Pakistani investigators try to identify attacker

Islamabad, Feb 7: Pakistani investigators tried today to establish the identity of a suspected Islamist militant killed in a blast at Islamabad airport.

The incident late yesterday followed a January 26 suicide bombing at a top Islamabad hotel and raised fears that Pakistan's war against Islamist militants in remote mountains on the Afghan border had now spread to the capital.

''The attack appears to have links to Waziristan,'' said a top security official who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the case.

The Waziristan region on the Afghan border is a hotbed of Islamist militancy where many al Qaeda and Taliban members took refuge after US-led forces drove the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in 2001.

Pakistan, an important US ally in the war on terrorism, has been trying to clear foreign militants out of North and South Waziristan and pacify their Pakistani allies.

Hundreds of members of the security forces and militants have been killed in clashes but Islamabad -- a small, leafy capital nestled against the foothills of the Himalayan mountains -- has been largely free of militant violence in recent years.

The man killed yesterday, who was bearded and appeared to be in his twenties, opened fire at security staff after they stopped a car he was in and tried to search him as he was attempting to get into the airport.

The man, armed with two pistols, was killed when one of three grenades he was carrying went off in the airport car park.

Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao initially said it was a suicide attack but security officials later said the man might have been killed when he accidentally dropped a grenade.

Three security men were wounded. Two men in the car the attacker was travelling in, including the driver, were arrested.

''We are interrogating the suspect,'' the security official said, referring to the other passenger in the car.

''We have gleaned some information but it is too early to divulge it.'' REVENGE ATTACKS? Pakistan has seen a wave of attacks, including several suicide bombings, in recent days that have killed nearly 30 people.

The attacks followed a Pakistani air strike on an Islamist militant camp in South Waziristan on January 16 that killed up to 20 people, raising widespread speculation that the blasts were in revenge for the strike.

Intelligence officials have linked at least some of the latest attacks to pro-Taliban militants in Waziristan led by Baitullah Mehsud.

President Pervez Musharraf last week described Mehsud as the only Taliban leader of importance based in Pakistan.

Security in Islamabad has been much tighter than usual in recent days with police stepping up patrols and checks on roads and at entrances to sensitive areas such as the diplomatic quarter.

Reuters

Related Stories

3 killed in suicide attack at Islamabad airport