Pakistan police foil suicide attempt, two killed

Islamabad, Aug 2: Police gunned down a suspected Islamist suicide bomber as he tried to attack a police training centre in central Pakistan today, police said, the latest in a series of violent incidents in recent weeks.

A policeman was also killed in the exchange of fire with the attacker in the city of Sargodha in Punjab province.

The policeman tried to stop the man as he ran toward grounds where hundreds of young recruits were taking morning exercises.

''The attacker did not stop and instead opened fire on the policeman. The policeman returned the fire and both were killed,'' police official Mohammad Nasar told the sources.

He said the suspected militant was wearing a suicide jacket but did not detonate the explosives because he was far from the recruits.

Violent militants have stepped-up their activities across Pakistan, an important ally in the US-led war on terrorism, since army commandos stormed Islamabad's Lal Masjid or Red Mosque, a radical Islamist bastion, last month.

More than 200 people, mostly policemen and soldiers, have been killed in bomb and suicide attacks across the country since the army assault. The government says 102 people died in that action.

Scores of masked militants seized a mosque and shrine in Mohmand tribal region on the Afghan border at the weekend and named it after Lal Masjid.

Residents said today that most of the armed militants had left the mosque and shrine and only 20 were now manning the complex. They had started giving Koranic lessons to around 50 children from the area, the residents said.

Last night, suspected militants kidnapped a local government official in Mohmand.

Pakistan's lawless tribal belt is infested with al Qaeda and Taliban militants and Islamabad is under increasing US pressure to step up action against militant nests there.

A bill US President George W Bush is expected to sign ties Pakistan aid to progress against the militants, while Democratic presidential candidate Sen Barack Obama said on Wednesday the United States must be willing to hit al Qaeda targets in Pakistan with or without Islamabad's approval.

Pakistan previously rejected suggestions for US strikes inside its territory and said its own forces are fully capable of dealing with the militants.

Movement of military and paramilitary convoys in and around the border regions has become more frequent and check-posts have been reinforced in recent weeks, although the government has not linked the steps to US demands.

In a video posted this week an al Qaeda leader, Abu Yahya al-Libi, called on Pakistanis to overthrow President Pervez Musharraf, accusing him of helping Washington kill Muslims in Afghanistan.

Musharraf survived two Al Qaeda-inspired assassination attempts in 2003.

Reuters
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