Pakistan blast raises fear of tribal vengeance

Islamabad, Nov 9: Pakistani authorities hunted today for those behind the worst ever militant attack on Pakistani troops amid fears pro-Taliban tribesmen were ramping up their war against US ally President Pervez Musharraf.

An anonymous telephone caller told a Pakistani journalist the attack that killed 42 army recruits in the northwestern town of Dargai yesterday was revenge for an air strike last week on a religious school in the nearby Bajaur region, in which authorities said 80 militants were killed.

The suicide attack was the first on the security forces outside Waziristan, a tribal region where the army has been fighting al Qaeda and pro-Taliban militants since late 2003.

Bajaur is at the northern end of Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt along the Afghan border, while Waziristan is at the southern end.

A former chief of security for the region said the military was facing serious consequences for opening up a new front against the militants in Bajaur.

''We have been saying since the Bajaur incident that it would have repercussions. It will have far more repercussions than what the government has seen in Waziristan,'' retired Brigadier Mahmood Shah told Reuters.

Last March, an air strike on a militant camp in North Waziristan killed about 45 and sparked bloody clashes that went on for months until the government signed a controversial peace pact in September.

Shah said he believed the security forces' attack in Bajaur would provoke more violence.

''This opening of the front is extremely dangerously and it will spread,'' he said, referring to militant attacks.

Many Pakistanis believe last week's attack on the religious school was carried out by US forces although the United States and Pakistan denied that.

'Dangerous Possibilities'

Yesterday's attack on the unarmed recruits on their training ground in a quiet provincial town seems to have shocked a country long used to blood-letting.

''More ominously, it seems to indicate that this all may be the beginning of considerable violence and bloodshed since the aim of the extremists now appears to be to directly target the Pakistan army,'' the News newspaper said in an editorial.

The government said security across the country had been stepped up.

''Terrorism has no boundaries. It can happen anywhere,'' Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told Reuters.

Intelligence officials said a sketch of the suicide bomber was being prepared. Sniffer dogs were hunting for an accomplice of the bomber, who fled into fields after the blast.

Musharraf, who survived two al Qaeda-inspired assassination attempts in 2003, has vowed to deal sternly with terrorism but is facing ever-growing resentment over what many Pakistanis see as his willingness to fight America's war.

But many analysts believe negotiations with the fiercely independent tribesmen are inevitable.

''The government has to continue with the use of the military arm but at the same time, it should also use political means,'' said former general and security analyst Talat Masood.

Shah concurred.

''They should negotiate, use force whenever necessary but it should be an absolute minimum. That will keep the tribal areas and the militancy in control,'' Shah said.

Reuters