North West Frontier Province Timeline- 2006

Month/Date

Incidents

Suspected terrorists fired six rockets at Security Forces in a remote tribal area bordering Afghanistan. However, no casualties were reported. The rocket attack occurred near the Thal town southwest of provincial capital Peshawar.

February 9

At least 31 people are killed and 50 others wounded in a suspected suicide attack on a Muharram procession of Shia Muslims in the Hangu town of North West Frontier Province (NWFP). A series of explosions occurred through the procession in the main bazaar of Hangu town, some 200 kilometers northwest of Islamabad, between 9.30 am and 9.40 am local time. At least 23 people are killed and 50 injured in the three bomb explosions. Four people died when gunmen fired on a minibus in Saidan Banda near Hangu and four truck drivers are shot dead after a mob torched their vehicles in the nearby Ibrahimzai area. In the ensuing riots, angry worshippers set ablaze shops and vehicles prompting authorities to impose curfew. NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani said a preliminary investigation showed the attack is a suicide bombing.

February 10

The death toll in the suicide attack on a Muharram procession at Hangu has increased to 40. Troops were deployed in the town after angry Shias set ablaze shops and cars following the attack. Officials said that at least 90 people are wounded in the blast and the ensuing rioting. "From eyewitness accounts, it appears that it is a suicide attack," NWFP police chief Riffat Pasha said.

At least three more persons are killed in overnight sectarian clashes in the Hangu town to raise the death toll to 43. Eyewitnesses said the Pakistan Army deployed more troops in Hangu town and its surroundings to restore order. Fresh clashes occurred in some of the villages and neighbourhoods encircling Hangu town.

February 23

A bomb exploded at a video shop in Dera Ismail Khan in NWFP, injuring at least four people. The explosion occurred in the commercial area of Zafar Colony, said Ghar Ali Khattak, the city police chief. Dera Ismail Khan lies about 250 kilometers southwest of Peshawar, the capital of NWFP bordering Afghanistan.

March 19

A ten-year-old boy is killed and another child injured in a bomb explosion near a police station in the Mardan City of NWFP. The boys had reportedly picked up a grenade from a nearby garbage dump and it subsequently exploded.

The police recovered three rocket launchers from Bannu city. Police officials said the China-made rocket launchers are found near a bridge, Baran Pul, on the road connecting Bannu with Frontier Region Bakkakhel and Mir Ali town in North Waziristan.

One person was killed and 16 others sustained injuries when a bomb planted on a motorcycle parked outside Haroon Mansion in Shuba Bazaar exploded at 5:05 pm. A senior Awami National Party leader Lateef Afridi is believed to have been the target of the blast, which Police said was remote-controlled.

March 30

Security agencies are looking for a couple on a suicide mission who recently left their home in Peshawar. A federal intelligence agency got hold of a cassette of a couple, Azizullah Hamidullah alias Dr Aziz and his wife Feroza, which indicated that they had left their home and joined a group of suicide bombers. In the cassette, Azizullah reportedly informs his relatives that he and his wife are on a suicide mission and nobody should try to look for them anywhere. On March 22, the NWFP home department had released a photograph of Azizullah, aged between 35 and 40 years, and his wife Feroza to provincial security agencies and informed them that they might be suicide bombers.

Police arrested two Afghans and an Arab, suspected to be al Qaeda operatives, after a gunfight outside Peshawar. While one of the arrested men was injured in the hand, an AK-47 rifle and some grenades were recovered from the incident site.

April 23

Police in Peshawar, capital city of the NWFP, seized a cache of ammunition and arrested one person. The police recovered nine Kalashnikovs, one Kalakov, two repeaters, a pistol, seven rifles and 50,000 rounds from a truck that is on its way to Kohat. The Afghan national driver, Faqir, was arrested.

Security agencies are reported to have arrested three Afghans in Peshawar for their suspected links to al Qaeda. However, their identities were not disclosed.

May 28

Rejecting reports of Osama bin Laden’s presence in the remote Kumrat Valley of the district Dir Upper in NWFP and the threat of a possible US attack against the al Qaeda chief as baseless, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao said, "There is no such threat… These are mere speculations, mostly raised by the Hamid Karzai-led Afghan government. There is no possibility of presence of Osama, or his men in the forests and hard terrains of Dir Upper, or anywhere else in the country. Hence there is no threat of any attack by coalition forces."

June 2

At least five soldiers and two suicide bombers are killed and seven soldiers sustained injuries when a car laden with explosives rammed into a military vehicle in the Bakakhel area of Bannu in NWFP. The army convoy was reportedly proceeding from Mirali in North Waziristan to its base camp in the Bannu district when the attack occurred. 

June 4

Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has reportedly given a comeback call to all Taliban residing in Afghan refugee camps located anywhere in Pakistan, particularly those in the NWFP. The Taliban leadership had put up posters with the message from Omar. The posters have also been pasted outside Afghan refugee camps in the NWFP.

June 6

The part of a railway track is blown up in the Nothal area of Dera Murad Jamali disrupting train services. "Trains have been stopped as the track has not yet been repaired," He said that two more bombs had been recovered and defused near the track. 

June 16

Two female teachers and two children are killed, as gunmen fired through an open window into the residential quarters of Government Girls High School at Khwaga Cheri in the Ghaljo area of Upper Orakzai Agency. The two teachers are employees of the North West Frontier Province Government’s Barani Area Development Programme. The two teachers are Shias and their murder might have been sectarian.

June 19

The NWFP Governor, Ali Muhammad Jan Orakzai, said the Government is holding secret talks with "various stakeholders" in North Waziristan to reach a peace deal that would then be ratified by a tribal council. He, however, declined to identify the "stakeholders" and how close the Government is to reaching a peace deal.

June 25

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) leaders in NWFP have received threatening letters asking them to either publicly announce their support for Taliban and al Qaeda or face the "consequences". The Non-Government Organisations operating in areas such as Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Bannu and Lakki Marwat have also been warned to stop their work. The letters accuse MMA leaders of "using Islam and the Taliban to win elections, but forgetting their promises after assuming power". Some MMA leaders had also received Rs 1,000-Rs 1,500 with the letters to "buy their coffins if they fail to announce their support for Taliban and Al Qaeda".

June 28

The North West Frontier Province Governor, Ali Muhammad Jan Orakzai, welcomed the month-long cease-fire announced by the Taliban, saying that the Government would "reciprocate". The truce has held since June 25, barring a suicide blast near Miranshah on June 26 that killed six security force personnel at a checkpoint.

July 1

The tribal elders, clerics and elected councillors have vowed to maintain peace in the Bajaur Agency of NWFP and warned that houses of people taking part in "anti-state activities" would be burnt down. "The agency is completely free from Al Qaeda and Taliban," they said at a jirga (council). Peace committees set up in the agency have been assisting the administration in maintaining peace and the peace committees have the authority to punish those found involved in attacks on Government installations or private buildings, the council said. It also said that one of the main reasons for peace and stability in the region is the strict implementation of the ban on carrying weapons.

July 2

Six paramilitary personnel are killed and seven others sustained injuries when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device near an Afghan refugee camp in the Lower Dir district.

July 18

Unidentified gunmen shot dead a security force (SF) personnel, Mohammed Tariq, at Khar in the Bajaur Agency of the North West Frontier Province.

July 19

Addressing a 45-member inter-tribal jirga at the Governor’s House in capital Peshwar, the NWFP Governor Lt-Gen (retd) Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai urged the tribal elders to help the government establish its writ and urged the militants to leave Pakistan "with honour and dignity".  

August 22

Security agencies arrested six al Qaeda suspects, including two foreigners, from the Hayatabad locality in NWFP.

Police arrested four members of a banned religious outfit in Peshawar for providing shelter to foreign militants. While two were arrested from Sufaid Dheri, two others were arrested from the Achini area. Three hand-grenades and documents indicating their links with foreign militants were reportedly seized from their possession.

A bomb explosion was reported from the parking area adjacent to the West Cantonment Police station in Peshawar. The device, placed under a car exploded at 4:20pm damaging 25 vehicles. Window-panes of the nearby Cantonment Hospital and other buildings on the Sunehri Masjid Road and Gulberg area were also broken. However, no casualty was reported.

October 2

Two persons are killed while seven others sustained injuries in a sectarian clash between the Ahl-e-Sunnat and Shia sects over a controversial shrine in the Orakzai tribal area of NWFP. The clash reportedly erupted when armed tribesmen of one sect tried to enter into the disputed Mian Ziarat shrine situated in Latrey. Consequently, armed tribesmen of the other sect attacked them with heavy machinery due to which Ishaq Ali of the Shia sect and Aslam of the Ahl-e-Sunnat are killed while Alam Syed, Niaz Ali and Qurban of the Shia sect and Aziz, Muqim Khan, Khawaja and Muhammad Khan of the Ahl-e-Sunnat are wounded.  

An Afghan fruit vendor, identified as Roohullah, was injured in a bomb blast in the Haji Camp area of Peshawar. A low intensity bomb exploded around 30 minute prior to the Iftari (breaking of the Ramadan fast), injuring the Afghan in front of the Daewoo Bus Stop at GT Road. The blast is third of its kind in a row during the holy month of Ramadan and fourth of its kind in the metropolis in the past two months.

A powerful bomb exploded in a crowded market near the headquarters of a paramilitary force at Peshawar, killing seven persons and injuring more than 30 others. The bomb, which had been left in a fruit cart, exploded in the markets 10 minutes before the evening prayers, said Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations) Iftikhar Ahmed. Inspector General of Police Raffat Pashah said it was "a terrorist act" and the bomb was "locally made."

November 3

Militants fired four rockets at a Frontier Reserve Police (FRP) post in the Kungarpur area of Bannu in North West Frontier Province. Bannu Police Deputy Inspector General Abid Ali said that only one rocket hit the FRP post and damaged the building. No casualties are reported.

November 6

Unidentified terrorists fired three Russian-made rockets at Peshawar. No casualty is, however, reported from any of the three places, located in the jurisdiction of Pishtakhara police station at a little distance from each other. The Russian-made multi-barrel missiles, MBR-12, were fired from an unknown location towards the city at around 12:10 pm (PST). One of the rockets landed near a religious seminary in Afridi Garhi, while another fell in the thickly populated Nawab Abad, Spina Warai. The third rocket hit the ground of a plot near the house of one Bukhari Shah in Pawaka.

November 13

The North West Frontier Province Assembly passed a revised version of the controversial Hasba bill to establish a Taliban-style department under a cleric entrusted with the task of enforcing Islamic morality. The bill is a revised version of one that is ruled unconstitutional in 2005 by the Supreme Court, following a challenge by President Pervez Musharraf under Article 186 of the 1973 Constitution. The bill provides for the appointment of an anti-vice ombudsman enjoying sweeping powers to protect Islamic values and "forbid persons, agencies and authorities working under the administrative control of the government to act against Shariah." 

November 16

At least 22 people are killed and several others injured in a sectarian clash between the Lashkar-e-Islami and the Ansaarul Islam in the Bara area of Khyber Agency in NWFP. An Ansaarul Islam group led by Gul Maidan was heading towards Aka Khel near Bara when supporters of the Lashkar-e-Islami challenged them, fearing that the former wanted to take possession of Bara. The two sides reportedly used heavy weapons in the fight that continued all day long. In the morning gun battle, supporters of the Ansaarul Islam were dominant and during exchange of fire, four of the Lashkar-e-Islami activists were killed. However, in the clash around noon, Maroofkhel, a sub-tribe of Akakhel joined hands with the Lashkar-e-Islami, forcing supporters of Ansaarul Islam to retreat towards Terah Valley. During these clashes, 10 members of the Lashkar-e-Islami and eight of the Ansaarul Islam were killed. 

A suicide bomber killed himself and injured two Police personnel when he targeted a Police van in Peshawar. "It was a suicide bombing," said a senior Police official. The bomber, identified as Nadeem Khan, blew himself up near the Police patrol van parked beside a temporary Police post at the Bara intersection on the Ring Road at around 7:15am. Police said the bomber was from the Pishtakhara village in the outskirts of Peshawar Cantonment. He was identified by the national identity card he was carrying.

December 1

A bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded in the Defence Officers Colony area of Peshawar, killing one person.

December 4

A police official was killed and another wounded when a foreigner, believed to be an Uzbek national, detonated explosives tied around his body when the police tried to search him in the Domail area of Bannu. "The police surrounded the Persian-speaking man’s car, a private taxi, when he refused a body search and fired at a constable deployed at a check post on the Kohat-Bannu road," Bannu Deputy Inspector General of Police, Abid Ali, told reporters. Ali informed that platoon commander Ahmad Khan attempted to remove the explosives fixed around the suspect’s body when he exploded. Police arrested the taxi driver who was driving the suspected militant from Kohat to Bannu.

December 5

An Intelligence Bureau (IB) official was arrested with explosives near the Chief Minister’s Secretariat in Peshawar, with Chief Minister Akram Durrani appearing to suggest that he is the target of a bomb plot hatched by the IB. Durrani told a press conference that Muhammad Tufail, the IB employee, was arrested by police at around 11am outside his Peshawar office while "trying to plant a bomb" in a dustbin.

December 15

The Supreme Court stopped the NWFP Government from enacting the Hasba bill. The court issued the stay order on a presidential reference — the second such referral in a year. The provincial assembly had, on November 13, 2006, passed a revised version of the Hasba Bill proposing the appointment of an ombudsman for enforcing ‘Islam’s morality code’. But NWFP Governor Ali Jan Aurakzai withheld assent, terming the bill unconstitutional, in a letter to the Prime Minister on December 12. A five-member Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, asked the NWFP Chief Secretary, the Advocate-General and the assembly’s Speaker to appear before it during the third week of January 2007. The bill provides for the appointment of an anti-vice ombudsman enjoying sweeping powers to protect Islamic values and "forbid persons, agencies and authorities working under the administrative control of the government to act against Shariah."

December 16

Three brothers, suspected to be linked with the al Qaeda, are arrested at Darra Adam Khel in the NWFP. Security force personnel raided Dalil Khel village and arrested Dil Aram, Fazal Rehman and Ahmed Nawaz, all sons of Yaqoob, said sources, adding that their leader escaped. They are believed to be involved in the Dargai suicide blast on November 8, 2006, in which 42 soldiers were killed and 39 others wounded.

December 26

One person was killed and two are injured when a powerful time bomb, planted in a car, exploded in a parking area outside the Peshawar airport. Police said the bomb, weighing around two kilograms, completely destroyed the car it is planted in, in addition to razing the boundary wall of Risalla Lane of the Pakistan Army ground.