SUICIDE BOMBING NEAR PESHAWAR PICKING UP AGAIN?

C O N F I D E N T I A L PESHAWAR 000447 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/16/2018 TAGS: PTER MOPS PGOV PK SUBJECT: SUICIDE BOMBING NEAR PESHAWAR PICKING UP AGAIN? REF: PESHAWAR 435 CLASSIFIED BY: Lynne M. Tracy, Principal Officer, U.S. Consulate Peshawar, Department of State. REASON: 1.4 (a),(b),(d) Summary: -------------- ¶1. (C) After a lull in suicide bombings in the Peshawar area following the February elections, the militants seem to be employing the tactic in the provincial capital vicinity in the wake of sustained military operations in Bajaur and Swat. A suicide truck bomber killed approximately 40, including eight policemen September 6, 15 kilometers south of Peshawar. The 22 year old bomber was stopped by police short of his likely intended target: the NWFP Provincial Assembly. This was the second suicide attack in the vicinity of Peshawar during the last month. The attacker likely drove from Dara Adam Khel, where GOP is currently conducting one of its three military operations. In Nowshera on September 8, local authorities intercepted a young man wearing a vest with explosives. With continuing operations in the FATA and Swat by the GOP it remains to be seen if the likely additional attempts by suicide bombers will be prevented. ¶2. (C) A suicide bombing near Peshawar on September 6, killed up to 40, including eight policemen, and wounded 80 others. Police at the Zangli checkpost, near the southern entrance to Peshawar, stopped a pickup truck, whose driver then detonated his vehicle. According to Consulate police contacts, the likely target was the NWFP Provincial Assembly building in Peshawar, while members were voting for Pakistan's new president. ¶3. (C) The Zangli police checkpost, on the Peshawar-Kohat Road, known as the Indus Highway, is approximately 15 kilometers south of Peshawar city. The explosion destroyed the police checkpost and approximately 40 shops on both sides of the road. Law enforcement estimates of the weight of the explosives range from 40 kg to 150 kg. The explosion at Zangli created an eight foot long and four foot deep crater on the road. Local taliban from Dara Adam Khel claimed responsibility for the bombing. ¶4. (C) The September 6 explosion at Zangli checkpost was the second successful attack in the Peshawar vicinity in the last month. On September 8, in Nowshera, a seventeen or eighteen year old young man was intercepted by police wearing a vest packed with explosives. A military convoy was the intended target. On August 12, a roadside remote-control bombing of a Pakistan Air Force bus in Peshawar killed 11 Air Force personnel (Reftel). Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistian (TTP) spokesman Maulvi Omar was quoted by local press as warning the government that more such attacks would be made across the country if the military operations in Darra Adam Khel, Swat and Bajaur were not immediately stopped. Comment -------------- ¶5. (C) This latest suicide bombing appears to mark a renewed determination by the militants to resume strikes in Peshawar that had largely subsided after peace deals were struck earlier this year. Some attacks outside of Peshawar had continued, most recently and notably the suicide bombing at the Pakistan Ordnance Factories outside Rawalpindi on August 21. The attacks in the Peshawar vicinity appear to be picking up again as the military press militants in Bajaur and Swat as well as in areas south of Peshawar around Dara Adam Khel and Hangu. Although the Police succeeded in stopping what may have been a major attack on a government institution, it was at a cost of eight of their own. With the continuing GOP operations additional suicide bombing attempts by the militants are likely. TRACYLM