Ominous portents of Taliban's expanding writ as it claims responsibility for POK blast

Muzaffarabad, June 27 (ANI): After purportedly being pushed out of the Swat and Malakand Divisions by the Pakistan Army, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in an apparent bid to expand its regime of terror, has claimed responsibility for the suicide strike in Muzaffarabad in which two security personnel were killed and three others injured here on Friday.

Claiming the responsibility for the attack, a deputy to the TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud, Hakimullah Mehsud, said the attack was in retaliation against the recent strikes carried out on its hideouts.

Mehsud said the suicide attack has proved that the Taliban is not weakened by the military's offensive against the banned organization.

The attack, which took place in the army barracks in Shaukat Lines, was the first of its kind in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

According to sources, the attack was carried out by a bearded man supposedly in his twenties.

The attacker entered the barracks used by non-commissioned security personnel and blew himself up around 6.30 in the morning.

"The bomber was intercepted by a soldier whom he tried to engage in a conversation presumably to attract other soldiers around for causing maximum casualties' and then blew himself up," The Dawn quoted an official, as saying.

The blast was so powerful that it destroyed several army vehicles parked near by.

Meanwhile, the authorities have tightened security across the region and are conducting massive search operations.

In a latest development, the Muzaffarabad police arrested more than five dozen Afghan nationals, and other people belonging to the Frontier province.

Sources said all those who have nabbed by the police lacked proper identification documents. (ANI)