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Militants attack Pakistan officer

A policeman beats a man, who was fleeing a military offensive in South Waziristan, for jumping a queue while waiting with hundreds of others at a food distribution point for internally displaced persons in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, yesterday. PHOTO: REUTERS

A gun attack on a senior army officer and his mother caused no casualties but rattled Pakistan’s capital yesterday, just days after a similar strike killed another military official.

Islamist militants in Pakistan have staged several assaults in recent weeks against security forces, apparently to retaliate for the army’s offensive in their stronghold of South Waziristan, a tribal region along the Afghan border.

Last Thursday, gunmen on a motorcycle fired on an army jeep in another part of Islamabad. A brigadier and a soldier died in that attack. It was believed to be the first assassination of an army officer in the capital, signaling a potential new tactic by militants.

Police said yesterday that the senior army officer, also a brigadier, and his mother were driving to a bank when attacked.

Authorities said there were two gunmen involved, but a man who said he witnessed the attack said a lone youth opened fire on the departing vehicle after milling around the house yesterday morning.

“He was firing relentlessly. He was targeting the front seat of the car.” — Muhammad Imran, trading firm owner

Muhammad Imran, who runs a trading company opposite the house, said he was on the terrace when he saw the young man unleash a hail of bullets from a weapon concealed underneath his shawl just as the car slowed down for a speed bump.

“He was firing relentlessly. He was targeting the front seat of the car,” Imran said by telephone from the scene.

“I later saw police collect around 15 or maybe 20 empty shell casings from the scene,” he said.

Another young man on a motorcycle then appeared soon after the barrage of bullets, and two sped away together, Imran said.

Senior police officer Bin Yamin said the army officer was wearing civilian clothing but drove a government car. Such vehicles have official license plates that bear an army insignia.

A windowpane of the car was shattered, police said.

“It appears to be a targeted attack, but we are investigating further,” Yamin said.
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