Print

Mail

wiki links

Pakistani leader target of assassination attempt

Investigators were questioning at least seven detainees, including three police officers, yesterday after an assassination attempt on President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led war on terror.

It was at least the second attempt on Musharraf's life in the four years since he seized power.

No one has claimed responsibility for Sunday's bomb attack on the general who has enraged Islamic hard-liners by abandoning support for Afghanistan's former Taliban regime, tackling Pakistani extremism and making peace overtures to rival India.

Two bombs planted under a bridge in Rawalpindi, a city near the capital Islamabad, exploded simultaneously, moments after Musharraf's motorcade passed. No one was hurt, but a section of the bridge was destroyed.

Police want to know how the bombers had advance knowledge of secret details about the presidential convoy movements.

Musharraf said the blasts occurred "just half a minute or one minute after we crossed. It certainly was me who was targeted."

"It must have been a large explosive because it damaged the concrete," he told state television network PTV.

Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayyat said "we do not want to speculate who is behind the attack."

"We cannot rule out the involvement of internal or external elements," he said, without elaborating.

Officials said at least seven people were being held for questioning.

They included three police officers meant to have been on duty at the bridge when the explosion happened Sunday evening. It wasn't clear if the police had abandoned their posts.

"The policemen have said that they did not see any suspect around the bridge," said the Interior Ministry official, who declined to give details about the other four being held.

The president had been returning to his home at Army House in Rawalpindi from the city's airport after a visit to southern Pakistan. Details of his route were secret.

"The most important thing to know is who gave the top secret information to those who wanted to blow up President Musharraf's car," an Interior Ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

The area around the bridge was sealed off yesterday as bomb experts inspected the site.

Musharraf, the army chief, came to power in 1999 in a bloodless coup.

He drew the wrath of hardline Islamic groups after he abandoned the Taliban regime of neighboring Afghanistan and backed the US-led war against Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network following the Sept. 11 attacks.
This story has been viewed 1797 times.