This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/10/world/asia/powerful-blast-at-market-in-pakistan.html

The article has changed 11 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 6 Version 7
Blast at Market in Pakistani Capital Kills at Least 22 Blast at Market in Pakistani Capital Kills at Least 22
(about 4 hours later)
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A powerful explosion ripped through a crowded fruit market in Islamabad on Wednesday, killing at least 22 people and injuring about 100 in the deadliest attack in the Pakistani capital in more than five years. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — In the deadliest attack on the Pakistani capital in more than five years, a powerful explosion ripped through a crowded market in Islamabad on Wednesday, killing at least 22 people and suggesting that, after a long stretch of relative calm, the city was back in the firing line of the country’s militants.
The attack coincided with government efforts to negotiate a peace deal with the Pakistani Taliban, which is officially observing a cease-fire until Thursday. A spokesman for the Taliban immediately denied responsibility the bombing. The bomb, which the police said had been hidden in a crate of guava fruit and possibly trigged by remote control, went off in the early morning at a wholesale fruit market on the edge of the city. Television video showed the devastating aftermath – charred debris, shattered carts and bloodstained fruit — while witnesses spoke of seeing dismembered limbs and bodies flung high into the air. At least 100 people were reported to have been hurt.
It was the deadliest assault in the capital since the bombing of the Marriott Hotel that killed 54 people in September 2008, one of a barrage of attacks that year and the next in which the Pakistani Taliban waged their terror campaign directly on Islamabad. For many shocked residents, the market bombing on Wednesday recalled that time of siege. But the question of which group planted the bomb – and to what end — became mired in a fog of claims and counterclaims throughout the day.
Immediately after the attack, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban said that the group had nothing to do with it. He criticized the violence against civilians — the group’s stock in trade since its formal emergence in 2007 — and insisted that the Taliban were observing a cease-fire until Thursday in support of peace talks with the government.
“Attacks on public places and targeting innocent people is regrettable and un-Islamic,” the spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid, said in a statement released to the Pakistani news media.“Attacks on public places and targeting innocent people is regrettable and un-Islamic,” the spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid, said in a statement released to the Pakistani news media.
Instead, a man identifying himself as a spokesman for a little-known separatist group, the United Baluch Army, claimed responsibility for the bombing.Instead, a man identifying himself as a spokesman for a little-known separatist group, the United Baluch Army, claimed responsibility for the bombing.
The group was virtually unheard-of until Tuesday, when it also claimed responsibility for an attack on a train as it passed through central Baluchistan Province that killed 14 people and wounded 40 more. The supposed spokesman for the group, who gave his name as Mureed Baluch, made the claim for both bombings by telephone to several Pakistani journalists.The group was virtually unheard-of until Tuesday, when it also claimed responsibility for an attack on a train as it passed through central Baluchistan Province that killed 14 people and wounded 40 more. The supposed spokesman for the group, who gave his name as Mureed Baluch, made the claim for both bombings by telephone to several Pakistani journalists.
Some analysts said they were treating the claim with caution. Baluch separatists have been fighting for independence from Pakistan for about eight years now, accusing the central government of ignoring their sprawling, poverty-stricken province. But the United Baluch Army is not among the main militant groups, and until now Baluch militant groups have mostly limited their attacks to Baluchistan Province. But then the Interior Ministry took the unusual step of trying to discredit the group’s claim — all the while declining to say who it thought was responsible.
Wednesday’s attack occurred just after 8 a.m. in a bustling wholesale fruit and vegetable market on the outskirts of Islamabad, sending a loud boom across the city that spread panic during the morning rush hour. “It is not only surprising, but ridiculous that the United Baluch Army has claimed responsibility for the attack,” a ministry spokesman said in a text message to reporters. “According to government and intelligence agency investigations, the root of this incident can be found elsewhere.”
The blast occurred in an open area where fruit that had been transported from farms in Punjab Province was being auctioned to shopkeepers. Initial police investigations suggested the explosives had been placed in a crate of guava and detonated by remote control, officials said. The statement concluded that “whoever is responsible” would be brought to justice.
Television footage showed charred debris, shattered carts and bloodstained fruit. Witnesses described horrific scenes of carnage, with bodies flying high in the air from the force of the blast. A spokesman for the Pakistani Institute of Medical Sciences, a major hospital, said 22 people had been killed and 96 people wounded in the attack. Baluch separatists have been fighting for independence from Pakistan for about eight years, accusing the central government of ignoring their sprawling, poverty-stricken province. But the United Baluch Army is not among the main militant groups, and until now Baluch militant groups have mostly limited their attacks to Baluchistan Province.
It was the deadliest attack in Islamabad since the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in September 2008, when 54 people were killed and several hundred injured. And after several relatively peaceful years in the Pakistani capital, it was a stark reminder of a time when Islamabad seemed directly under siege by the Taliban’s violent campaign to overthrow the government and impose Islamist rule. The conflicting claims and emergence of shadowy groups come at a tense time in Pakistan, and may be connected to the fluctuating dynamics among the civilian government, the Taliban and the military.
Despite the cease-fire between the government and Pakistani Taliban, there have been several major attacks in the past month, most of them claimed by a previously unknown militant groups. Efforts by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government to end years of militant bloodshed through talks have been hurt by a spate of Taliban-style suicide attacks that killed at least 63 people, including a senior judge. Most of the attacks were claimed by Ahrarul Hind, an apparent militant splinter group that first claimed responsibility for an attack on March 3, a bombing at an Islamabad courthouse.
The attacks, often attributed to Taliban splinter groups, have raised suspicions that the militants are either negotiating through violence or have become internally divided. The attacks throughout the cease-fire have been alternately taken as either an attempt by the Pakistani Taliban to negotiate through force, or as evidence that the group, always a relatively loose confederation of militants, might be fracturing into violent internal divisions.
Reports from the tribal belt indicate sharp disagreements between leading militants of the Mehsud tribe, who used to lead the Pakistani Taliban and are said to favor talks, and the militant group’s recently chosen leader, Maulana Fazlullah, who reportedly opposes them. Reports from the tribal belt indicate sharp disagreements between militants from the Mehsud tribe, who used to lead the Pakistani Taliban and are said to favor talks, and the militant group’s recently chosen leader, Maulana Fazlullah, who reportedly opposes them. Further, there have been growing reports of violence within the Mehsud faction itself.
In continuing the push to engage the Taliban in talks, which started in earnest on March 26, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is betting his government can end years of bloodshed that has killed thousands of Pakistanis and destabilized the country.
But the negotiations have been rocked by continuing attacks on civilians and have drawn sharp criticism from opposition leaders, like Bilawal Bhutto Zardari of the Pakistan Peoples Party, who accuse Mr. Sharif of ceding too much ground to the militants. Last week, the Interior Ministry announced the release of 19 Taliban prisoners from the Mehsud tribe, which has typically provided leadership and foot soldiers to the Taliban insurgency. Government officials say more prisoners will be freed this week.
But the Mehsuds appear to be internally divided, which may further complicate the peace process. Brewing tensions between rival Mehsud commanders in South Waziristan have turned bloody in the past month, and four people died in gunfights in the area on Wednesday.
“The militants are not a monolith. There are different factions and not all of them agree on peace talks,” said Rasul Baksh Rais, the director general of the Institute of Strategic Studies. “A lot of foreign intelligence agencies have also entered into the subversive element of militancy.”“The militants are not a monolith. There are different factions and not all of them agree on peace talks,” said Rasul Baksh Rais, the director general of the Institute of Strategic Studies. “A lot of foreign intelligence agencies have also entered into the subversive element of militancy.”
Mr. Rais, however, speculated that Wednesday’s bombing would not seriously harm progress in the peace talks. “The military and the government want to advance the negotiation option,” he said. The talks began in earnest on March 26, and since then have drawn sharp criticism from opposition leaders, like Bilawal Bhutto Zardari of the Pakistan Peoples Party, who accuse Mr. Sharif of ceding too much ground to the militants. Last week, the Interior Ministry announced the release of 19 Taliban prisoners from the Mehsud tribe. Government officials say more prisoners will be freed this week.
The military leadership, which has a history of failed peace deals with the Taliban, is also uneasy about negotiations. But officials say that plans to mount a ground offensive against the Taliban stronghold of North Waziristan, which appeared imminent in February, have been shelved for now. Mr. Sharif’s position is further complicated by his fragile relationship with the country’s military leadership. Plans to mount a military offensive against the Taliban stronghold of North Waziristan, which appeared imminent in February, have been shelved. Some army commanders have privately indicated they believe the time has come to fight, not talk, with the Taliban.
The army and Mr. Sharif are also arguing over the fate of the former military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who faces treason charges in the Supreme Court. The army is bitterly opposed to the trial, which it views as a challenge to its authority. Mr. Sharif’s government insists the case must go ahead.
In a glimmer of hope on that front, the World Bank said on Wednesday that Pakistan’s economy was “gradually improving” and that the country was on track to meet major fiscal targets.