Bomber kills 21 in Pakistan

The pro-Taliban cleric in the region has been singing the praises of jihad and suicide bombers.

WASHINGTON POST

KARACHI, Pakistan — A suspected suicide bomber attacked a Pakistani military convoy Thursday, killing at least 21 people in a scenic valley that has become another front in the nation’s war with Islamic extremists. Most of the dead were Pakistani troops.

The blast in the Swat district set fire to a military truck that was laden with ammunition, according to officials and witnesses. Scores of people, including civilians, were injured.

Though battles have been raging for years in the Pakistani tribal areas that line the border with Afghanistan, a relatively recent surge of violence in Swat, to the northeast, illustrates the potential for a widened war that also takes in Pakistan’s so-called settled areas. The valley, considered one of the country’s most naturally beautiful regions, has long been known as “the Switzerland of Pakistan.”

The attack came as the military moved 3,000 security personnel into Swat in a possible prelude to a confrontation with Maulana Fazlullah, the region’s firebrand, pro-Taliban cleric.

Fazlullah — who leads the Movement for the Implementation of Mohammad’s Sharia Law — uses an illegal FM radio signal to regularly broadcast calls for Islamic revolution. In recent days, he has taken to the airwaves to warn the government of devastating consequences if the military launches an offensive. Fazlullah is believed to have thousands of black-turbaned followers who are willing to fight to defend him. The group was officially banned in 2003 by Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, but has continued to operate illegally.

In a recent interview, Fazlullah preached jihad and defended the use of suicide bombings, which have become a favored tactic of insurgents in Pakistan. “Suicide bombing is a message through which the Muslim youth convey that they can use even their bones and flesh as bullets to strike the infidels’ skulls,” he said.

Fazlullah, rumored to be allied with al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, rose to prominence last year when he spoke out against education for girls and women and issued decrees against polio vaccinations, which he derided as a U.S. conspiracy to make men infertile. He has sought to impose an extreme interpretation of Islam on Swat’s residents, calling on barbers not to shave their customers’ beards and urging music store owners to shut down. His supporters have publicly set fire to televisions and videocassette recorders, which they blame for spreading obscenity.