war in Pakistan

[8/4/10] ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A wave of violence after the assassination of a senior politician on Monday has left at least 47 people dead in Pakistan’s largest city, the southern port of Karachi.

The violence erupted after the politician, Raza Haider, a provincial lawmaker and the leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, was shot to death along with his bodyguard.

Within hours, mobs spread out across Karachi, setting fire to public and private property, including dozens of vehicles. Business centers were forced to shut down. Normal life has since come to a virtual standstill, and schools and government offices remained closed on Tuesday.

[7/2/10] LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistanis lashed out Friday at the U.S., blaming its alliance with their government and its presence in Afghanistan for spurring two suicide bombers to kill 42 people at the country's most important Sufi shrine.

The reactions showed the challenge facing Washington and the Pakistani government when it comes to rallying public support against the Islamist extremism that has scarred the South Asian nation, even after an audacious attack on the moderate, Sufi-influenced Islam most Pakistanis practice.

Thousands of people had gathered late Thursday at the green-domed Data Darbar shrine in Lahore when bombs went off minutes apart. The blasts ripped concrete from the walls and left the white marble floor awash with blood. There was no claim of responsibility, but Islamist extremists consider Sufism — a mystical strand of Islam — to be heretical.

But on Friday, few Pakistanis interviewed saw militants at the root of the problem.

"America is killing Muslims in Afghanistan and in our tribal areas (with missile strikes), and militants are attacking Pakistan to express anger against the government for supporting America," said Zahid Umar, 25, who frequently visits the shrine, where 180 people were also wounded.

Pakistanis are suffering because of American policies and aggression in the region, said Mohammed Asif, 34, who runs an auto workshop in Lahore. He and others said the attacks would end if the U.S. would pull out of Afghanistan.

***

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Dilla Baz Khan was pulling a woman from the rubble of an air raid when Pakistani jets screamed back into the valley for a second bombing run, killing scores of people in a village locals say had been supportive of army offensives against militants along the Afghan border.

Khan and other survivors said Tuesday at least 68 villagers were killed in the weekend airstrikes, sharply contradicting initial army accounts that the dead were Islamist militants. A local administration official said $125,000 had been paid in compensation to victims.

The official declined to say how many of the dead were civilians but said Shafiullah Khan, the top official in Khyber, apologized to local tribesman and admitted the victims were "mostly" innocent villagers.