At least 20 people were injured in a bomb blast at a pro-autonomy rally in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province Aug. 26. Officials said a bomb rigged to a parked motorcycle detonated near the rally’s stage in the town of Jaaferabad, leaving some people in a critical condition. The rally was held to mark the second anniversary of the killing during a military operation of Nawab Akbar Bugti, a tribal chieftain and former Baluchistan governor. Bugti led an armed campaign to pressure the central government to award Baluchistan a larger share of revenues from oil and gas extracted from the region.
Elsewhere in Pakistan, armed men opened fire on the car of a US diplomat in Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province. Officials said Lynne Tracy, the principle officer for the US consulate in Peshawar, escaped the attack without injury. (AlJazeera, Aug. 26)
Now, presumably the Baluch separatists would not be blowing up their own supporters. So who was behind this attack? Some jihadi types still in the pay of the ISI doing a little freelance work against fellow Sunni militants who happen to oppose Islamabad?
See our last posts on Pakistan and Baluchistan.
