suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque packed with hundreds of worshippers on the third Friday of the holy fasting.

Bloodwash: A local resident cleans a mosque after a suicide bomb attack in the town of Jamrud, 25 km from Peshawar, on Friday. — AFP

Ten dead in Taliban assault on British Council in Kabul
Kabul, August 19
A group of suicide attackers stormed a British compound in the Afghan capital today on the anniversary of the country’s independence from Britain, triggering a five-hour firefight that killed at least 10 persons.

A wounded Afghan policeman is carried away from the site of the attack on offices belonging to the British Council in Kabul on Friday. — Reuters

Teen suicide bomber kills 53 in Pakistan mosque

Islamabad, August 19
At least 53 persons were killed and 123 injured when a teenage suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque packed with hundreds of worshippers on the third Friday of the holy fasting month of Ramzan in Pakistan’s restive tribal belt, the deadliest attack in the country in three months.

The attack, which targeted the Jamia Masjid in Jamrud area of Khyber tribal agency, 25 km from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province’s capital Peshawar, took place as people were leaving after Friday prayers.

Quoting locals and sources from social welfare organsation Edhi Foundation, the Express Tribune reported that 53 bodies had been recovered from the mosque. About 103 of the 123 injured were taken to hospitals in Jamrud and nearby Peshawar city.

Thirty-three persons were killed instantly by the powerful blast, officials told the media and described the condition of 20 of the injured as serious. Witnesses and officials told the media that the attack was carried out by a bomber aged about 15 or 16 years. Over 300 people were present in the mosque at the time of the blast.

A portion of the mosque collapsed and its walls developed large cracks due to the blast. Local residents dug through the rubble with their hands to pull out the dead and injured. They said some bodies could still be trapped in the debris. Footage on television showed that the walls and ceiling of the mosque were pitted with shrapnel. Part of the ceiling was blackened by the blast and the floor was stained with blood.

A young boy wearing a blue shalwar-kameez broke down and cried as people tried to console him. No group claimed responsibility for the blast. Such attacks are usually blamed on the Pakistani Taliban. Several militant groups, including the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Islam, are active in Khyber.

Today’s blast was the deadliest in Pakistan since May 13 when two suicide bombers killed 98 persons outside a police training centre in a town near Peshawar.

In a message, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack on the mosque and said the "terrorists had proved time and again they bring a bad name to our religion by carrying out such cowardly acts." He reiterated his government's resolve to root out terrorism.

President Asif Ali Zardari expressed deep shock and described the attack as an "abhorrent act". He said the government is determined to defeat terrorism. — PTI 

Ten dead in Taliban assault on British Council in Kabul

Kabul, August 19
A group of suicide attackers stormed a British compound in the Afghan capital today on the anniversary of the country’s independence from Britain, triggering a five-hour firefight that killed at least 10 persons.

A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the attack on the British Council in the western part of Kabul.

The dead included eight Afghan policemen, a security guard whose nationality was not immediately known and an Afghan municipal worker, according to Kabul police official Farooq Asas. Two of four people wounded in the blasts were not Afghans, he said. Britain’s Foreign Office said all insurgents involved in the attack were killed.

The attack started with one suicide bomber detonating an explosives-laden car outside the British Council while another suicide bomber struck inside the compound, according to the Afghan police.

Afghan security forces dispatched to the scene said that at least three insurgents fought from a secure bunker inside the compound with rifles and rocket propelled grenades.

An Afghan policeman named Azizullah said the insurgents wrestled weapons and ammunition from the guards at the compound. Afghan men often used one name.

In London, the British Foreign Office confirmed that all British nationals were safe following the attack. “My thoughts are with those killed and injured and their families and friends, including locals working to protect the British Council building,” Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said. “It is a sad fact that once again an attack aimed at the international community has killed Afghans.”

“It is due to the presence of mind of the staff involved and our good security measures that no British nationals were hurt,” he said, adding that the attack would not affect Britain’s commitment to Afghanistan. British authorities would not say how many of their personnel were inside the building at the time of the attack. — AP

Israel pounds Hamas positions

Jerusalem, August 19
Israeli jets pounded Hamas positions in Gaza and Palestinian militants fired a barrage of rockets into southern Israel injuring 10 today, as violence escalated, a day after eight Israelis were killed in the deadliest terror attack in three years.

The sudden spurt in violence prompted the Israel to warn that it would respond with strength “exacting a price, a very heavy price” if such attacks continue.

“We all witnessed today an attempt to escalate the terrorist war against Israel by launching of attacks from the Sinai. If there is someone who thinks that the State of Israel will let this pass, he is mistaken”, Israel’s hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

“I have set out a principle, when the citizens of Israel are attacked, we respond immediately and with strength. That principle was implemented today. Those who gave the order to murder our citizens, while hiding in Gaza, are no longer among the living”, Netanyahu stressed.

According to reports emanating from Cairo, five Egyptian security personnel were killed when Israeli soldiers were pursuing Gaza militants after a bloody attack along the border in the Sinai Peninsula.

Yesterday, heavily armed militants from Gaza had infiltrated into southern Israel through Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, launching a series of coordinated attacks claiming eight lives, prompting a reprisal strike that killed six persons in the Palestinian territory.

One of the 10 rockets fired exploded in the courtyard of an ultra-orthodox yeshiva (institute for religious studies) in the southern city of Ashdod leaving 10 people injured. — PTI 

Egypt protests over killings

Cairo: Egypt lodged a formal protest to Israel on Friday over the death of three members of its security forces near the border following an attack that killed eight Israelis, and demanded a probe into the deaths.

Egyptians have been enraged over the death of an army officer and two other security officials on the Egyptian side of the border while Israeli forces pursued suspected militants who had launched attacks in southern Israel on Thursday. — Reuters