Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network might be behind the failed assassination attempt against Pakistan's prime minister-designate, a senior Cabinet minister said yesterday, though investigators are still pouring over the evidence.
The death toll from the suicide bomb attack Friday against Shaukat Aziz, meanwhile, rose to eight, with about three dozen injured, said Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.
PHOTO: EPA
Among those killed was Aziz's driver, who had not yet closed the bullet-proof door on the car when a man approached and detonated a bomb.
"Al-Qaeda may be behind it," Ahmed told The Associated Press, before adding that there is no hard evidence linking the group.
President General Pervez Musharraf has said he believes al-Qaeda was involved in two attempts to kill him in December, the last of which killed 17 people. He was unharmed.
The attack on Aziz, the finance minister already tapped to become the nation's next prime minister, occurred Friday as the 60-year-old politician left a rally in Fateh Jang, a town 55km southwest of the capital.
It came hours after Pakistan announced the capture of a senior al-Qaeda terrorist, and a day after Pakistan acknowledged it was considering sending troops to Iraq.
Islamic militants are enraged at President General Pervez Musharraf's support for the US-led war on terror. Al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri called for his assassination in a tape released earlier this year, and several homegrown militant groups have also been implicated in plots to kill him.
Pakistani intelligence officials swooped down Sunday on Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani -- a Tanzanian with a US$25 million bounty on his head for his alleged role in the 1998 East African embassy attacks. The government said the arrest was "a major blow" to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, and vowed to keep hunting terrorists.
The assassination attempt on Aziz occurred after he and Fateh Jang mayor Tahir Sadiq had just gotten into the bulletproof Mercedes, parked in a crowded area. A man witnesses say was in his early 20s approached the car and set off the blast.
"The moment I sat in the car with Aziz there was an explosion," Sadiq said. "He is safe and God Almighty is the greatest protector."
An AP photographer at the scene shortly after the attack say it left body parts, blood and glass strewn over a wide area.
Two hours after the attack, Aziz -- appearing unhurt -- told a gathering of supporters outside his Islamabad home late Friday that he was all right and would "continue to serve the country with the same commitment and determination."
About a dozen heavily armed Pakistani soldiers arrived shortly afterward to guard the residence.
Ahmed late Friday said the attack was a "conspiracy against our democracy but the election process will continue."
Musharraf also condemned the attack and expressed grief over the loss of lives. "These cowardly acts will not deter us from our fight against terror," he said.
Aziz, a former Citibank executive credited with turning around Pakistan's economy under Musharraf, was in Fateh Jang to campaign for an upcoming by-election in which he needs to win a seat in the lower house.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
RSS