| 6 soldiers killed in attack on Pak army camp |
ISLAMABAD Gunmen opened fire on a riverside military encampment in eastern Pakistan on Monday killing six soldiers and a policeman, the military officials said, hours after a protest march against the resumption of Nato supply convoys passed through the area.
The encampment was attacked from a bridge over the river Chenab, close to the industrial city of Wazirabad, less than 150km southeast of the capital.
Hours earlier, thousands from the Defence Council of Pakistan coalition of right-wing and hardline groups crossed the bridge on a ‘long march’from Lahore to Islamabad to protest against the reopening of Nato supply routes to Afghanistan.
“A small rescue party had camped on the bank of (a) river to search for the body of a drowned pilot,” the military statement said.
“Today, early morning, a few unknown assailants opened fire on the rescue party, which resulted in the shahadat (martyrdom) of six security forces personnel, and five others were injured,” the military said in a statement.
Police said the gunmen had arrived aboard a car and two motorcycles at the scene in Wazirabad, and had fled after the shooting.
A military rescue party had camped by the Chenab to look for the body of a pilot missing in a helicopter crash in May, the statement said, and the camp came under attack from a bridge.
“The exact number of attackers is not known but they came by motorbike and sprayed bullets on the troops from the bridge,” a senior security official said.
“It is highly likely that the attackers belonged to a banned religious outfit, which is a hand in glove with Taliban.”
“Nobody has claimed responsibility of the attack but if we follow the pattern of the attack, it looks similar to assaults that these outfits have been carrying out in different cities,” he said.
The convoy of thousands travelling by bus, truck and car with the protest march stopped for the night in the town of Gujrat, across the river Chenab from Wazirabad, and they were expected to reach Islamabad on Monday afternoon.
Such attacks are more common in northwest Pakistan, home to several militant groups, including the Taliban, but rare in Punjab.
Some extremist groups are based in the poorer southern part of Punjab, but are not known to attack security forces.
“There are criminal grou-ps active in the area, they could be involved. Or it could be militants, which could be a serious development,” a senior security official said. “We are not ruling anything out.”
The Defence Council of Pakistan bitterly opposes the country’s “war on terror” alliance with Washington and the reopening of overland routes for trucks supplying Nato troops.
Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the founder of the banned Lashkare Toiba on Sunday urged Pakistanis to join the protest. The march is being staged by the Council as part of a drive to break ties with the US and India.
Pakistan suspended the supply routes last November after a cross-border Nato air attack killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
They were reopened after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apologised for the strike. “The Defence of Pakistan Council’s supporters passed through the area some time before the attack, but linking the two is speculation at this point,” police official Nadeem Abbas said in the town of Gujrat, near the scene of the attack.
Agencies
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