Pakistan: terror in Karachi, Punjab

Three Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants hurled grenades in an hour-long battle and then blew themselves up after police raided their hideout in Karachi Sept. 26, with authorities saying preventing they prevented major attack in the country’s biggest city. “We have saved Karachi from death and destruction. We know who they were and what was their target in Karachi, but we cannot disclose it immediately,” Sind provincial police chief Babar Khattak told AFP. The incident occurred hours before Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was due in the city, although there was no official indication that he was the target. Police said they also found the body of a kidnapped local businessman who supplied fuel to NATO forces in Afghanistan, and recovered arms and explosives.

That same day, at least four people were killed and over a dozen wounded when a powerful bomb derailed a passenger train in Punjab province. The victims included a Railway Police officer and three children, and five of the injured are in a critical condition. (Indian Express, Sept. 27, AFP, Sept. 25)

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