MONDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2003
Kashmir, Afghan groups target Musharraf: Pak
REUTERS
ISLAMABAD: Kashmiri and Afghan militant groups were behind the latest assassination attempt on President Pervez Musharraf, a Pakistani minister said on Sunday.
"Both the suicide bombers have been identified. One of them belonged to Kashmir and the other was from the North West Frontier Province, said Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, information minister, referring to Pakistan-held Kashmir.
Pakistan's North Western Frontier Province borders Afghanistan.
"It's a huge network of terrorists having tentacles from Kashmir to Afghanistan. They also have international ties," he said.
Two suicide car bombers tried to ram explosives-laden vehicles into Musharraf's limousine on Thursday in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, 20 km from the capital Islamabad.
Fifteen people were killed and 45 wounded in the attack, the second against Musharraf in less than a fortnight. A powerful bomb exploded moments after his motorcade crossed a bridge on the same Rawalpindi road on December 14.
Musharraf, a staunch ally of the United States in the war against terror, blamed Islamic extremists for the attacks and vowed not to falter in fight against "terrorism".
Interior ministry officials blamed a little-known Kashmiri group, Al Jehad, for Thursday's attack.
Hardline Islamists are furious with Musharraf for supporting the U.S.-led war in which Pakistan arrested hundreds of al Qaeda militants and handed them over to the United States.
Musharraf's recent peace overtures with India and attempts to resolve the protracted dispute with Pakistan's nuclear-armed South Asian rival over Kashmir has also fuelled militants' anger.
Pakistan has not only banned several Pakistan-based guerrilla groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, but is also trying to stop militants infiltrating Indian Kashmir.
ANGER NATURAL
"The anger toward Musharraf and his policies is natural," said a former guerrilla belonging to the banned Harkat-ul Mujahedeen.
"We have lost so many friends, brothers and relatives in the struggle in Kashmir. What was that for? Not all mujahideen are going to sit quietly," he said.
A dissident faction of the group called Harkat-ul Mujahedeen al Alami tried to blow up Musharraf's motorcade in the southern port city of Karachi last year, according to officials.
Ahmed said several people have been arrested in the crackdown aimed to get the masterminds of the latest attack.
"We have entered the network," he said without elaborating.
Kashmiri and Afghan militants have a history of close ties with the Pakistan army. Pakistan abandoned its one time ally, the Afghan Taliban, to support the U.S.-led war, which ended the hold of the Islamic militia over the war-ravaged Central Asian state.
Analysts have questioned how the perpetrators could have got details of Musharraf's movements to allow them to carry out two attacks in so short a time in Rawalpindi, the army headquarters.
On Thursday, militants ignored Musharraf's decoy motorcade, official sources said.
Analysts say this showed militants had either infiltrated Pakistan's top security agencies or gained access to sensitive information.
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