North West Frontier Province Timeline- 2007

Month/Date

Incidents

January 14

Two girls and a woman belonging to the same family died when they stepped on an explosive device in the Matta area of Swat district in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Eye-witnesses said that the victims - Nimro, 16, her sister Jan Bibi, 5, and Fahmeeda, wife of Gul Hameed – were cutting grass in the fields when the explosive device went off, killing them on the spot.

A bomb exploded at an Afghan refugee camp in the Nowshera district of NWFP, killing four people and injuring five others. Eyewitnesses and officials said that the explosion at around 11 p.m. blew up the house of a prayer leader, Maulvi Masoodullah, killing his brother Ismail and three guests. However, officials put the death toll at two. Masoodullah was reportedly arrested later.

January 25

One person is killed and six others sustained injuries in a car bomb attack at Hangu in the NWFP. However, AFP reported that two men are killed in the attack and as many are injured. "At the moment, it appears to be a suicide attack," Station House Officer of Hangu Police Saeed Khan told reporters. Saeed said the dead man is identified as Hayat, an Afghan refugee who is living in the Katakarni camp in Hangu. Deputy Inspector General of Kohat Police Salahuddin told reporters that police had arrested three men in connection with the attack– one in Kohat and the others in Peshawar.

Suspected militants ambushed a police vehicle and killed one police personnel and injured another in the Tank town of NWFP, adjoining South Waziristan.

Suspected militants ambushed a police vehicle and killed one police personnel and injured another in the Tank town of NWFP, adjoining South Waziristan.

January 27

15 people, including six police officials, were killed and 60 others injured in a suicide attack targeting a Muharram procession near Qasim Ali Khan Mosque in the Dilgaran area of Qissa Khawani Bazaar in Peshawar, capital of NWFP. Peshawar police commissioner Mallik Muhammad Saad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, three other police personnel and a Nazim (local official) were among those killed in the blast. Superintendent of Peshawar Police, Zaibullah, said that an unidentified bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body when police stopped him from entering the procession, which was to be taken out from Qasim Ali Khan Mosque. A senior security official said the two severed legs of the suspected bomber had been recovered from the site. The blast also caused a power outage that left the city centre in darkness, complicating rescue efforts.

January 30

Two people died in a town in NWFP, where a pre-dawn rocket attack on a Shiite Muslim procession sparked a burst of sectarian violence. Army personnel were sent into Hangu, 100 kilometres south of Peshawar, capital of NWFP, to restore order after the rocket landed near police protecting the procession to mark the holy festival of Muharram. The two fatalities were from the Sunni community, said Mayor Ghani ur-Rahman. However, it was not immediately clear if the men are killed by the rocket or during the brief clashes between Sunnis and Shiites that followed. Nineteen people were reported injured.

A curfew is imposed in Hangu after a mortar is fired at a Shia procession and shooting broke out. The two people killed are reportedly Afghan refugees who were not taking part in the procession

January 31

Two people are killed in a shooting incident at an unauthorised procession of Muharram in the under-curfew town of Hangu, adding to two deaths in a mortar attack on a Shia procession the day before.

A police personnel who was injured in a suicide blast in Peshawar succumbed to his injuries, bringing the total number of police personnel killed in the incident to seven.

February 10

A blast at the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Peshawar at around 4:30am damaged four vehicles and some property, but nobody was injured as the office was closed. The US advised American citizens to avoid crowded markets and public demonstrations in Peshawar, following the blast at the ICRC. "Americans are advised against visiting Peshawar’s Old City and Sadar Bazaar, and restrict movement throughout the city, staying mainly in the University Town area," read a notice issued by the US Embassy in Islamabad.

February 11

A non-governmental organisation’s office in the main bazaar of Darra Adam Khel in NWFP is badly damaged in a bomb blast. Muhammad Faisal Afridi, chief executive of the NGO working against the spread of drugs and to rehabilitate drug addicts, said the blast occurred around 11:15pm. Over the last week, the offices of two international NGOs – Save the Children in Battagram and the International Committee of the Red Cross in Peshawar – have been attacked in NWFP.

February 14

In a suspected sectarian incident, two unidentified gunmen killed Shia leader Jawad Hussain in the Dera Ismail Khan city of NWFP. Hussain was a local leader of the Shia group Tehrik Nifaz Fiqa-i-Jafria (TNFJ). Maqbool Hussain, brother of the deceased, registered an FIR at the City Police Station, stating that he had been receiving threats for a couple of days.

February 15

The Government has decided to repatriate all Afghan refugees residing in Pakistan by 2009. This was announced at a meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Cabinet Committee held in Islamabad on February 15. The committee – headed by Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao –devised a strategy to send all Afghan refugees back to their homeland in three years, from 2007 to 2009. Under the strategy, four camps of Afghan refugees located in Balochistan and the NWFP will be removed in the ongoing year. In the first phase, two of them -- one in each province -- will be dismantled in March. According to official figures, approximately 2.4 million Afghans are living in Pakistan – one million in camps and 1.4 million in the urban areas. Since 2002, about 2.8 million Afghan refugees have reportedly been repatriated to their homeland.

February 16

A bomb blast occurred at the main market of Tank district. However, no loss of life or injuries is reported. According to police sources, unknown assailants had planted the homemade bomb near the house of Akhter Nawaz, a resident of the area. The blast slightly damaged Nawaz’s house, but there are no casualties.

February 20

A tribal elder is shot dead in the Tank district. Police said armed men intruded into the house of Malik Karim Khan in the Totkai locality of Tank and shot him dead.

Armed men reportedly snatched an official vehicle from an employee of the Tribal Electric Supply Company near Tank.

February 23

At least five private English medium schools providing co-education remained closed in Peshawar, capital of NWFP after security agencies advised their management to make security arrangements for themselves. The institutions are reportedly in the grip of rumours that suicide bombers may target private schools that provide co-education.

February 27

A militant is killed and his accomplice wounded during a clash with police at Tank after a gang took away the city’s fire engine from Wazirabad locality. Witnesses said three police personnel are injured when the militants hurled a hand grenade on them.

A police station is partially damaged in a rocket attack at Bannu. However, no casualties are reported. "The Mandan police station is attacked the night between Sunday and Monday," said police officials.

March 1

A madrassa (seminary) teacher, identified as Akhtar Usmani, is killed by suspected Taliban militants for allegedly spying for the United States and his beheaded body is found in Jandola - a town in Tank, near the border of South Waziristan. Tribal officials aid that the slain teacher had also made recordings of anti-Taliban speeches. Urdu word 'munafiq' (hypocrite) is scrawled across his forehead.

March 9

Two gunmen on a motorcycle killed a Shia businessman, Anwar Ali Shah, at Dera Ismail Khan.

March 10

Unidentified assailants shot dead a retired Shia soldier in Dera Ismail Khan and a government employee from the community in the same region. Local police officer Aslam Khattak said, "The murders appear to be sectarian terrorism".

March 13

Gunmen shot dead two persons, a Shia and a Sunni, in the Dera Ismail Khan Town, raising the toll from sectarian violence in the town in the last week to seven.

March 12

Suspected Sunni militants shot dead a Shia man, identified as Syed Arshad Abbas, in Dera Ismail Khan city of the NWFP.

March 13

Gunmen on a motorcycle killed Maulana Farooq Ahmed, a Sunni cleric, in the same city, said local police officials. Ahmed was a member of the outlawed SSP.

Gunmen injured Hafiz Ishaq, another SSP activist.

March 16

The NWFP Governor Ali Muhammad Jan Orakzai said that continued hostilities between two religious groups in Bara had threatened peace and were hampering development projects in the Khyber Agency. According to an official statement, Orakzai was talking to a jirga of Afridi tribe elders, who called on him at the Governor’s House to apprise him of progress made, so far, in resolving the dispute between the two religious factions in the Bara subdivision. He said numerous innocent people had lost their lives in the ongoing conflict, warning that the political administration could not allow such a tense situation to persist any longer, as it was bringing a bad name to the Afridi tribe and the political administration.

March 18

Unidentified men gunned down a watchman and blew up four video CD shops in Bukshali Bazaar in Mardan in the NWFP.

Two people were injured in an explosion in Bhana Marhi Police precincts in NWFP.

March 19

Militants shot dead a traffic policeman at a bazaar in Tank. The shooting appeared to be linked to a string of attacks on Policemen by suspected pro-Taliban militants in the region since January.

March 22

After Dir and Bajaur, barbers in Mardan in the NWFP have also received letters from a purported jihadi outfit to stop shaving beards.

March 23

Unidentified insurgents blew up an electricity tower in Mohmand Agency in the NWFP. Unidentified miscreants had sabotaged some towers in November 2006. The MRM has been blamed for previous sabotages of electricity towers and Government officials have accused the organisation for this recent subversive activity. However, the MRM has denied involvement in this incident, saying that the administration was making false allegations against the organisation to foil its March 26 strike. The MRM demanded that 25 villages, which were part of the agency and later included in the settles areas, be re-included in the agency.

Suspected militants have now started sending threatening letters to owners of internet cafés and video centres and principals of Government and private schools in Charsadda, following similar incidents in other areas. The letters warn, "Do away with un-Islamic practices, otherwise you will have to face dire consequences." It was written in the notes that all video centres and Internet cafes must be closed between March 23 and April 23. According to the letters, female students should start wearing veils or "face dire consequences".

March 24

The NWFP can only be renamed through a referendum, Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Salim Saifullah Khan said in a statement.

March 26

A police officer and two attackers were killed, while 13 others, including three paramilitary soldiers and a constable, were wounded when suspected militants attacked a police station, an armoured personnel carrier and FC fort with hand grenades in Tank city of NWFP, Police and residents said.

Suspected militants hurled a hand grenade on an armoured personnel carrier in Darwaza Bazaar, wounding three FC personnel — Mohammad Sharif, Lance Naik Wali Mohammad and Sepoy Abdul Haleem — and six civilians — Mohabat Khan, Saifur Rehman, Imran, Baz Khan, Maqsud Ali and Hikmat Shah.

Four people, including president of the NWFP Olympic Association and former Senator Syed Aqil Shah, were injured when a bomb went off outside a bank on the Saddar Road.

Militants on a pick-up coming from the Wana side attacked the FC fort with a hand grenade. FC personnel opened fire on the vehicle, which sped away, leaving one wounded attacker, Mohammad Alam Mahsud. A short while later, the militants in the same truck hurled a hand grenade at the Saddar police station, wounding two passers-by, Akbar Hussain and Aziz Barki.

Sources said that a few days ago militants had picked up a group of more than 20 students from a government high school and some private schools and shifted them to an unknown location for training.

March 27

Insurgents detonated dynamite in an open field near the ICRC’s office, which was bombed on February 10, in the Pishtakhara area of Peshawar failing to cause any casualties.

Troops retaliated as militants fired eight rockets at a paramilitary fort in Tank.

Taliban militants abducted the principal of a school, Farid Mehsud. He had called for police protection after the Taliban visited his school in a bid to recruit youth for jihad.

An all-tribes Jirga (tribal council) of Tank district has decided to meet pro-Taliban militant leader Baitullah Mehsud to seek his help in bringing normalcy to the district, bordering South Waziristan. Senator Saleh Shah of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal said that representatives of all tribes in the district would meet Mehsud on March 28 with a "peace message".

March 28

At least 25 Taliban militants and a paramilitary soldier were killed in a gun battle that continued for six-hours in the Tank town. Tank District Police Officer Mumtaz Zarin said that security forces killed at least 25 militants when more than 200 Taliban cadres attacked the city from all sides. A police source said that two police stations, a paramilitary fort and bank branches were damaged in the Taliban attack.

March 29

Taliban militants seeking to impose Islamic law blew up two video shops and torched a cable television operator’s office in Kohat.

March 30

Taliban militants freed the principal of a high school who was abducted four days ago for stopping the rebels recruiting his students, said his family. Farid Mehsud, the principal of the Oxford Public School in Tank, and his brother Humayun were abducted by about a dozen gunmen from his house on March 27.

Security agencies will launch a house-to-house search operation within the next 24 hours to collect illegal weapons in Tank, said a spokesman. Deputy Inspector General of Police, Zulfiqar Ahmed Cheema, said security forces (SFs) would launch an operation if residents did not hand over illegal weapons voluntarily.

April 5

A bomb exploded near the City District Women Degree College in the Hashnagri region on the Grand Trunk Road in Peshawar. Police said that the blast occurred at 7:15 pm but nobody was hurt, adding that the explosive weighing 1.5 kg had been planted in an empty plot. However, AFP reported that two passers-by were wounded.

April 6

An explosion at the Peshawar bus terminal in the Gulbahar area damaged a Quetta-bound vehicle.

Unidentified assailants exploded two bombs at the site of a mela (fair) scheduled for April 7 (today) in Dera Ismail Khan. The blast damaged the site of the mela. "The assailants also left pamphlets calling the mela an un-Islamic activity, and warned the people to stay way or face such blasts," said Police.

A blast in the Bahzadi Chakkarkot area of Kohat on damaged a music shop. Police said two men planted a bomb at a music centre in Bangesh Plaza and they had been arrested.

April 8

Four paramilitary soldiers were injured in two separate bomb attacks at Tank and Bannu in the NWFP. Local police official Abdullah informed that the bomb attacks had been remote-controlled and that the soldiers had been targeted from the nearby mountains. Sources added that unidentified men also snatched a government vehicle with record of development schemes from local government assistant director Akhtar Munir near the Chakmalai area in Tank.

April 9

A barber’s shop at Darra Adam Khel was blown up after Taliban militants had warned barbers not to shave men’s beards because it was "un-Islamic". However, no loss of life or injuries was reported in the blast which occurred at the shop in Akhorwal Market. Pro-Taliban militants have reportedly been distributing pamphlets in towns of the NWFP and the tribal areas, warning barbers against shaving beards.

April 10

Two children sustained injuries in a rocket attack on a residential area in the Bannu city. Officials said that two rockets were fired from an unknown location which hit the house of one Mohammad Ashfaq in the Kastuddin Street. The explosion partially damaged the house and wounded two children. District Police Officer Mazharul Haq while confirming the rocket attack also disclosed that police had seized seven rocket launchers, four bombs and ammunition from a truck on the same day.

April 16

Three children were killed and four other people, including two women, were wounded when a hand grenade exploded inside a house in the Badhbare village in the outskirts of Peshawar.

An official of the Khasadaar Force (a local security force), Iran Gul, was shot dead and two others wounded by two suspected militants on the Kohat-Peshawar road. Militants had reportedly issued warnings to Iran Gul and others 10 days ago to stop taking action against them and not to monitor their activities. Militants had given them April 10 as deadline and warned them of dreadful consequences if they did not stop action against militants.

April 17

NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani said no seminary in the province and the tribal areas was involved in terrorism, adding that some "secret forces" were creating law and order problems to bring a bad name to the provincial government.

April 20

A rocket was fired at the residential compound of JUI leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman at Dera Ismail Khan. The rocket created a hole in the outer wall of the compound but did not cause much damage.

The Taliban have threatened to launch an attack on Bannu city in the NWFP if the local police do not release seven of their associates. According to posters displayed by Taliban throughout the city, Bannu police have been warned to either release their activists, or prepare for severe consequences. Bannu police reportedly arrested seven Taliban activists, including ‘commander’ Fazal Karim, a week ago for forcefully preventing people from beating drums during a marriage ceremony.

April 21

Three video and music shops were blown up in a bomb blast at the Gulzada Market in Swabi, about 100 kilometres northeast of Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. Islamist extremists who claim music and movies are un-Islamic have described the shopping complex as the "Hell market" and some shopkeepers have received warning letters in the past.

April 23

In the Upper Dir district, a salon and a music shop were blown up in the Wari Bazaar. Traders and shopkeepers in Wari reportedly took out a procession in protest against the worsening law and order situation in the area and declared the blasts a terrorist activity. Barbers and music shop owners in Upper and Lower Dir had received threatening letters in March 2007.

April 24

Two barber shops were blown up and four adjacent shops damaged when two bombs exploded at Ahmad market in Kumbar, the native village of Maulana Sufi Mohammad, leader of the banned Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi, in the Maidan area of NWFP.

April 25

Unidentified militants shot dead three people in a targeted sectarian attack in the Dera Ismail Khan district. The assailants fired from a Kalashnikov rifle on a vehicle in which two brothers from a prominent Shia family, Najaf Ali Shah and Syed Ali Shah, and their Sunni employee were travelling. An unnamed official of the NWFP government is reported to have blamed the attack on the banned Sunni group SSP and urged Shias to remain peaceful.

April 26

Following the killing of two more persons in sectarian violence, the administration imposed a curfew in the Dera Ismail Khan district. Police said two motorcycle borne unidentified gunmen opened fire on two people sitting outside a shop, killing them on the spot in the cantonment area.

April 28

31 people, including five police personnel, were killed and Federal Interior Minister Sherpao and his young son Sikandar Sherpao Khan were among several people wounded in a suicide attack, moments after the minister finished a speech at a public rally in his hometown Charsadda in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). The head of the suicide bomber, who had a brown beard and was aged between 30 and 35 years, was found at the site of the blast near Station Koroona in Charsadda, and "he looks like an Afghan," NWFP Inspector General of Police Sharif Virk told reporters.

A bomb exploded at the Peshawar International Airport canteen causing minor damage to the building.

April 29

Investigators said Russian-made explosive material had been used in the attack on a public meeting addressed by Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao. Charsadda district police officer Feroz Shah said that high-intensity MVU type explosive had been used in the bomb. Assistant Inspector General of Police Fiaz Ahmad Khan Toru said preliminary findings had revealed that the suspect bomber appeared to be from a hilly area, but it could not be said with certainty if he was an Afghan or Uzbek.

Two employees of the Barani Area Development Project of the NWFP government were wounded during a bomb blast at their office in Kohistan. Local clerics had reportedly delivered sermons during Friday prayers urging "the faithful" to attack offices of NGOs who inducted women staff for their project activities in the remote district. The clerics asked the people to restrict the entry of female staff of NGOs into their houses, saying these women were urging local women to go for family planning against their husbands’ will, which was a sin. Sources added that two partner NGOs of the BADP had inducted four female employees for their health and education projects but the local clerics objected to this and asked them to expel the women.

May 4

Suspected militants targeted music shops with explosive devices, damaging around 20 outlets in two different places in NWFP. No group has claimed responsibility for the two blasts but letters from suspected Taliban have warned local shopkeepers against continuing their businesses.

May 5

Two unidentified gunmen killed a Shia man, identified as Imdad Hussain, at Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP, days after a weeklong curfew was lifted.

May 9

Video and music shopkeepers in Mardan district have reportedly sought protection from the government after two bombs exploded in the video market in the Parhuti area of Mardan at 1am, destroying 15 shops. The shopkeepers had been warned in an anonymous letter 20 days ago to wind up their businesses.

In Charsadda, unidentified men blew up two music shops at Mir Abad in the Umerzai police precincts. The unidentified men hurled explosives at two CD shops owned by Kashif and Amjad Ali of Qando Kali at around 00:45am.

Unidentified people blew up a hair-cutting saloon at Lal Qila in the Maidan area of Lower Dir district. Barbers in both the Lower and Upper Dir districts had been reportedly receiving pamphlets from unknown miscreants asking them to stop shaving off beard or else face destruction of their shops.

Two motorcyclists abandoned their vehicle near a police picket in Tangi and escaped. The police later found a locally-manufactured bomb when they searched the motorcycle.

May 13

Police resorted to baton-charge and fired teargas shells to disperse protesting activists of the proscribed TNSM in the Kabal area of Mingora in the NWFP. At least 25 of the group’s activists were arrested and an unspecified number of police personnel and other people were injured in the clashes. The activists had reportedly gathered at the Kabal ground to demand release of their associates arrested during the last couple of days.

May 14

A 24-hour curfew was clamped in the Tank town of NWFP after a paramilitary soldier and a civilian were killed and 10 people sustained injuries in a series of grenade and rocket attacks on SF personnel and exchange of fire between militants and SFs.

A shutter-down strike was observed across the NWFP, particularly in the Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Swat districts, while there was partial support for the strike in Swabi district during a strike called by opposition parties and lawyers’ bodies in protest against the violence in Karachi.

May 15

25 people were killed and at least 35 others wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up on the ground floor of the Marhaba Hotel in Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. Most of those killed were Afghans, including the restaurant’s owner Sadruddin and his two sons, two women and a five year-old child. Witnesses and police said that restaurant owner Sadruddin was an Uzbek of Afghan origin and he was a supporter of former Uzbek warlord Abdur Rashid Dostum. The NWFP Law Minister Malik Zafar Azam told reporters that it was a suicide attack. Azam said it would be premature to say who was behind the suicide attack, "but it may be a reaction to Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah’s killing two days ago in Afghanistan."

Militants attacked a police post in the Tank city where authorities imposed a curfew after clashes between militants and security forces on May 14.

May 16

Six people were killed and 15 others, including four police personnel, were injured in clashes between SF personnel and Islamic militants in the Tank city. According to witnesses, a rocket fired by the militants landed in the Rizwan Grain market of the city on Tank-Dera road, killing five civilians, including two brothers. Clashes in different parts of the city occurred for more than two hours and both sides used rockets and light cannons, causing collateral damage to bazaars and residential areas, residents said.

May 17

Police at Bannu arrested three men suspected of being members of the Taliban and recovered some explosives from their possession at the GTS Chowk.

May 18

Christians at Charsadda have been warned by some unidentified elements through chalking on a wall of the Church to convert to Islam or leave the area, otherwise get ready for serious consequences.

May 19

Police in the Bannu district seized three jackets intended for use in suicide attacks from a Lahore-bound bus. Police checked the bus on a tip off, and found the jackets packed in luggage belonging to Islamic preachers. Each jacket contains six rocket shells filled with plastic explosives.

May 21

Four shops were damaged when a bomb exploded in a market near the house of federal Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, in the Sherpao area of Charsadda district. Police arrested a suspect, Mohammed Saeed, a student of a local seminary, near the blast site.

Ten oil tankers waiting to cross the Pakistan-Afghanistan to take supplies for US-led coalition troops in Afghanistan were burnt in a fire sparked by two rockets fired at a parking lot near the border town of Torkham. The owners, the drivers and the area residents managed to save the remaining 10 oil tankers. Each oil tanker reportedly contained 40,000 litres of oil. The authorities later defused three more rockets from a nearby mound. According to Shakir Afridi, president of the Truckers’ Association, said that 22 oil tankers and containers had been destroyed and damaged during the last one-and-a-half months in different parts of the NWFP but no steps had been taken by the government to provide security to the transporters. He informed that oil tankers have been attacked and damaged in Peshawar, Kohat and Khyber Agency.

May 21

Suspected militants blew up a music shop in a grenade attack in Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao’s village. A dental clinic and a computer business were also damaged in the blast. Two militants on a bicycle lobbed a hand grenade into the Wahab Music Centre at Sherpao village and later fled. However, one of them was subsequently arrested.

May 22

The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal led NWFP government struck a nine-point peace agreement with an Islamist cleric who has led a campaign through an unlicensed radio station against polio vaccinations and education for girls in the Swat district. In exchange for allowing the FM radio station to continue broadcasts, Maulana Fazlullah of the outlawed TNSM agreed to now support the polio vaccination campaign and education for girls, as well as government efforts to establish law and order. He also agreed to wrap up all training facilities for militants and making of weapons, and support the district administration in any operation against anti-state elements.

May 23

Suspected militants abducted three government officials, including a Military Intelligence (MI) agent, from Bannu, the hometown of NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani. MI agent Hasan Zeb, Christian Hospital contractor Younas Masih and driver Akhtar Niaz were abducted on the Bannu-Kohat highway near Dumal at 6:00am.

May 24

Unidentified men fired seven rockets at a paramilitary fort in Tank city in an overnight attack. No casualties were reported.

Three rockets were fired at a police station in Bannu, damaging a wall of the station. No loss of life or injuries was reported.

Police in Peshawar recovered some arms and ammunition from a passenger bus on the Kohat Road and arrested an alleged smuggler. Chief Capital City Police, Abdul Majeed Marwat, said they received information that arms and ammunition would be smuggled through a bus from Peshawar to Karachi, capital of Sindh province. A Kalashnikov, two repeaters, two pistols and about 1600 rounds were seized from the bus and its driver, identified as Nadeem, arrested.

May 25

In a telephonic address on the occasion of the inauguration of the basement of a mosque at Kohat, the Islamabad-based Lal Masjid (Red mosque) cleric Maulana Aziz asked the Taliban to continue their jihad against obscenity, prostitution, video shops and other social vices and expand it to the entire NWFP. According to him, "it is now the responsibility of all believers to support the activities of the Taliban in the province against CD shops and obscenity."

May 26

A roadside bomb exploded near a military convoy in the Tank town, killing at least two soldiers and injuring seven others. Mohammed Idris, an area police chief, said the troops were going to the adjacent South Waziristan when the blast occurred. Spokesperson for the Pakistan army, Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, confirmed the attack and casualties.

Militants have warned music and video shops, as well as clandestine hashish and alcohol outlets, at Dara Adamkhel to close their business. "The Taliban have set July 1 as a deadline to abandon all ‘un-Islamic’ business in the area," local resident Murtaza Khan said. The threat came in pamphlets distributed in the town. The pamphlets also warned shopkeepers to stop downloading songs as mobile telephone ring tones. "All the music shops in this area are closing now," shopkeeper Jan Alam said.

May 28

Four local Taliban militants were killed in a clash with police in the Bannu district. Two police personnel and civilian were injured in the encounter, officials said. The four militants belonging to the Hayat group who had been patronising local Taliban militants in the district have been identified as Bahadur Khan, Abid, Muhammad Rehman and Amir Hayat.

A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden Land Cruiser into a Frontier Corps (FC) vehicle in the same area, killing two FC personnel, identified as Fareed Hussain and Nametullah and injuring another identified as Masood Afsar. Area Force Commander Muqabil Mahsud said that the FC convoy comprising three vehicles was heading from Tank to Boltonabad to secure the area when it was ambushed. He said the explosive-laden Land Cruiser coming from the opposite direction rammed into the paramilitary vehicle, causing a massive blast while another car driven by militants sped away.

Militants shot dead Mir Zarwali Khan, assistant district officer of the FC in the Boltonabad area on the Tank-Jandola road in the Tank city. The officer was going to Peshawar from Tank when the militants ambushed his vehicle and opened fire, killing him on the spot. The driver of the vehicle also suffered injuries. Later, the militants set the vehicle on fire.

May 30

Militants attacked the house of a senior government official in the Jatai Qala area of Tank district after midnight and shot dead 13 people, including two women. Two children were injured, police said. Chief of the Gomal police station, Sanaullah Marwat, informed that militants attacked the house of Amiruddin Khan, Khyber tribal region’s political agent, with rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and assault rifles. He said that the militants had come from the adjoining South Waziristan. The dead reportedly included six members of the family and seven guests.

The district administrator of Hangu, Ghani-ur-Rehman, escaped unhurt after a bomb explosion damaged his vehicle. Rehman was on his way home from his office in the afternoon when the attack occurred on Thall Road, police said.

May 31

"Independent cells" on the pattern of al Qaeda inspired by the Taliban are actively spreading Talibanisation across the NWFP and Tank district is the "litmus test" for these cells to prove how serious a threat they pose to the state, officials said.

There is reportedly a province-wide offensive on girls’ schools, video stores and barber shops in the NWFP by the Islamist radicals, their supporters and sympathisers. These three, viewed as "symbols of Western-oriented life", are being destroyed by religious extremists in a growing wave of violence. Four girls’ schools have been bombed and violent threats have been circulated that girls should stay home. While no girls or school staff have been killed, girls in some areas have stopped attending classes, the report points out.

June 1

A civilian, identified as Mohammed Rashid, manager of the Agriculture Bank of Pakistan, was injured in a bomb blast at Bannu. Mohammed Rafiq, a local police official, informed that the homemade-bomb had probably been planted inside the civilian’s vehicle.

Unidentified men fired at least four rockets targeting the Mandan police station in Bannu. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

June 3

Two bomb blasts destroyed two CD shops in different parts of the Kohat city, but no loss of life was reported. The first blast occurred at 11.30 PM in Bazaar-i-Mustafa, blowing up a shop owned by Shahid, though he had already declared that he would soon switch over to some other business. Another CD shop situated near a mosque was destroyed when a bomb planted in a ghee can exploded outside the shop.

June 4

Militants have banned the movement of tribesmen at Darra Adamkhel after 10pm and announced that any vehicle not stopping for ‘checking’ would be fired at. The Taliban told local people to remove ring tones of film songs from their cellular phones and personal computers and replace them with Quranic verses and jihadi songs. The handbills said that Taliban would launch an armed campaign from July 1 against ‘indecency’ and those involved in ‘un-Islamic activities’, including music centres, prize bond dealers, usurers, narcotics dealers, car lifters and barbers who trim beards. A poster pasted on a wall said Taliban would provide alternative self-employment opportunities to those affected by the campaign.

June 4

A senior Government official, Syed Mehdi Hussain, was shot dead in Peshawar. Police suspect it to be a sectarian attack.

June 5

A bomb was lobbed into a private school in the Hayatabad locality of Peshawar. However no loss of life or property was reported.

June 7

Police at Dera Ismail Khan arrested Rauf Baloch, a leader of the banned Sunni outfit SSP, who was wanted in various cases of sectarian terrorism and murder.

June 11

The Karachi Police has arrested three terrorists and identified the suicide bomber who was allegedly responsible for the Nishtar Park incident in Karachi on April 11, 2006. Two LeJ cadres were arrested during raids in two different areas of Karachi. Based on their information, the police conducted an operation in Peshawar, in NWFP where it arrested the third alleged terrorist. All three of them, police claimed, had confessed to their involvement in the suicide attack. The suicide bomber has been identified as Siddiq and is said to have hailed from Mansehra in the NWFP.

Approximately 22 music shops have been bombed in recent months at Charsadda, forcing around half of the 100 such shops in the area to close down, The News reported. Similar incidents have been reported from across the province in recent months: barbers are being threatened against shaving beards, girls are being warned against going to schools without wearing veils, etc. In some remote parts of the NWFP, radical clerics are running private FM radio stations to propagate their teachings, the report said.

Unidentified people set ablaze two music shops in the Akhundabad area of Peshawar, capital of the North West Frontier Province, damaging several CDs and television sets. The shops were reportedly owned by Iqbal and Amir Nawaz.

June 15

June 16

June 17

A man hailing from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas was killed in Peshawar allegedly by Taliban as they suspected him of selling narcotics. The deceased, identified as Syed Kamal Mulakhel, was returning home from his under-construction building in Mulakhel when motorcycle-borne attackers opened fire on him. He was reportedly warned by the Taliban about two weeks ago to terminate his narcotics business.

June 21

One person was killed and 21 others sustained injuries in a grenade attack at a religious gathering at Bannu. Police said the attacker lobbed the grenade at a Tablighee gathering opposite the Bannu airport at around 10.55pm. People present at the gathering reportedly captured the attacker, but he was not handed over to police.

June 24

A security guard shot dead a Taliban militant when they tried to abduct the foreign principal of a school at Bannu. Four masked men tried to scale the wall of the private school and the guard opened fire to stop them, local police chief Dar Ali Khattak said. One was killed by the guard and the other three escaped, he said, adding that the guard was also injured. Khattak identified the principal as a New Zealand national, saying he had been living in Bannu since 1995.

June 26

An explosion destroyed the Singeet Nigar CDs Centre and partially damaged dozens of nearby shops in the Shabqadar area of Charsadda district. However, there were no casualties. Police said the locally made bomb weighed two kilograms. Earlier, CD shops in the Shabqadar area received anonymous letters asking their owners to shut down their businesses since it was "un-Islamic."

June 27

Three CD shops were blown up in the Matani locality of Peshawar. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported. Owners of the shops, Akhtar Munir, Hamayun and Iftikhar, told the police that they had not received any prior letters or calls for the closure of their businesses. This is the fourth incident of attacks on CD and video shops in the city. Earlier, video and CD shops were attacked on March 18, June 12 and 15.

June 28

Pro-Taliban militants at Landi Kotal blew up 13 oil tankers supplying fuel to international troops in Afghanistan. The explosion targeted tankers parked in the main town of Khyber tribal district, 35 kilometres west of NWFP capital Peshawar.

June 30

Two suspected terrorists were killed while attempting to plant a bomb in a Hazarkhani warehouse, in the jurisdiction of Yakatoot police station in Peshawar. Three time bombs, hand grenades and two kilograms of explosives were recovered from the incident site.

Two people were wounded in a bomb explosion inside a bus at a bus terminal in Peshawar. Witnesses said three buses were destroyed and seven others were partially damaged.

July 4

Four civilians were killed and two police personnel were wounded in a bomb blast that targeted a police vehicle in the Swat district. Police officer Saeed Khan said that it was not clear whether a grenade was thrown at the vehicle or whether a roadside bomb exploded. A number of eyewitnesses claimed that a suicide bomber carried out the attack using an IED near the Kanju Bridge. However, police officials did not confirm the suicide attack but said it cannot be ruled out.

A police personnel, Zahir Shah, was killed and four others sustained injuries during a rocket attack on a police station in the Mata area of Swat district. The blast followed calls on a private Islamist FM radio station in the area for launching a jihad against the government in retaliation for the mosque confrontation in Islamabad.

NWFP police chief Sharif Virk blamed Maulana Fazlullah, who leads a proscribed militant organisation, for both these attacks. Fazlullah, who had recently signed an agreement with the NWFP government, in broadcasts on his FM channel on July 3 and 4, asked his supporters to take up arms against the government to avenge the action taken against Lal Masjid and carry out suicide attacks.

Four police personnel were killed and two others sustained injuries when suspected Taliban militants attacked their vehicle in the Mattani police precincts of Peshawar. The official said that the attackers fired nearly 500 rounds on the police party amidst slogans of ‘Allah-o-Akbar’. He added that the assailants had come from Darra Adam Khel, which borders Matani village.

Another attack was carried on two security force personnel going on a motorbike in the Charbagh village when armed assailants opened fire on them from a van killing Faiz Ali on the spot while his colleague Raza Khan escaped.

A shepherd and dozens of his goats died when a bomb exploded at a graveyard in the Badrashi town of Nowshera district.

July 5

Four missiles were fired on an army base at Landi Kotal. Officials of the Landi Kotal political administration said that one missile landed in a garden in front of the main gate of the Khyber Rifles and another near an abandoned army store, about 100 meters from the main gate. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported. This was the first missile attack on an army camp in the area.

July 6

Four Pakistan Army personnel, including a Major and a Lieutenant, were killed in an IED attack on a military convoy in the Dir district. According to the locals, the outlawed TNSM could be "behind the blast." Dir is a stronghold of the Jamaat-e-Islami and the outlawed TNSM.

Four security force personnel were injured when their vehicle was ambushed near Matta police station in the Swat district. Police said the officials were passing through Baryam Chowk area when their vehicle came under fire from a hillock.

A Frontier Corps convoy going to Shandur to provide security to the polo festival escaped a roadside bomb blast in the Darora area of Upper Dir district. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

July 7

Police in the Mansehra district released four central leaders of the outlawed Sunni group SSP, a day after their arrest. Hafiz Alam Tariq, Maulana Amir Mahavia and two other leaders were reportedly arrested from the district’s Ghazikot area along with two triple-M licensed guns. Sources said they were released following interrogation.

July 8

Unidentified gunmen shot dead three Chinese workers and injured another in Peshawar The Chinese reportedly were engaged in the business of turtles and exported hides to China and other countries.

An Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police, Sulaiman Khan, was killed and three constables, Naimatullah Khan, Rasul Jan and Sawdad Khan, wounded when a police party was ambushed with grenades at Bannu.

July 9

A police contingent was reportedly attacked on the Karakoram Highway in Kohistan. However, no casualties were reported.

July 9

Unidentified assailants shot dead an activist of the outlawed Sunni group SSP in the jurisdiction of Shah Qabool police station in Peshawar. Police officer Latif said that Hayat Khan was shot dead at around 2 a.m. outside his Nishtarabad house.

A grenade was lobbed at a police post in the Tajazai area in Ghaznikhel. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

July 10

A soldier, Abdul Ghaffar, was killed and two others sustained injuries after unidentified people lobbed a grenade targeting a military checkpoint at Kohat. The army had established temporary checkpoints in many parts of Kohat on July 9 in view of the Lal Masjid standoff in Islamabad. Further, a blast was also reported in a populated area along the canal road.

In the Lower Dir district, 10 policemen were injured in two bomb blasts. Officials said a vehicle carrying a police contingent was struck by an improvised explosive device in the Khal area, injuring five police personnel. Another roadside explosion in the area damaged a police van, wounding five more police personnel.

In the Battagram district, rioters reportedly set ablaze offices of two international relief organizations, the US-based Care International and the French Red Crescent, and blocked the Karakoram Highway. The tribesmen reportedly took positions at hilltops in groups and fired shots on passenger vehicles intermittently, residents said. Eye witnesses said armed men shot at soldiers of the Frontier Constabulary, injuring one of them.

In the capital Peshawar, NWFP police chief Sharif Virk termed the incidents a reaction to the storming of the Lal Masjid-Jamia Hafsa compound. "Except Lower Dir and Battagram, the overall situation in the province is under control," said Virk. Army troops have reportedly been dispatched to the Swat district and army personnel have also started patrolling the Mingora town.

July 12

A suicide bomber killed three police personnel, Sub-Inspector Taj Maluk and constables Riaz and Islam Gul, by detonating the explosives wrapped around his waist in the Swat district. The suicide attack came moments after a military convoy passed through the area, informed police officer Abdur Rashid Khan. Unconfirmed reports said that there were two suicide bombers.

A roadside bomb exploded when a military convoy was passing through the Kabal area of Swat district. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

Unidentified people fired 17 rockets targeting a Frontier Constabulary check post at Bara. However, no casualty was reported.

July 13

Police arrested three suspected militants and seized an explosives-laden vehicle along with arms and ammunition and some jackets meant for suicide bombers from a house in the Akber town area of Dera Ismail Khan. Police also found seven suicide jackets, 10 mortar shells, two anti-tank mines and two missiles. The three were identified as Jamshed, from Tank in the NWFP, and Nisar and Ahsan, both from Mirali in North Waziristan.

President Pervez Musharraf directed all federal and provincial governments to crackdown on religious extremism and militancy in the country, reiterating the government’s determination to free the country from terrorism. Referring to growing extremism in the NWFP, he directed the provincial security agencies to combat militancy by carrying out coordinated efforts in the tribal and settled areas of NWFP. Gen. Musharraf also approved a plan for the immediate deployment of paramilitary forces in the Swat valley of NWFP to crush the growing militancy in the area. He also directed armed forces personnel not to wear their uniforms in public in the NWFP for fear of backlash from the Lal Masjid operation. He said the federal security agencies would execute and monitor all military operations in the NWFP and FATA and the NWFP government would only assist them.

The government moved an army brigade to the Tank district. Tank District Police Officer Mumtaz Zarin said that the army had been called in to improve security and to stop incursions from the tribal areas. He, however, refused to comment on how many soldiers were being deployed there, but said the army deployment was a gradual process. Sources said that 12,000 troops, backed by artillery units, were moved to the Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts from Okara. Security forces were also being deployed in the Lakki Marwat and Bannu districts, considered to be strongholds of militancy. Besides, troops have also reportedly been stationed in the northern Swat and Lower Dir districts.

July 15

At least 47 people were killed and over a hundred injured in suicide bombings targeting security forces in the Swat and Dera Ismail Khan districts of the NWFP in apparent revenge attacks by militants for the Lal Masjid operation. In the first attack, at least 13 SF personnel and six civilians, including three children, were killed and more than 50 people sustained injuries at Matta in the Swat district when two suicide bombers rammed two cars packed with explosives into an army convoy early in the morning. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far. At approximately 4:15 pm (PST), a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Dera Ismail Khan Police Lines as candidates took police entrance exams. Police official Safiullah said that 26 people were killed, including 12 police personnel and the suicide bomber, and 61 others were wounded. Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao said the two attacks could be a militant response to the Lal Masjid assault. Many of the locals were terming the incident as act of the banned JeM, which according to them had well-trained and brainwashed people in the district.

July 17

Three police personnel, including the Station House Officer of Och police, were injured when an explosive device planted along the Chakdara-Timergara road went off near Gulabad Bridge in the Lower Dir district.

Police recovered a hand grenade from the same place at Dera Ismail Khan Police Lines where 26 persons were killed and 61 others in a suicide attack on July 15.

Investigators probing into firing on President Pervez Musharraf’s aircraft on July 6 have arrested three more persons for their alleged involvement in the incident. The three suspects have been picked up from Bannu and shifted to an undisclosed location for investigation. The arrests were made after gleaning the phone record of the suspects.

July 18

A Military Operations Directorate meeting, chaired by President General Pervez Musharraf, at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi has directed the NWFP district governments to form peace committees at district, tehsil and police station levels by July 31.

The NWFP government will hold a meeting with a 45-member jirga (council) that negotiated the peace deal with the militants in 2006. "We have been invited for a meeting with NWFP Governor Ali Jan Orakzai on Thursday (today). We don’t know the agenda, but the meeting will obviously focus on the peace deal," said Malik Waris Khan from Khyber Agency, who is among 45 other elders from six tribal regions to attend the meeting.

Police defused a toy bomb planted under a vehicle near a family planning office in the Machni police station area in Peshawar.

July 19

15 persons, including a prayer leader and two children, were killed and several people injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up during night prayers at a mosque at Pathan Lines Centre in the Kohat Cantonment area. Most of the victims were reportedly army officials. The federal Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said, "Indirectly these attacks are a backlash reaction against the Red Mosque."

Five civilians and two police personnel were killed and 35 others injured when a suicide bomber set off his explosives-packed car at the Hangu Police Training College (PTC). Police official Rehman Gul Khan said the suicide bomber wanted to take his car inside the PTC on the main Hangu-Kohat Road where 500-600 police cadets were doing their routine morning parade. The suicide bomber blew up the vehicle when police personnel deployed at the PTC gate tried to stop him. Hangu District Police Officer Ghulam Mohammad said that around 40-50 kg of explosives was packed in the car.

The federal government has decided to provide PKR 3.6 billion to the NWFP government to recruit more personnel to the law enforcement agencies in the province. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that the NWFP government had asked for an additional 15,000 police personnel where the federal government agreed to provide half of the grant.

July 20

A meeting presided over by President Pervez Musharraf approved ‘an all-encompassing strategy’ to combat terrorism, extremism and growing militancy in the country, particularly in the NWFP and tribal areas. Sources said the meeting decided to provide ‘necessary financial and security support’ to NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani to restore law and order in the province.

July 21

Suspected Taliban militants detonated three blasts in the Bannu area.

July 22

Suspected militants reportedly attacked a Frontier Corps checkpoint with three rockets and injured one soldier in the Bakakhel area of Bannu district.

Security forces defused a bomb planted near a checkpoint in the Fizza Gat area.

July 23

A bomb exploded near Khwazakhela police station in the Matta area of Swat district, partially damaging its boundary wall and windowpanes of nearby houses. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

July 24

At least nine persons, including a woman, were reportedly killed and 40 others wounded when unidentified militants fired a series of rockets on civilian population in the Bannu city of NWFP. Police official Khawaja Muhammad said that a rocket hit a house at Tafsil Street in the Bannu main bazaar at around 1:35am. He said that when people gathered at the site another rocket landed in the area, killing nine people. He said that another rocket hit a house in the Gopa Khel area, one hit a bookstore in Chowk Bazaar, while a fifth rocket struck a mosque. Bannu District Coordination Officer Syed Jamaluddin Shah while confirming the nine deaths said "I am not sure if the attack was in revenge for Taliban commander Abdullah Mehsud’s death."

July 26

The proscribed TNSM has distanced itself from the recent bomb blasts on security agencies and also condemned the killing of security force personnel in the Dir district. TNSM district chief Badshah Zeb alias Gorkoi Mulla said that his movement had never resorted to violence against the government in its struggle for Sharia enforcement in the area. "Security forces personnel are our Muslim brothers and Islam does not allow killing of Muslims. No Mufti has issued any Fatwa (decree) to attack army or police and those carrying out attacks on forces or in public places are committing murders," he said. He claimed the TNSM had nothing to do with Maulana Fazlullah, who, he added, was not following the orders of his imprisoned father-in-law and TNSM founder Maulana Sufi Muhammad.

July 27

Three people were arrested in Peshawar for their alleged involvement in bomb blasts in the NWFP.

July 28

Three police personnel were killed when militants opened fire on them in the Lal Qila Midan area of the Lower Dir district. 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 29

Suspected militants fired five rockets in Kohat from mountains near the Ghamkol refugee camp. Kohat District Police Officer Vaqar said that five rockets fell into the fields near the camp causing explosions. But, no loss of life or property was reported.

July 31

Suspected militants killed a FC soldier and abducted four others after a shootout with the paramilitary personnel in the Bannu district.

In the Tank district, six Frontier Corps personal were injured when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.

Four police personnel were wounded when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb at Allabad area in the Swat district.

Militants hurled a hand grenade at former government official’s house at Kuza Banda in Kabal. But no casualties were reported.

August 1

Security forces raided a militant hideout at Bannu and subsequently attempted to free seven soldiers taken prisoner a day earlier. One captive soldier was killed, three rescued, and the militants escaped with the remaining three. The seven soldiers were seized by suspected militants on July 31 in NWFP as they rode in two vehicles.

A police checkpoint was blown up in the Shakardara area of Swat district. Suspected militants had reportedly planted an improvised explosive device at the post located at some 15 kilometres from Mingora.

August 3

A suicide blast targeting the family of a government official killed two persons and injured six members of the family in the Gora village of Swat district.

Four persons, including one police personnel and a prayer leader, sustained injuries in a bomb explosion near the Serai Naurang police station of Lakki Marwat district.

Police is reported to have defused a roadside bomb in the Sambat area of Swat district.

August 4

Militants blew up two unmanned police posts in the Swat district, but there were no casualties. The Sangota check post in the Mingorah police area and Alam Ganj check post in the Khozakhel police precincts were blown up. These had reportedly been earlier vacated due to security concerns.

Colonel Jawad and Colonel Sarfaraz of the Pakistan Army told a meeting of local elders, councillors and political leaders that there would be no military operation in Swat. They said the army had been called in to maintain law and order, which was why the troops did not retaliate despite terrorists’ attacks on the army.

August 6

Suspected pro-Taliban militants shot dead an alleged leader of a gang after he ignored warnings to stop criminal activities in the Darra Adam Khel town. Residents said 45-year old Ameer Sayed, had been warned by militants that he would be killed if he did not stop activities that allegedly included car jacking, drug smuggling and kidnapping for ransom.

Two personnel of the PAF and a child accompanying them were injured when a bomb exploded near their vehicle on the Kohat Road in Peshawar. The Bhana Manri police said the explosive device had been planted on the structure of under-construction shops along the main road, which exploded when the PAF vehicle was passing by the place.

Police seized three rocket-propelled grenades, one anti-aircraft gun and other arms and ammunition from a house in the Danna area of Mansehra district.

August 7

Three people were wounded in a bomb blast near a police station at Bannu.

A time-bomb exploded at a bus terminal in Peshawar, damaging a vehicle but causing no casualties.

Militants attacked a Frontier Corps check post at Bagh Deri in the Khwaza Khela area of Swat district, partially damaging its walls. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported. Police also reportedly defused a 16-kg bomb placed near the check post.

Taliban militants snatched rifles from personnel of the Khasadar force in the Lakki Marwat district. More than 12 militants came to the Kotikhawa check post in the Shadikhel locality in three vehicles and snatched rifles from personnel of the Khasadar force. "Anyone among you if seen at the check post in future will be killed," sources quoted Taliban militants as having told the personnel.

Police arrested at least 14 people, including 11 suspected militants, trying to illegally enter Balochistan from the NWFP and also seized a large cache of weapons. Alleged foreign militants were reportedly en route to Balochistan via Dera Ismail Khan in two trucks, but security forces cordoned off the area and arrested them. Tajik nationals Agha Muhammad, Abdul Ghaffar, Samiullah and Bashir, Uzbek nationals Muhammad Hussain, Shah Wali, Muhammad Latif, Sheer Ahmed and Muhammad Taqqi, and an Afghan, Wahidullah, were arrested. Three local aides - Abdullah, Sarwar Khan and Hakeem Khan - were also arrested.

August 8

Taliban militants captured Chargano village at Darra Adamkhel 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. After capturing the village, the Taliban militants were seen looting houses of tribesmen belonging to Qasimkhel.

A mortar shell hit a house in the Manikhel area, injuring six people while one child was wounded when a shell struck a compound in the Bazikhel village.

Militants fired five rockets, which landed in different areas of the Hangu city. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.

The police foiled a terrorist attempt to target hit the Peshawar International Airport and seized five missiles aimed at the airport. The missiles had been placed on the bed of the Bara River near the Bazidkhel village.

August 10

The Taliban blew up eight houses of alleged criminals in a "drive against anti-social elements" at Darra Adam Khel. The Taliban