Major incidents of Terrorism-related violence in Pakistan, 1988-2008

2008

June 30: Seven tribesmen were killed and nine others sustained injuries in a blast at the base camp of a banned outfit in the Bar Qambarkhel area of Bara sub-division in Khyber Agency.

June 28: Eight persons were killed and five others injured as clashes between two groups in the Tirah area of Khyber Agency in the FATA. The report said that the groups were using mortar guns, small missiles, rockets and other heavy arms in the fight.

June 26:The suspected militants gunned down local PPP leader Abdul Akbar Khan, his wife, and two sons in Matta tehsil (administrative division).

Suspected militants killed a prominent tribal elder, his son and mother-in-law in Matta tehsil.

June 25: Taliban killed 22 members of a pro-government "peace committee" at Jandola of Tank in the NWFP. Taliban spokesman Maulvi Umar claimed responsibility for the killings.

June 23: 12 persons were killed in the continuing clash between two militant groups, the Lashkar-i-Islam and Ansarul Islam, in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency in the FATA.

Gunmen shot dead eight members from a Shia tribe in the Kurram Agency.

Militants loyal to the Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud captured Jandola town in South Waziristan after a gun-battle with pro-government tribesmen, in which six persons, including four tribesmen and two militants, were killed. Meanwhile, a Taliban spokesman said nine people, including seven tribesmen, had been killed and the Taliban had abducted 10 pro-government fighters.

June 22: At least 15 militants were dead and dozens injured in a clash between Lashkar-i-Islam and Ansarul Islam in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency in the FATA. The violence began on June 21 when militants belonging to Lashkar-i-Islam leader Mangal Bagh attacked a stronghold of Ansarul Islam, led by Ustad Mehboob.

June 21: Five people were killed and nine others injured in an exchange of fire between Lashkar-i-Islam and Ansarul Islam in the Teerah Valley of Khyber Agency in FATA.

June 19: Militants belonging to a Sunni group ambushed a food convoy killing four persons and subsequently set ablaze three trucks loaded with goods at Kurram agency in the FATA. Meanwhile, security forces, backed by helicopter gun-ships, retaliated killing five militants in region.

June 18: Three persons were killed and eight others injured in a mortar attack and firing incident in village Shalozan of Kurram Agency in the FATA.

June 17: Unidentified assailants killed four persons when they opened fire on a vehicle in the Hangu Bazaar of NWFP following an abduction attempt.

June 16: A bomb exploded inside a Shia mosque killing at least four people and injuring two others in the Dera Ismail Khan district of NWFP. Police said that the explosion was triggered inside Imambargah Hazrat Ali in Mohallah Roshan Chirgah when worshippers were coming out of the mosque after offering evening prayers. Police recovered a number of battery cells from the incident site indicating that the bomb was triggered by a time-device.

June 15: Four persons were killed and another was injured when a car drove over a landmine near Seenzala in the NWFP. So far no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

June 13: Militants shot dead five tribesmen, including a pro-government tribal elder, Malik Zahideen, near Miranshah in North Waziristan of FATA. Malik Zahideen was travelling from Miranshah to his native Behramand village along with his two brothers and two nephews when four militants intercepted their vehicle near Kharseen, killing all five. The unidentified militants later managed to escape. Militants shot dead the tribesmen suspecting they were spying for foreign forces in Afghanistan, a local official said.

June 10: At least 11 paramilitary soldiers and 10 militants were killed in an air strike by the US-led forces on a Frontier Corps security post in the Sheikh Baba area along the Afghan border in Mohmand tribal region. 15 people, including six paramilitary soldiers, were reportedly injured in the attack. Officials of the Mohmand Rifles have said that 40 of their men are missing. A spokesman of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Maulvi Umar said that eight Taliban had been killed and nine others wounded in clashes. He also claimed that the Taliban have captured seven soldiers of the Afghan National Army and shot down a Nato helicopter, killing its crew.

June 9: Three persons were killed in the Balyameen area of the Lower Kurram Agency when unidentified militants opened fire on a vehicle. The vehicle was travelling to Balyameen from Anzari when gunmen opened fire, killing Sajid Hussain and his driver Ahmed Gul on the spot while another unidentified man died soon after.

Four Policemen were killed and a SHO was injured when around 20 militants opened fire on a Police mobile unit on a routine patrol near the Mattani bypass in Peshawar. Militants also set ablaze the vehicle and stole the Policemen’s weapons.

June 8: Four children were killed in an explosion triggered by suspected militants at Chitral in the NWFP.

June 6: Four people were killed in two explosions in Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP. The first bomb exploded in the University Road area without causing any damage. As police and civilians gathered at the scene, another bomb exploded killing four people, including two policemen, and wounding another nine, police official Mohsin Shah told Reuters. Five people including four policemen were killed in the remote-controlled bomb attack. DI Khan District Police Officer Abdul Ghuffar said that the first bomb had been planted on a bicycle and the attack targeted police. He said 15 people had been injured in the blast, nine of who were policemen. He said the area had been cordoned of after the incident.

June 4: Three civilians were killed and three others sustained injuries in a bomb blast at a video shop in a business centre at Kohat in the NWFP. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Meanwhile, the All Combined Bazaar Association has given a 24-hour ultimatum to the CD shop owners in the district to wind up their businesses to avoid action by the association.

June 3: Five Afghan children were killed and an equal number of them sustained injuries in an explosion in a house on the Sariab Road in Quetta. The explosion occurred in the house of an Afghan scrap dealer when the children were reportedly attempting to dismantle a mortar shell.

Four persons were killed and seven others wounded in a landmine explosion at a roadside in the Spin Tara area of Kurram Agency. Political administration officials said a truck carrying passengers to central Kurram Agency drove over a landmine. The dead included two Afghan nationals, a nine-year old boy and an 11-year-old girl.

June 2: A suspected suicide bomber blew up his car outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad, killing at least eight persons and injuring 30 others. The Danish Foreign minister said a Pakistani cleaner employed at the embassy and a Danish citizen of Pakistani origin had died and three other local employees were hurt, but the embassy’s four Danish staffers were unharmed. There was no claim of responsibility for the blast, but officials said it was likely linked to anger over blasphemous caricatures, which were recently reprinted by Danish newspapers.

May 31: A bomb exploded in a vehicle owned by the Taliban in the Mamad Ghat area of the Mohmand Agency, killing at least three militants and a bystander while injuring three more militants.

May 30: Six youths were shot dead and four others sustained injuries in an ambush by the insurgents on the Samungli Road in Quetta, capital of Balochistan. A spokesman for the BLA claimed responsibility for the attack saying that those killed were spying for the Military Intelligence and the Inter-Services Intelligence.

May 27: Eight persons were killed and 13 others sustained injuries in the Orakzai Agency when militants of the Lashkar-e-Islam and Ansar-ul-Islam, the two rival groups of Khyber Agency clashed.

Eight militants were killed and four others sustained injuries when a vehicle loaded with ammunition blew up in the Salarzai sub-division of Bajaur Agency of FATA.

May 26: Six persons were killed and five others sustained injuries in incidents of sectarian violence at Dera Ismail Khan. Witnesses said four people, including three close relatives, were killed when they were attacked while going to a court. The four slain people were from the Shia community. "It seems to be a sectarian attack, but we are still investigating," Dera Ismail Khan police chief Salahuddin Khan said. The motorbike borne assailants also fired on a police team going to a checkpoint, killing constable Qismatullah. Further, some people opened fire on a member of the banned Sunni group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), Abdur Rasheed, on the University Road, killing him on the spot.

May 21: Four relatives of two parliamentarians from the FATA were killed in an ambush in the Jamrud sub-division of Khyber Agency. The attack left MNA Noorul Haq Qadri's brother Hamayun Khan, uncle Hafiz Abdul Aleem and brother-in-law Bacha Jan, and Senator Hafiz Abdul Malik's son Hafiz Nooruddin dead, said officials.

May 19: Three civilians were killed and two others sustained injuries when an improvised explosive device exploded outside a mosque in the Dabar area of Khar, headquarters of Bajaur Agency in the FATA.

May 18: Thirteen persons, including five soldiers, were killed and 23 others, including 11 soldiers, sustained injuries in a suicide attack at the Punjab Regiment Centre (PRC) market in the Cantonment area of Mardan in NWFP. Security officials said the bomber was around 22 years old and detonated the bomb when stopped from entering a bakery at the PRC market. Provincial Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Bashir Ahmad Bilour said it was a suicide attack that might be in retaliation to the recent US air strikes in the Bajaur Agency of the FATA. The Tehrik-i-Taliban in Darra Adamkhel claimed responsibility for the attack.

May 14: At least 12 militants, including some foreigners, were killed in a suspected United States missile strike on two houses in the Damadola area of Bajaur Agency in the FATA. Two missiles, apparently fired by a US drone aircraft, demolished a house and a compound used by suspected al Qaeda militants, an unnamed official said. Residents said they saw drones flying in the area beforehand. Taliban spokesman Maulana Omar said that 'commander' Maulana Obaidullah's house had been targeted.

May 10: Unidentified assailants shot dead three Shia community members in the Dera Ismail (DI) Khan area of NWFP in an incident of suspected sectarian violence. The assailants opened fire on a shop in the main bazaar of DI Khan town and fled on a motorbike, local police Chief Abdul Ghaffar Qaisarani said. The shopkeeper, his salesman and a visitor were killed in the attack, Qaisarani told AFP, and added that the victims were members of the Shia community. "It might be a sectarian attack. We are investigating the case," another police official said.

May 8: Six militants had been killed near the Wennai bridge in the Matta sub-division of Swat district.

May 7: Two policemen and a civilian were shot dead in Quetta, triggering a reaction by local businessmen, who shut down their businesses in protest against the killings. Suspected insurgents shot dead two policemen, Noor Ahmed Shahwani and Muhammad Nasir, and passerby Abdul Karim on Quetta's Sariab Road. The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack.

May 1: A suicide bomber blew himself up in a madrassa (seminary) in the Khyber Agency of FATA injuring at least 18 people in an apparent attempt to assassinate Haji Namdar, chief of the Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munkar (Promotion of Virtue and Suppression of Vice), a religio-militant organisation.

April 29: Militants killed three policemen and injured three others in Kohat in the NWFP. The officers were reportedly following the militants who had earlier stolen a taxi. "The attackers then opened fire and the policemen did not have a chance to retaliate," the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) police chief Malik Naveed told AFP. "It appears to be a terrorist attack," he added.

April 26: Three Taliban militants and four suspected criminals were killed and several others, including women and children, injured in a clash in the Dadukhel area of the Mohmand Agency in the FATA.

April 25: At least three people were killed and 26 injured when a car bomb exploded near Mardan City Police Station in the NWFP. Mardan district Superintendent of Police Ijaz Abid said the bomb, planted in a car parked near the police station, detonated around 6am, killing two civilians and a police official, and injuring around 17 policemen and nine civilians. He also said that nearly 35 to 40 kilograms of explosives were used and the police station and adjacent shops were badly damaged. The TTP claimed responsibility for the attack. "This attack was carried out by our mujahideen to avenge the earlier killing of one of our commanders by police in Mardan," TTP spokesman Maulana Omar told Reuters by telephone.

April 20: Three security force personnel were killed and a civilian was injured in the Hub area of Balochistan. Police sources said two armed men on a motorcycle opened fire on a FC vehicle near the Gadani bus stop. "Two soldiers died and another succumbed to injuries in hospital," police said. The driver of a bus which was passing through the area at the time of the firing was injured.

April 19: Local Taliban in South Waziristan Agency publicly executed three people who had allegedly killed a teenager, Intezar Mehsud. The deceased, identified as Janan Mehsud, Farooq Wazir and an Afghan national, had allegedly murdered the boy who belonged to the Bandkhel tribe, after robbing him of PKR 60,000.

April 16: At least 20 persons were killed as fighting erupted between activists of the militant group Lashkar-e-Islam and Kooki Khel tribesmen of the Khyber Agency in FATA.

April 12: Eight people were killed and 10 others injured in fresh violence between rival groups of the Kurram Agency, raising the death toll of the past eight days in the area to 35. Five tribesmen - Qadir Gul, Hamid Hussain, Rafique, Taib Khan and Abdul Hanan - were killed, and 10 injured, during a clash in the Marro Khel area of Lower Kurram Agency. Similarly, three people were shot dead by armed rival groups in the areas of Balishkhel, Sadda, Karman, Para Chamkani, Pewar and Teri Mengal.

April 6: Sectarian violence broke out between Shia and Sunni sects in three villages of Kurram Agency in the FATA after a bomb exploded at Khurmana Pul, killing three people and injuring 22 others. A 16-member jirga (council) consisting of elders of the two sects intervened and brokered a truce between the warring groups in the villages of Khwar Kalay, Balish Khel and Sangeena, in the presence of political administration officials.

March 26: Seven people, including two women, were killed and two others sustained injuries when gunmen ambushed a Government ambulance in the Lower Kurram region. The ambulance was going to Peshawar from Parachinar when it came under attack at the Chappari check-post. The victims belonged to the Turi tribe. Officials said the assailants had used rockets and heavy machine-guns, killing seven passengers on the spot. A student of the Cadet College Razmak, a lady health worker and two Levies personnel were among the dead.

March 25: Unidentified gunmen killed three people, including a woman, in the Matta sub-division of Swat district in the NWFP.

March 21: Four persons were killed and 28 others injured after clashes erupted between Shia and Sunni Muslims during a Nauroz (Persian New Year festival) procession in the Hangu district of NWFP. The violence erupted after members of the Shia community of the region came under fire as they hoisted a flag on a mosque to mark Nauroz. Locals said the Nauroz celebrations were going on peacefully at a madrassa (Seminary) when they were fired upon with rockets and mortar shells.

March 20: A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a military vehicle in front of the brigade headquarters at Zari Noor in South Waziristan, killing five soldiers and injuring 11 others. A man claiming to be a spokesman for the pro-government militant commander Maulana Nazir claimed responsibility for the attack.

At least three nomads are feared to have been killed after some rockets fired from the Afghan territory, hit a makeshift house near the Angoor Adda in South Waziristan.

March 16: At least 20 people were killed as several missiles hit a house in South Waziristan. Seven missiles landed on the house of Noorullah in Toog village, located four kilometers south of Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan. Local journalist Sailab Mehsud said 20 people were killed and five others wounded in the missile attack. He said all those who died were Arabs and Turkmen, who had gathered at the house when the attack occurred.

March 15: A powerful bomb blast occurred at the Italian restaurant Luna Caprese in Islamabad, killing a Turkish woman, Inder Baskar, who worked for a Turkish relief agency, and injuring about 15 others, including some US diplomats. The injured were identified as Earl Camp, Ray Pitesk, Bennet Bruce, Trish Gibbs and Rod Sneider from the US; Keith Pierce from the UK; Adan from Canada, Onaish and Motobo from Japan; and Masood, Zahid, Kamran Abbasi, Ajmal and Liaquat from Pakistan.

At least five persons, including four tribesmen and one Taliban, were killed and another seven wounded, including five Taliban militants, as two rival groups exchanged fire during a local jirga in the Mir Ali subdivision of North Waziristan.

March 11: At least 30 people were killed and more than 200 sustained injuries in suicide blasts at the FIA headquarters and an advertising agency office in Lahore. The first attack was carried out at the FIA regional headquarters on Temple Road, severely damaging the eight-storey establishment and adjacent buildings. The building also housed the offices of a special US-trained unit created to counter terrorism. The suicide bombers on a pick-up rammed through the gate of the building, running over a policeman before blowing up the vehicle. The second attack was carried out on Bungalow No 83/F in Model Town – the office of an advertising agency. Two children and a gardener died in the bombing and about 12 people were injured. The advertising agency is located near Bilawal House, office of the Pakistan People’s Party. Capital City Police Officer Malik Muhammad Iqbal said attackers rammed explosives-laden vehicles into the targets in both the attacks. Police said around 50kg and 30kg of explosives had been used in the two attacks.

11 people, including two women, were killed and over a dozen injured in fighting between the security forces and tribal militants in the Nawagai sub-division of Bajaur Agency. The fighting erupted after militants attacked the paramilitary FC personnel, who were fetching water from a nearby stream. A paramilitary soldier was injured in the improvised explosive device attack, and this was followed by a heavy gun-battle between the two sides for several hours.

Four women and two children were killed when artillery shells fired from the Afghan side of the border hit a number of houses in the Tangri area of North Waziristan. Local people said that the area came under fire after a security camp in Afghanistan’s Khost province adjacent to North Waziristan had been attacked by some people.

March 4: Eight persons were killed and 24 others sustained injuries when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the parking area of the Pakistan Navy War College in Lahore. The incident occurred at around 1:10 pm (PST) when classes in the Pakistan Navy War College were in progress. Eyewitnesses and police officials said five Navy officials and two suicide bombers died on the spot while one Navy official succumbed to injuries at a hospital.

Four militants and a villager were killed in a gun-battle which erupted in the Khankhel area of Lakki Marwat district of the NWFP after the abduction of a union council official and his two associates. Two of the militants were Uzbek nationals while the rest were tribal Wazirs, District Police Officer Romail Akram said, adding that an Uzbek militant had been arrested.

March 3: At least 10 people were killed and six others injured when dozens of armed men belonging to the Khyber Agency-based Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI) attacked Shiekhan village on the outskirts of Peshawar, capital of the NWFP, with rocket launchers and other sophisticated weapons before bulldozing a shrine and four houses. "Dozens of armed men of Mangal Bagh-led militant organisation attacked Shiekhan village at around 11.30 am. The villagers, mostly unarmed and unprepared, resisted the assault that resulted into a fierce clash between the rival groups," said a police official.

Five militants were killed in a clash with the SFs at the Nakai check-post in the Mohmand Agency of the FATA. An official said that SFs had stopped a car at the check-post, about 12 km north of Ghalanai, the Agency’s headquarters, and told its five occupants that they needed to be frisked, but the latter refused. The militants subsequently tried to escape and in the ensuing encounter, SF personnel fired a rocket on the car, killing the five.

March 2: Forty-two people were killed and at least 58 others sustained injuries in a suicide bombing at a tribal peace jirga (council) near the Zarghunkhel check-post in Darra Adam Khel in the NWFP. The jirga of Zarghunkhel, Akhurwal, Sheraki, Bostikhel and Toor Chapper tribes had been convened to discuss the formation of a Lashkar (army) to drive militants out of the area. A severed head was reportedly found at the site and officials believed it was that of the bomber. Some people identified the teenager as a youth from the Sheraki area of Darra Adam Khel.

February 29: Forty people were killed and more than 75 others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the funeral prayers of the slain Deputy Superintendent of Police (Lakki Marwat), Javed Iqbal Khan, in the Mingora city of Swat district. District Police Officer Waqif Khan said the bomber was among the people taking part in the funeral. The blast occurred when the funeral concluded and the people had started to disperse. Deputy Superintendent of Police Javed Iqbal, who died in a bomb blast along with three other policemen in the troubled southern Lakki Marwat district on February 29-morning, belonged to Makan Bagh in Mingora city.

February 28: At least 10 suspected militants were killed in a missile strike on a house in South Waziristan. The dead were believed to be of Pakistani and foreign origins, residents and officials said. The attack occurred at approximately 2AM (PST) in Kaloosha village, 10 kilometers west of Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan.

February 25: A suicide bomber killed eight people, including the Pakistan Army’s surgeon general, in Rawalpindi - the highest-ranking military official killed since the country joined the US-led war on terror. Lieutenant General Mushtaq Baig, surgeon general and Director-General of the army’s Medical Services, died after a teenage suicide bomber blew himself up next to a military convoy on a busy road in Rawalpindi, the army said. Five civilians were also killed, while 25 others were injured, an army statement added.

Five workers of a NGO were killed while ten others sustained injuries in an attack by a group of ten militants in Mansehra in the NWFP. The dead included two women workers of the British non-government organisation, Plan International.

Three security force personnel were killed and five others injured when a remote control bomb hit their vehicle in Sangsila area of Dera Bugti district in Balochistan.

February 23: Three SF personnel were killed and six others sustained injuries when armed men attacked a check-post on the outskirts of Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. According to police, at least 50 armed men stormed the check-post manned by reserve police and Frontier Corps personnel at the Qadirabad Primary School of Matni area.

February 22: A remote-controlled bomb exploded at a wedding party procession, killing 14 people and wounding 13 others, mostly children, in the Matta administrative division of Swat district in the NWFP. The bomb, which was detonated in the Ronial Takh Maira area of the region, exploded around 4pm (PST) when the wedding party was travelling from Kandogai village to Pir Dar Baba village.

February 21: Unidentified assailants shot dead three traffic policemen in Quetta, capital of Balochistan. Capital City Police Officer Mohammad Akbar said the officers, Sub-Inspector Abdul Latif and Constables Bashir and Muhammad Ayub, were performing routine traffic duty in Killi Ismail when assailants rode up to them on a motorcycle and opened fire. Bibarg Baloch, a spokesman of the banned Balochistan Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for the attack.

February 17: Four security force personnel were killed and another sustained injuries when a landmine exploded in the Pir Koh gas field area of Dera Bugti district. Sources said that a landmine planted by militants in Haideri Nallah near Pir Koh gas field blew up a vehicle carrying Frontier Corps personnel.

February 16: A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into the election office of an independent candidate in Parachinar city of FATA, killing at least 47 persons, including six children, and injuring 109 others.

February 14: A roadside bomb struck a SFs vehicle in Mamoond in the Bajaur Agency of the FATA, killing three SF personnel, including Major Farhan, and injuring two others. The SF personnel were going from the Katkot Fort to Khar when their vehicle was targeted with a remote-controlled bomb on Tarkho bridge.

February 11: At least 10 people were killed and 13 others sustained injuries when a teenaged suicide bomber blew himself up amidst a gathering of the Awami National Party (ANP) and tribal Lashkar (force) at Mirali in North Waziristan. President of the North Waziristan chapter of the ANP, Haji Anwar Shah, was among the dead.

February 9: Twenty-seven people were killed and over 30 injured in a suicide attack on an election rally at Nakai near Charsadda town in the NWFP. Senior Awami National Party leader Afrasiab Khattak, who was addressing the gathering, escaped unhurt. The Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz Khan said, "I have been told that most probably it was a suicide attack."

February 7: Three persons were killed and 12 others sustained injuries in a bomb blast that occurred at a bus stand in the Dera Murad Jamali town of Balochistan. Two people died instantly and one, Ghanwar Bugti, died in the hospital.

February 4: At least eight people were killed and about 10 others sustained injuries when unidentified assailants carried out an explosion targeting a bus carrying security force personnel near the headquarters of Pakistan Army in Rawalpindi in Punjab Province. The explosion occurred at 7.15am (PST) outside the gate of the army's National Logistics Cell in R.A. Bazar, a high security area as it is located very close to the General Headquarters. The blast completely destroyed the bus, several cars and motorcycles, eyewitnesses said. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

February 2: At least six persons, including two civilians, were killed in a gun battle in Mardan after police raided a suspected militant hideout at 5am (PST). Mardan police official said that the gun battle ensued when police raided the house of one Afsar Ali, wanted by police for attacks on music shops, in the Palodehri area. Two policemen and two militants, including Adnan, whose brother Kamran was an aide of Baitullah Mehsud in the district, were killed in the gun battle. Sources said while a woman passing by was killed in the crossfire, a civilian Azam Khan was also killed as militants entered his house. Police seized three Kalashnikovs, eight hand grenades and two suicide vests from the house. Sources also said that the police had raided the area a week ago but the militants, 25 to 40 in number, managed to escape.

February 1: At least six persons, including five security personnel, were killed and eight others were injured when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a security check post at Kajhori near Miranshah of North Waziristan. "It was a suicide attack on a security check post in which three tribal policemen and two paramilitary soldiers [died]," military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said. Meanwhile, the local administration sources said that 19 people including nine Frontier Corps soldiers died in the attack. They said a number of Khasadars (tribal policemen) and civilians were also killed. Security forces fired artillery shells at several hilltops after the attack, they added.

January 31: Senior al Qaeda commander Abu Laith Al-Libi has been killed in Pakistan, CNN quoted "a knowledgeable Western official and an unnamed military official" as saying. The 41-year-old Libyan was active in operational planning and training, and according to the US official, "not far below the importance of the top two al Qaeda leaders" – Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri. He was placed on the US military’s most wanted list in 2006, behind Laden, Zawahiri and Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

January 30: The bodies of 13 soldiers killed by militants during the military’s ongoing operation in Darra Adam Khel in the NWFP have been found, the army said. Three of the dead were army personnel that the militants had captured, along with ammunition and food trucks, near the Kohat Tunnel on January 24. They said militants had abducted the remaining 10 personnel. Three bodies could not be recognised, they added. "They [soldiers] were apparently killed last week but their bodies were found today," a police official told Reuters.

Militants retrieved and buried the bodies of 12 foreigners who had been killed in a missile attack on a residential compound in the Khushali Toorikhel area of North Waziristan on January 28-night. Local people said the identity of the militants killed in the attack remained unknown but according to unconfirmed reports seven of them were Arabs while the other five were central Asians.

An explosion in a house in the outskirts of Peshawar, capital of the NWFP, killed three men who police said were making bombs when the explosives detonated prematurely. The blast occurred in the guestroom of a house located in the Badshah Dak area of Tauheed Colony in Phandu police precincts. "Initial evidence suggests that they were suicide attackers," police officer Farid Shah told AP. Gulbahar Deputy Superintendent of Police Ijaz Khan said the men were likely involved in an earlier attack on music shops in the Afridiabad area. He said police had detained one Ismail, originally from Lakary of Mohmand Agency, who had rented the house. The dead men included Ismail’s brother-in-law Saadullah and a cousin identified as Ali Rehman. The third body could not be identified. An AFP report said the men were 20 to 30 years old. Police seized a hand grenade, 10 kilograms of explosives, a pistol, three mobile phones, a dairy and religious literature from the house.

January 29: 14 people, including 10 militants, three Pakistan Army soldiers and a civilian, were killed and several others injured in heavy fighting and bombing by fighter aircraft in South Waziristan.

Sources said that fierce clashes continued between the SFs and militants in parts of the Mehsud-populated areas of South Waziristan, including Torwam, Tiarza near Shakai, Ladha, Serwakai, Nawaz Kot and Kotkai. Militants loyal to Baitullah Mehsud reportedly suffered significant losses when fighter aircraft targeted their positions in the Torwam area. Around 10 militants were killed and several others sustained injuries in the bombing.

At least seven militants of the Jundullah group and two police officials, including a Deputy Superintendent, were killed in two encounters in the Landhi and Shah Latif Town areas of Karachi. One of the slain militants was identified as Qasim Toori, a 27-year-old former policeman, who was wanted for a June 2004 attack on the then Karachi Corps Commander in which 11 people were killed. Five people were arrested including a man believed to be from Uzbekistan.

Three Pakistan Army soldiers were killed and four others wounded when militants attacked the troops in the Angamal area near Razmak. The troops returned the fire which led to a heavy shooting, resulting in the killing of three soldiers and injuries to four others. Military officials said several militants were also killed in the gun-battle and artillery shelling from Razmak military camp later, but they were unaware of the exact losses suffered by the militants. They added that 12 militants were subsequently arrested from Tiarza.

January 28: A missile apparently fired by a pilot-less plane hit a house in a village near Mir Ali in North Waziristan, killing 15 people - 10 suspected militants, two women and three minors. Intelligence sources said those killed also included Arab nationals but their identity was not known. A militant source said that five men "speaking the language of the holy Quran" were among the dead, suggesting that Arab militants were among the victims.

The Army fired mortar and artillery shells from military camps in Razmak and Jandola on the militants’ hide-outs in Kaza Panga, Dher Narai, Shaga, Treekh Narai, Wrasta Bazeena and Shaktoi areas in which officials said five militants were killed. They said intercepts from militants suggested that eight of their colleagues were wounded.

Five civilians, including two women, were killed when artillery shells hit their homes in Kotkai village. Residents of Torwam also reportedly complained that SFs were targeting the civilian population. They claimed that dozens of houses owned by civilians were damaged in the artillery shelling.

Five civilians, including two women, were killed during military shelling in the Aka Khel area of Darra Adam Khel in NWFP.

January 27: Security forces took positions on hilltops around the town of Darra Adamkhel and the Friendship Tunnel as 24 militants and five soldiers were killed in clashes. Sources said firing continued near the tunnel on January 26-night and several blasts were heard in the city. The military said that SFs had cleared the area and regained control of the Kohat tunnel and adjoining areas after fierce fighting. The tunnel connects the southern parts of the NWFP with capital Peshawar through the Indus Highway. The ISPR claimed that 24 militants had been killed and many others had fled leaving arms and ammunition.

January 26: Around 20 militants were killed by the troops during clashes in the Darra Adam Khel and Kohat areas of NWFP. Gunship helicopters pounded suspected Taliban positions in the mountains near Darra Adam Khel and Kohat district.

January 25: Around 34 militants and two soldiers were killed during a military operation in Darra Adam Khel, a town in the NWFP, located between Peshawar and Kohat, very close to the FATA. Gunship helicopters were used to target militant bunkers in the formerly stable region.

January 24: Forty militants and 10 soldiers were killed and dozens injured as the Pakistan Army, backed by tanks and gunship helicopters, launched a major offensive against the militants in South Waziristan. The military stated that troops had cleared Spinkai Raghzai, Nawazkot and the adjoining area of Tiarza and taken over some strongholds and hideouts of the militants. The troops also arrested 30 militants who were trying to escape during the clashes.

Suspected militants in the Swat district of NWFP shot dead the Matta sub-division naib (deputy) nazim (elected government official) Shakir Khan, his brother and an aide in an ambush near Kalakot. Two people were injured in the attack. They were going to the Asharhi area in a car to attend a meeting of the Awami National Party.

January 20: Nisar Ahmad Khan, Deputy Director of the Intelligence Bureau in NWFP, was shot dead by unidentified men outside his house in the Charsadda district’s Shabqadar area. Police said Khan was going home after dawn prayers when the men fired at him from inside a car.

January 18: Security forces claimed to have killed about 90 militants in two different encounters in the Ladha area of South Waziristan. In the first incident, militants attacked a convoy on the Jandola-Wana road in Chagmalai at 12.30pm. Troops returned fire and between 20 and 30 assailants were killed. Four security force personnel were injured and two vehicles were damaged.

Security forces attacked a large number of militants who had gathered to attack the Laddah fort and killed up to 60 of them.

January 17: At least 12 persons were killed and 25 others wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up in an imambargah (congregation hall for Shia rituals) in Peshawar. Police said that the teenage bomber blew himself at the crowded Mirza Qasim Baig Imambargah in the Mohalla Janghi area at around 6.55pm (PST).

January 16: Four persons, including three children, were killed in a bomb blast near the Chashma Right Bank Canal in Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP.

January 15: Hundreds of militants captured a paramilitary fort in South Waziristan after killing 22 soldiers and taking several others hostage. 600 to 700 militants reportedly attacked the fort in Sararogha, manned by the South Waziristan Scouts, firing rockets and mortars. 38 paramilitary soldiers and six civilians were in the fort when it came under the assault. The military said that 40 militants were also killed in the gun battle.

The paramilitary Frontier Corps personnel claimed that two alleged teenage suicide bombers were killed while a third committed suicide by swallowing poisonous capsules in the Mohmand Agency of the FATA.

January 14: 11 persons, including two children, were killed and more than 50 persons wounded in a bomb blast in the industrial Landhi suburbs of Gul Ahmadpur in Karachi. "The bomb was planted on a motorbike and exploded outside a textile factory in the Landhi district of Karachi," said senior police official Mohammed Javed. Muneer Ahmed Sheikh, an official of the Bomb Disposal Squad, said the explosion had been caused by a homemade time bomb which contained nails and ball bearings.

January 10: At least 24 people, including 17 policemen, were killed and 80 others injured in a suicide bomb blast outside the Lahore High Court, minutes before the arrival of an anti-government lawyers’ procession. The blast ripped through GPO Chowk in front of the Lahore High Court as the suicide bomber walked up to the about 60 riot police – who had gathered there ahead of a protest by lawyers against President Pervez Musharraf’s government – and blew himself up.

January 9-10: At least 50 militants were killed by troops during clashed that erupted when around 250-300 miscreants concentrated and attempted to attack Ladha Fort and check post on the night of January 9 to 10 in the Wana area of South Waziristan.

January 6: Rival militants attacked offices of a pro-government militant, killing nine and wounding eight of his men. The attackers first stormed the office of Maulana Nazir in Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan, and killed three of his supporters and injured four others. The militants, reportedly equipped with rockets and heavy weapons, launched another attack on the office of Nazir’s close associate, Maulana Khanan, in Shakai town, killing six people and injuring five others. Local people said that Nazir’s supporters later shot dead an associate of Baitullah Mehsud and captured four others in Wana.

January 4: Three persons were killed during sectarian clashes in the Jalmai and Meangak area of Kurram Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

January 3: Six people are reported to have died and 11 wounded in the sectarian clashes in the Kurram Agency of the FATA.

January 2: At least 27 militants were killed in two days of clashes in South Waziristan, a military official said. The clashes broke out after pro-Taliban militants abducted four Pakistan soldiers in South Waziristan on January 1, the official said. "Five militants were killed yesterday and 22 overnight," he stated.

At least eleven persons, including seven non local Taliban, died and 13 persons injured during the on-going sectarian clashes in the Kurram Agency.

January 1: Security force killed five suspected militants in the Laddah area of South Waziristan after four paramilitary soldiers were abducted in the area. The abduction of the soldiers of the Dir Scouts reportedly triggered clashes in the region.

2007

December 31: At least 11 people were killed and 15 others suffered injuries as fierce fighting between rival factions continued in lower parts of the Kurram Agency in the FATA. Clashes occurred in several areas of the agency, including Pewar, Thari Mengal, Nasthikot Maqbal, Sadda, Balishkhel, Sangina, Minguk, Alizai, Makhizai, Bliamen, Jailamai and Inzari where groups of tribesmen and local Taliban have been using heavy weapons for about ten days.

December 29: Twenty persons, including 16 militants, were killed and nine others sustained injuries in a gun-battle near Lower Kurram’s Mingak area.

December 28: The former PML-Q minister, Asfandyar Amirzaib, and eight other civilians were killed and several others injured in a roadside bomb explosion near the Manglore village of Swat in the NWFP.

December 27: Benazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister and PPP Chairperson, was assassinated in a gun and suicide attack as she drove away from a campaign rally just minutes after addressing thousands of supporters at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi. 30 more persons were killed and over 100 others, including Benazir’s political secretary Naheed Khan and Sherry Rehman, wounded when a suicide attacker riding on a motorbike blew himself up after firing at Benazir who was waving to her supporters from her vehicle’s sun roof. PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar stated that Benazir fell inside the vehicle after receiving bullets in her head and neck. Witnesses said three gun shots were heard before the suicide blast near her Black Lexus bulletproof vehicle. She later died at the Rawalpindi General Hospital.

27 persons were killed and 42 others wounded in fresh sectarian clashes between rival groups in the Kurram Agency of FATA.

December 26: Thirty-two persons, including five children, a woman and two Frontier Corps soldiers, were killed and scores of others injured in continued sectarian violence in Kurram Agency on the fourth consecutive day.

December 25: At least 31 persons have died and more than 50 wounded so far in the continuing sectarian violence in the Kurram Agency of FATA.

December 24: Four pro-government Bugti tribesmen were killed and three others were injured in an ambush by the insurgents near Dera Bugti, some 500-km from Quetta.

Three persons were killed and 20 others injured in sectarian clashes at Parachinar in the Kurram Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas..

December 23: Nine civilians and four security force personnel were killed and more than 25 persons wounded in a suicide attack on a military convoy in Mingora in the Swat district of NWFP. According to an army press release issued in Rawalpindi, at 18:00 hrs a suicide bomber who was riding a vehicle blew himself up near Mehboob Petrol Pump in Mingora city killing 13 persons and injuring 25 others. The convoy was returning after carrying out counter-insurgency operations in the various areas of Khwazakhela and Charbagh in Swat district when it was attacked.

Nine people were killed and several others wounded in fresh clashes between SFs and tribesmen in the Kurram Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas after a group of armed men set ablaze houses and shops in the Parachinar city on December 22-night. Officials said that clashes broke out between residents of Balishkhel and Sadda in Lower Kurram Agency after armed men attacked the Frontier Corps’ fort. SFs retaliated, killing five assailants and injuring several others.

December 22: Local people in the Kahan area of Kohlu district said that the security forces in a retaliatory move attacked a village situated at the border of Kahan and Bekar area of Dera Bugti. They said that seven people, including a child and two women, were killed in the attack.

December 21: At least 60 persons were killed and 80 others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the midst of worshippers offering Id-ul-Adha (festival of sacrifice) prayers at the Markazi Jamia Masjid Sherpao in Charsadda, 20-km from Peshawar in the NWFP. The apparent target was Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, the Interior Minister in the just-dissolved government, who was among the worshippers. The former Minister, however, escaped unhurt in the attack, but his son Mustafa was among the wounded. The mosque is located next to the former Minister’s home and was packed with more than 1,000 worshippers at the time of the attack.

December 17: At least 12 army recruits were killed and two wounded in a suicide attack near the Army Public College in the heart of the Kohat cantonment area in NWFP. The recruits were returning to their barracks after the morning exercise when a boy aged 15 to 17 years rushed towards them and blew himself up. Ten recruits were killed on the spot and two others died later in hospital.

December 15: A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden bicycle into a military checkpost, killing five persons and injuring 11 others in Nowshera in the NWFP. The District Police Officer Mubarak Zeb said that six people, including the suicide bomber, were killed as he detonated himself at the entrance of the Army Supply Corps centre. "The bomber was riding on a bicycle. He detonated the explosives fastened to his body as he reached the army check post around 9.18am," said the police officer, adding that 11 more people had sustained injuries in the blast.

December 13: Two suicide bombings near an army check-post in Quetta, capital of Balochistan, killed seven people, including three personnel of the Pakistan Army, military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said. An official at the Inter-Services Public Relations said three of the dead were soldiers, while the remaining four were civilians. Official sources said that a young, bearded man approached the military checkpoint at the Hana Road in the cantonment area and when the military police tried to stop him, he blew himself up at about 5pm. As the military personnel were busy in the rescue operation and stopping people from getting close to the scene of the first bombing, a second suicide bomber detonated his explosives.

December 12: Fifteen soldiers were killed and 38 others injured in an attack and in roadside explosions in different areas of North Waziristan. However, the military said in a statement that six soldiers had been killed and 25 injured in the ambush. It informed that militants had suffered 15 casualties in a counter-attack. Major General Arshad Waheed said security forces backed by gunship helicopters spotted the fleeing militants and opened fire, killing 15 of them in "immediate retaliation".

Troops killed 20 militants in an ongoing operation against supporters of Maulana Fazlullah of the TNSM in the Swat district of NWFP. Troops targeted suspected hideouts of the militants in the valley’s Puchaar and Loee Namal towns. The operation, which commenced on December 11-night, continued the next day, in which 20 militants were killed. Provincial government spokesman Amjad Iqbal said that the troops "extensively engaged militant locations, which resulted in a number of militant casualties."

December 13: Two suicide bombings near an army check-post in Quetta, capital of Balochistan, killed seven people, including three personnel of the Pakistan Army, military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said. An official at the Inter-Services Public Relations said three of the dead were soldiers, while the remaining four were civilians.

December 12: Fifteen soldiers were killed and 38 others injured in an attack and in roadside explosions in different areas of North Waziristan. The military said in a statement that the militants had suffered 15 casualties in a counter-attack.

Troops killed 20 militants in an ongoing operation against supporters of Maulana Fazlullah of the TNSM in the Swat district. Troops targeted suspected hideouts of the militants in the valley’s Puchaar and Loee Namal towns.

December 11: Troops launched artillery attack on suspected militant hideouts near the Piochar and Loe Namal towns in the Swat district on December 10-night, killing 20 militants and injuring at least 15 others.

December 10: Five persons, including four of a family and a child, were killed and another child was injured when Army neutralised suspected militant hideouts with artillery in the Chaparyal and Venai areas of Swat district of the NWFP.

Eight persons, including five schoolchildren, were injured when a suicide bomber exploded his car targeting a Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) bus carrying air force employees’ children at a military base at Kamra about 50 kilometres northwest of Islamabad. "A suicide bomber exploded his white car on the outskirts of the PAC factories on the Qutba-Attock Road on Monday at 7.30am near a PAC school bus carrying children to schools in Attock City," said the Pakistan Air Force, adding that the bomber was alone in the car and he died immediately after the explosion.

December 9: Three police personnel and seven civilians, including two children, were killed and a child was wounded in a car bombing in the Swat district of NWFP. The suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden jeep when he was stopped at the Ningolai check-post in Kabal sub-division at around 11.15am. According to a bomb disposal official, about 10kg to 15kg of explosives were used in the blast.

December 7: The military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad confirmed that eight militants were killed and four arrested after a clash in Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan.

December 4: In the first such attack of its kind, a female suicide bomber blew herself up in a high security zone in Peshawar, capital of the North West Frontier Province. Except for the suicide bomber, who was said to be in her mid-30s, no other casualty was reported in the blast.

December 3: Six students of a seminary near Qila Saifullah were killed and four others injured in a bomb blast. The management of the Jamia Imdadul Alum Mullah Bakhtair Adda suspects that an Afghan national who had stayed in the seminary overnight might have a hand in the explosion. The explosive device had been planted in a room of the seminary. Police sources quoted the seminary's management as saying that an Afghan national had requested permission to spend December 2-night there and left early in the morning.

December 2: The local Taliban killed three people and injured five others in an attack on a cockfight fare at the Shene Ghundae village in the Shabqadar dub-division of Charsadda district of NWFP.

December 1: At least six people, including four women and a child, were killed and more than 15 people were injured when stray shells landed on their homes in Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan. The shells hit the homes during an exchange of fire between militants and security forces after the militants attacked the Banda check-post.

November 29: At least 12 civilians were killed and 11 others wounded when helicopter gun-ships pounded the Allahabad village of Swat district in NWFP.

A roadside bomb that targeted a military convoy killed five soldiers in North Waziristan.

November 26: Security forces used artillery and gunship helicopters on pro-Taliban militants in the Swat valley of NWFP, killing 40 militants, including two commanders, and losing four soldiers, said military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad.

November 25: Security forces claimed that they had killed 30 militants and captured two strategic mountain positions of militants and key routes to Imam Dehri in the Swat valley of NWFP.

Four persons were killed and six others wounded when security forces bombed a village after coming under rocket attack from Taliban militants in the Mirali sub-division of North Waziristan.

November 24: Two suicide bombers simultaneously targeted military personnel and installations at two different places in Rawalpindi, claiming over 32 lives and wounding 55 others. In the first attack that occurred at 7.55 am (PST), the suicide bomber while trying to enter the Hamza Camp, the main office of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), from the out-gate hit the staff bus of the agency. The blast, which occurred 200 metres from Faizabad at the Murree Road, killed over 30 personnel on the bus and among the guards standing at the main gate. The attack took place at almost the same time near the GHQ when another suicide bomber blew up his car after hitting an Army check-post when he was intercepted while trying to infiltrate into the high security zone. Two Army personnel were killed while one was injured.

At least 50 people were killed in renewed sectarian violence in Parachinar in the FATA. "We have reports that more than 50 people died in the clashes," an unnamed official said.

November 23: Fifteen more people were killed in continuing clashes between the security forces and militants in the Swat and Shangla districts of the NWFP.

Three more people were killed as sectarian violence continued in the Pewar, Teri Mangal, Qunj Alizai and Maqbal areas of Upper and Mengak and Tangi of Lower Kurram in the FATA.

November 22: Another 25-30 militants and 13 civilians were killed and several soldiers injured in fighting in the Swat and Shangla districts of NWFP.

November 21: Some 52 persons, including 30 militants and 10 civilians, were killed in fresh violence in the Swat and Shangla districts as the troops and Taliban militants continued to clash and more villages were emptied of their fleeing population. On the casualties suffered by the security forces, military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad said three soldiers were killed and five or six sustained injuries in attacks by militants in the Kabal area of Swat. While he expressed ignorance about military casualties in the adjoining Shangla district, unconfirmed reports said seven soldiers were killed in fighting there.

November 20: At least 30 more militants loyal to the pro-Taliban group TNSM were killed in clashes with SFs in the Swat valley of NWFP. The latest deaths take the toll reported by the army from a week of fighting to around 150. "Our offensive against militants has been continuing since last night and there are reports that 20 to 30 more militants have been killed," military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP. Maulana Fazlullah’s spokesman, meanwhile, claimed that 15 soldiers had been killed and their weapons seized in the Shangla district, but the claim could not be confirmed from independent sources.

Six persons died as sectarian clashes continued in the Kurram Agency of the FATA. The warring factions attacked each other’s positions with heavy weapons in the Sadda, Balishkhel, Tangai, Arawali, Terimingal and Piwar areas. A 16-member peace jirga (council) headed by Pir Haider Ali Shah had brokered a cease-fire on November 19 but it has not taken effect in some parts of the agency.

November 19: Thirty-five persons, including 16 Taliban militants and seven soldiers, were killed in fresh clashes between the security forces and militants in the Swat district of NWFP.

28 people were killed and 27 others injured on the fourth day of sectarian clashes in the Kurram Agency of FATA.

In what appears to be a revenge action for sectarian killings at Parachinar in the FATA, the Taliban beheaded three truck drivers near Darra Adamkhel in the NWFP.

November 18: Security forces used Cobra helicopters in an attempt to end the sectarian violence in which at least 86 persons were killed and an unspecified number of them injured in Parachinar in the FATA in three days. The military said that 11 soldiers had been killed and 32 others injured since November 16. Officials said that reports of riots had also been received from Sadda, Balishkhel, Tangai and Jilamai areas of Lower Kurram where rival groups were using heavy weapons.

More than 40 people, including 10 civilians, were killed in the Swat and Shangla districts of the NWFP when gunship helicopters and security forces continued targeting militants’ hideouts and faced retaliation. Approximately 30 civilians were injured in the prolonged shelling by military choppers and artillery in the two districts. Military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad said that the security forces continued pounding militants’ strongholds in both the regions but said he did not have the actual death toll suffered by the militants on November 18.

November 17: Pakistan Army accelerated its operation in the Swat and Shangla districts of NWFP killing 20 militants. Officials and local residents told that artillery and mortar shelling forced the militants to retreat from Alpuri subdivision, which serves as district headquarters of Shangla. Military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad told that security forces targeted militant hideouts and positions in different areas of Shangla district, killing 20 militants and injuring several others.

November 16: At least 20 persons, including two doctors, were killed and over 50 others were injured during a sectarian clash at Parachinar, the headquarters of Kurram Agency, in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

November 15: Thirty more people, including 20 militants and four civilians, were killed and more than 70 others, including 50 civilians, injured as security forces continued bombing suspected militants’ hideouts in the Shangla and Swat districts of the NWFP on the third consecutive day. Military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad confirmed that 20 militants were killed - 12 of them in Shangla and eight in Swat.

November 14: Thirty-three militants, two soldiers and five civilians were killed as army helicopters continued targeting Taliban positions in various areas of Swat in the NWFP for the third consecutive day.

November 12: Seven militants were killed and four others injured in artillery shelling by the security forces on their hideouts in the Ghulam Khan area of North Waziristan following an attack on a convoy of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in which one soldier was killed and 10 others injured.

Four militants were killed and over 50 others injured as army helicopters continued pounding their positions in various areas of the Swat district in NWFP.

November 9: Three persons are killed and two others, including a former provincial minister, are injured when a suicide bomber blows himself up in the house of Federal Minister for Political Affairs Amir Muqam in Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. The blast occurs at around 3.45pm (PST) when the minister was having a meeting with some of his associates at his home in Hayatabad. Muqam, who is also provincial president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, escaped unhurt.

October 28: At least 29 people were killed and 55 others wounded on the third consecutive day of clashes between Taliban militants and the SFs in the Swat district of the NWFP. The dead included 15 militants, 11 SF personnel and three civilians.

October 27: Militants publicly executed two more security force personnel and seven civilians in the Swat district of NWFP, taking the total such killings since October 26 to 13.

October 26: Militants publicly executed four security force personnel in a village, 16-km west of Mingora, the headquarters of Swat district in the NWFP, and exchanged heavy gunfire with security forces in a nearby sub-district.

October 25: 18 soldiers and two civilians died and 35 others, including nine civilians, were injured in a bomb blast aimed at a vehicle carrying FC personnel in the Swat district of the NWFP. The blast occurred at Nawan Killi, about a kilometer from Swat city, at around 2:45 pm (PST). It set off an explosion of ammunition carried inside the military truck, triggering bullet fire. The blast also damaged 25 shops, a service station, a CNG station and a petrol pump. Deputy Inspector-General of Police Akhtar Ali Shah said the evidence suggested a suicide bombing. A

October 23: Three suspected militants were killed and another was injured in an encounter with the SFs in the Kurdan area near Dera Bugti. SF personnel also arrested two militants and seized a cache of arms and ammunition, including AK-47 rifles, rocket launcher, rockets, grenade and hundreds of rounds.

October 20: At least eight persons, including two women and a child, were killed and 28 others injured when a powerful bomb planted in a pickup vehicle exploded at a bus stand in the main market of Dera Bugti in Balochistan. Mir Liaquat Bugti, son of Mir Ahemdan Bugti, a government ally and chieftain of the Raijha Bugti tribe, who was the main target of the bomb blast survived the incident as his car crossed the target spot only a few seconds before the explosion, local officials said. The banned Baloch Republican Army claimed responsibility for the incident.

October 18: A suicide bombing in a crowd welcoming former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto killed 143 persons and injured approximately 550 others in Karachi. Two explosions struck near a truck carrying Benazir, but she was not injured and was hurried to her house, police and officials of her party said. The two explosions occurred a minute apart shortly after midnight near Karsaz bridge close to the vehicle Benazir Bhutto was traveling in, at the head of a procession of hundreds of thousands of PPP supporters who had flooded the streets of Karachi to welcome their leader on her return from eight years in self-imposed exile.

October 13: Four persons were killed and another sustained injuries when militants ambushed their vehicle in the Arkot area of Swat district in NWFP. Local people said a businessman, Afzal Gujar, was injured, while his two brothers — Ayub Khan and Ahsanullah — and Shahzaman and Akber Bacha were killed. The whereabouts of Afzal are yet to be ascertained. Last month, a bomb had exploded outside the businessman’s home and following the blast, Afzal is reported to have kept in confinement a brother of a local militant and released him after intervention by local elders. Officials believe that the killings might be linked to the enmity between Afzal and militants.

October 11-12: Local Taliban militants shot dead six alleged criminals to avenge the death of their four associates in the Pandialai tehsil (administrative division) of Mohmand Agency in the FATA. They also abducted six other ‘criminals’.

October 10: The PAF warplanes continued attacking localities of Mir Ali subdivision in North Waziristan, killing 15 more persons. Officials of the political administration and tribal sources said that the PAF planes targeted Haiderkhel, Ipi, Hasukhel, Musaki, Mullagan, Hurmaz, Zeeraki, Khushali and other villages of the area, mostly peopled by non-combatants. They said eight persons were killed in Haiderkhel, four in Hurmaz and three in Hasukhel villages. Besides, dozens of others were injured in these and other villages including Ipi, Musaki, Mullagan, Zeeraki and Khushali. However, military spokesperson Major-General Waheed Arshad claimed that no air strike was launched against the militants since October 9-afternoon.

October 9: At least 50 people were killed and 200 others injured after fighter jets bombed a village market near Mirali town in North Waziristan. Two planes made six sorties around 3pm (PST) and dropped 12 bombs on Ipi village, three kilometers east of Mirali. Military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad said the bombing had targeted militant hideouts in the Ipi, Khedherkhel and Khushali Torikhel villages of Mirali sub-division, adding that he had no confirmation of the number of fatalities. He, however, put the number of militants killed in three days of fighting at 150 and the army’s casualties at 45.

October 8: Pakistani helicopter gun-ships and troops killed 130 militants during clashes near the Afghan border, while 45 soldiers also died. The clashes broke out after militants set off IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and conducted ambushes on the security forces on October 7, military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad said. He added, "The forces retaliated and killed 130 militants in air strikes and ground attacks. Forty-five security personnel were also martyred." Arshad also said that contact had been established with a group of around 50 soldiers reported missing earlier and only 10 or 12 had not been accounted for, but it was not clear if any of those had been killed. Most of the fighting has been near Mir Ali. Unconfirmed reports said that four civilians, including three women, were also killed during the clashes.

October 7: SFs assisted by heavy artillery and helicopter gun-ships killed 65 militants but lost 20 soldiers in two encounters in North Waziristan. Fierce clashes occurred between the SFs and militants at Mirali and Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan. The fighting began on October 6-night when militants ambushed an army convoy in Mir Ali, 24 kilometers east of Miranshah, on the Miranshah-Bannu road.

Three civilians were also killed when an artillery shell fired by the SFs hit their house in the Sokhail village of North Waziristan.

October 4: Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud executed three soldiers from a group of more than 250 taken hostage last month in South Waziristan and vowed to carry out more executions if the government continued the "Mehsud tribes’ humiliation". The bodies of the three soldiers were found on the Wana-Jandola road in Jandola near the border with South Waziristan. Unofficial reports said that a letter left with the soldiers’ bodies said: "We will gift three bodies everyday." The militants had captured at least 280 soldiers, including a colonel and nine officers, after intercepting a military convoy in the Momi Karam area of Luddah subdivision in South Waziristan on August 30.

October 3: Fourteen civilians were killed and five others sustained injuries when their bus hit a landmine in the Bulandkhel area of North Waziristan. The bus, going from Thall to Shewa, struck the landmine near the Tauda Cheena Bridge at about 5.30 pm (PST). The blast targeting the bus occurred hours after pro-Taliban militants raided a security check-post near Mirali in a pre-dawn attack, killing two soldiers and injuring four more. "Ten miscreants were killed in the resulting clash," military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad said.

September 26: The Superintendent of Police (Investigation Cell), Syed Sharyab, and his two guards died when their vehicle was ambushed in the Samungli area of Quetta, capital of Balochistan. His driver and security in charge of the Pakistan Television Centre (Quetta) were wounded in the incident. The proscribed Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack.

September 23: At least 10 persons were killed and 14 others injured in a clash between activists of two rival groups in the Barqambar Khel area of Bara tehsil (administrative division) in the Khyber Agency. Activists of two rival outfits –- the Amr Bil Maroof and Haji Zarif groups -– used mortars and rockets in the clash, which lasted for several hours.

September 21: Two women and a paramilitary soldier were killed and eight others injured in clashes between security forces and militants at Khar, the headquarters of Bajaur Agency in the FATA.

Three militants were killed and two others, including a woman, injured when two groups of Taliban clashed in South Waziristan.

September 16: At least 18 soldiers were killed when tribal militants attacked a security check-post at Pashte Ziarat in the Shawal area of North Waziristan bordering Afghanistan. Troops in retaliation killed 18 militants.

Four unidentified tribal militants were killed in clashes in North Waziristan. Militants on September 15 launched attacks on check posts of the SFs in Miranshah injuring three security personnel were injured. SFs retaliated by firing artillery shells from the camp killing the four militants.

September 13: Taliban militants attacked a military base near the Afghan border, leading to an encounter with the security forces in which at least 50 militants and two soldiers were killed. Eight soldiers were wounded in the clashes. Military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad said security forces repelled repeated militant attacks. Army helicopters and ground fire destroyed four militant positions, he added.

At least 20 people were killed in a bomb blast in a high-security military area in Tarbela Ghazi near Islamabad. The bomb exploded in the mess of Karar Company of the Special Services Group. The communication and wireless system of security agencies was also affected by the explosion. Two unnamed intelligence officials said that it was a suicide attack, and that the bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the canteen where dozens of commandos were having dinner. The Tarbela facility, about 100km south of Islamabad, is the headquarters of the SOTF, a unit of the Pakistan Army’s elite Special Services Group, which had been set up with American aid to neutralise al Qaeda. Media reports stated that the Karar Company had participated in the Lal Masjid operation.

Seven people were killed on when armed assailants lobbed a hand-grenade and opened fire on a minibus near the Karachi University. The Islami Jamiat Talaba (student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami) alleged that activists of the All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organisation (APMSO) had attacked its workers who were in the bus. The APMSO, however, denied the allegations.

September 12: Fourty militants were killed in an attack by Army gunship helicopters in the Shawal area of North Waziristan. Military spokesperson, Major General Waheed Arshad, stated that Pakistan Army gunship helicopters and artillery were used in the operation against the militants, who had established their hideouts in the Shawal area and involved in attacks on military convoys. "

September 8: Ten militants were killed and seven SF personnel injured after the militants attacked a military convoy in the Pusht Ziarat area, about 95 kilometers southwest of Miranshah in North Waziristan. An unnamed SF official said the military convoy was coming to the Mana army camp from Shawal when the militants attacked it in Pusht Ziarat – an area between North and South Waziristan.

Four soldiers were killed and two others injured when suspected militants opened fire on a small military convoy in the Kohistan district of NWFP. It was reportedly the first attack on the army in Kohistan.

September 6: Six persons, including four suspected foreigners, were killed when a Cobra gunship attacked a car in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan. A statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations said the car was occupied by suspected foreigners and it was tracked down and attacked with a missile fired by a helicopter. Two tribesmen present in the area at the time of the attack were also killed.

September 4: At least 30 people were killed and 70 others wounded in two suicide attacks at Qasim Market and RA Bazaar in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. The first suicide bomber targeted a bus that was carrying about 35 employees of a defence agency to their office near the Qasim Market, killing at least 20 people. Soon after, another blast occurred near the RA Bazaar police station, killing 10 more people.

September 1: Four paramilitary troops were killed and six others injured in a suicide attack at a check-post in the Mamoond area of Bajaur Agency in FATA. Local residents said that a civilian was killed when the security forces opened fire after the attack.

August 31: Two soldiers of the Frontier Coprs (FC) and a civilian were killed and eight people sustained injuries in two attacks at Mingora in the NWFP. FC personnel and police stationed at the Pakistan-Australia Institute for Hotel Management came under attack in the Guli Bagh area leading to the death of two paramilitary soldiers, Noor Bahadur and Waheed Nawaz, and injuries to six soldiers. Official sources said that a police patrol rushed to the area and struck an improvised explosive device on the Langar Road. A civilian, Hazrat Ali, who had been arrested for timber smuggling and was in the police van, was killed in the blast while two police personnel were wounded.

August 26: US-led security forces and Afghan troops attacked Taliban positions inside Pakistan in fresh clashes that left at least 19 militants dead, security forces said. The US-led coalition said it received permission from Pakistan to attack across the border on August 25, but this was denied by the chief military spokesperson in Islamabad. Afghan and coalition forces used mortars and artillery fire to destroy militants’ attacking positions on both sides of the border after a military post in Afghanistan came under attack, the coalition said in a statement. The Afghan army saw Taliban militants firing mortars and rockets from several positions and Pakistan’s military confirmed three of the firing sites were on their soil, the statement said.

Four police personnel were killed and two others sustained injuries in a suicide attack on a police van in the mountainous Shangla district of NWFP. It was reportedly the first-ever terrorist incident in the Shangla district.

August 25: SFs killed five militants and arrested another in the Datakhel area of North Waziristan in a clash which followed an attack on a security post leaving one soldier dead and two others wounded. Officials said the SFs retaliated after the Ismailkhel post had been attacked with rockets and missiles.

An army helicopter opened fire on a vehicle on a road near Miranshah in North Waziristan killing three suspected militants. The vehicle was reportedly targeted because it failed to stop at a checkpoint at Mir Ali, about 20-kilometers from Miranshah.

August 24: A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into the military convoy near the Qamar Picket near the Mir Ali town in North Waziristan, killing five soldiers and injuring 10 others. The same convoy, which had come from Bannu in the North West Frontier Province and was on its way to Razmak, was attacked once more when it proceeded further. Another suicide bomber riding a vehicle struck the convoy near Asadkhel village on the road to Razmak, killing two soldiers and injuring two others. Military officials stated that two militants were killed by the troops in retaliatory firing.

August 22: Three Frontier Corps (FC) personnel and three militants were killed when militants attacked a check-post jointly manned by police and FC personnel in the Miran police precincts of Bannu. Miran police station duty officer Qudratullah stated that unidentified militants attacked the Norar check-post, 12 kilometers from Bannu, at around 2:45am. He said that three FC personnel died in the attack, while three militants were killed and two injured in retaliatory firing. However, the militants managed to escape along with their injured accomplices.

August 20: Six SF personnel were killed and 18 persons, including a civilian, were wounded when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a checkpoint on Kurram Road in the Hangu district of NWFP. Hangu District Police Officer Ghulam Mohammad Khan disclosed that the suicide bomber came in a blue jeep from Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan, and struck the Militia Mandoori check-post. A woman is reported to have died when SFs opened indiscriminate fire after the incident.

August 19: At least 15 militants were killed during military operations that targeted militant hideouts near the Mir Ali town in North Waziristan. Military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad said the military attacked hideouts of the militants after security checkpoints near Mir Ali came under attack. "We have credible information that the two compounds have been destroyed and 15 miscreants, including 10 Uzbeks, have been killed in the strike," Arshad said. There were unconfirmed reports that an Iraqi national Abu Akasha, a suspected al Qaeda operative, may have been the target of the military operation.

Two women, two children and a man were killed in a village near Mir Ali town in military operations involving Cobra gunship helicopters. Tribal sources in Mir Ali said the five civilians were killed in Hormuz and Issori when the gunship helicopters bombed and strafed the two villages. The Mosaki, Hasokhel and Khushali villages were also attacked by the five helicopters and several houses were damaged.

August 17: At least eight people died during clashes between activists of the rival Lashkar-i-Islam and Ansaar-ul-Islam groups at Sandapaal in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency in the FATA.

In North Waziristan, two Uzbek nationals and two men of the Janikhel tribe were killed when security forces fired at a car which did not stop for checking at the Jaler checkpoint.

August 16-17: Ten militants and two soldiers were killed in an attack on a military convoy in South Waziristan on August 16. "Militants ambushed a military convoy near Chaghmalay, and air support was sought against them. Ten militants were killed and 12 injured while the security forces suffered two casualties," said military spokesperson Major General Waheed. Later, Cobra helicopters and troops on the ground targeted several locations of the militants in South Waziristan. Five helicopter gun-ships, called in from a base at Miranshah in North Waziristan, attacked militants’ positions in the Chagmalai, Spla Toi, Tanga, Berwand, Maulvi Khan Sarai and Zawar areas. Officials and residents said the death toll in clashes reached to 32, including 19 militants and 12 soldiers on August 17. At least 12 security force personnel were injured. Zulfiqar Mehsud, a spokesperson for militant commander Baitullah Mehsud, claimed responsibility for the attacks on the security forces. He claimed that Taliban had captured four posts in the Tiarza area. He also claimed that six army vehicles had been damaged.

August 13: Four civilians were killed and eight others sustained injuries when a vehicle of the National Rural Support Programme struck a roadside explosive device in the Ushu Valley, near the tourist resort of Kalam in the Swat district of NWFP.

At least three militants were killed during an encounter with the SF personnel which ensued after the militants attacked Dargai check post in South Waziristan.

August 11: Three police personnel were killed by militants in an ambush in the Hangu district of the NWFP. A police team was patrolling Hangu’s main road when the miscreants opened fire on them, killing constables Din Khan, Ahmad Hussain and Lal Muhammad. Two civilians, Hayat Nawaz and Khalid Nawaz, were also injured.

Cobra helicopters killed three suspected militants, pounding what was believed to be their base, after the firefight in Mir Ali town of North Waziristan, the military said. One SF personnel was also injured in the incident.

August 9: At least 15 people were reported to have died after army’s helicopter gun-ships attacked the Degan village in North Waziristan following a roadside bomb blast which left four soldiers injured. The four soldiers were wounded when a bomb exploded near the Boya checkpoint on the Miranshah-Datakhel road.

August 8: Taliban militants captured Chargano village at Darra Adamkhel in the NWFP when rival tribesmen surrendered to them after clashes which left five people dead and at least 10 others injured. Witnesses said that some 20 families of the Qasimkhel tribe surrendered themselves to the militants after 35-hour-long gun fight between the two sides. Both sides targeted each other’s positions with rockets and heavy machine-guns.

Four militants were killed and the commandant of Makran Scouts (a wing of the Frontier Corps) and another security force personnel injured in an encounter in the Mand area of Turbat district in Balochistan, close to the border with Iran.

August 7-8: At least 12 militants were killed and several others injured during helicopter raids by the security forces at Degan village in North Waziristan. Military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad said that the operation commenced at 5:00am when artillery and Cobra helicopters targeted two compounds of the militants. "The militants used to regroup and prepare attacks on security forces and take refuge at these compounds," he disclosed. Militants inside the compound fired back, but they were "wiped out" in the four-hour attack, he added. Some low-level al Qaeda members were identified as having been among the 12 militants killed. Chechens and Arabs were among the militants killed, an unnamed security official said.

August 4: Four SF personnel, two each from the army and Frontier Corps, were killed and six others injured when militants attacked the Salanghi check post in Dosali area, 35-kilometres south of Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan. In the retaliatory fire, SFs killed 10 militants.

August 4: Nine persons were killed and 43 others injured when a suicide car bomber triggered an explosion at a busy bus stop near the entry point of Parachinar city in the Kurram Agency of FATA. A 10-year-old girl was among those killed in the attack.

August 3: At least four people were killed during a shootout between tribesmen and SF personnel in the Asadkhel area of North Waziristan. The exchange of fire followed a bomb explosion moments before the arrival in Asadkhel of a convoy of army and FC which was on way from Bannu in the NWFP to Razmak. The remote controlled bomb explosion, however, caused no casualty. Three missiles were also fired at an FC checkpoint and the Miranshah Fort.

July 31: Security forces, assisted by helicopter gunships, killed 15 militants in an encounter near the Banda checkpoint in North Waziristan. Major General Waheed Arshad, Director-General of the Inter-Services Public Relations, said 18 "miscreants" were killed when about 40 of them tried to attack a military checkpoint near Miranshah. Though the military spokesperson denied any casualties among the troops, villagers said some soldiers were killed or injured in the fighting. The clash reportedly occurred when two vehicles were seen moving towards a paramilitary post, some five kilometers south of the Miranshah town. Even as the troops fired warning shots from the Banda post, people in the vehicles fired back at the paramilitary forces and an encounter ensued. The troops later also utilised Cobra helicopters which targeted suspected locations of the militants in the area and the two vehicles.

July 30: Three paramilitary soldiers were killed when an improvised explosive device exploded close to the Mashes camp near Miranshah in North Waziristan

Three paramilitary soldiers were killed and another sustained injuries when a convoy hit a roadside bomb near Thall picket. The convoy was going from Dosali to Bannu in the North West Frontier Province.

A helicopter gunship fired on a suspicious car that was following an army convoy near the Afghan border, killing four suspected militants. "The army spotted the car and ordered them to stop and they ignored the warning. They were fired on by a helicopter escorting the convoy… Four people inside the car were killed, they are suspected militants," said an unnamed security official.

July 28: Three police personnel were killed when militants opened fire on them in the Lal Qila Midan area of the Lower Dir district in the NWFP. An unidentified caller informed police about the presence of armed people in a graveyard on Hiyaseri-Lal Qila road, sources said, adding, as the police reached the scene, the militants opened fire, killing Additional SHO Azam Khan and another police personnel. Another police personnel, identified as Shahzad Gul, sustained injuries in the firing and died later.

July 27: At least 15 people, including eight police personnel, were killed and 53 others wounded, when a suicide bomber struck a group of police personnel in a restaurant following a clash between the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) activists and the police after Friday prayers in Islamabad. The bomber reportedly blew himself up at the Muzaffargarh Nihari House and the Pakwan Centre, some 500 yards away from the Lal Masjid in a busy business centre in a thickly populated area of the capital, at about 5.20 pm. "It was a suicide bombing. We have found the remains of the attacker and we are carrying out DNA tes