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Explosion in Khyber region kills seven
An explosion destroyed the home of a militant in Pakistan's Khyber region yesterday, killing seven people on the third day of an offensive against Islamists threatening the city of Peshawar.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:37 June 30, 2008
Peshawar: An explosion destroyed the home of a militant in Pakistan's Khyber region yesterday, killing seven people on the third day of an offensive against Islamists threatening the city of Peshawar.
A militant chief said he believed the blast was caused by a missile but a government official in the region said explosives stored at the house in the town of Bara went off accidentally.
"There was no rocket attack, it's not related to the ongoing operation. The blast was caused by explosives that were lying there," said the senior political official, who declined to be identified.
Raising fears
Security forces launched an offensive in Khyber, on the country's northwestern border with Afghanistan, on Saturday to push back Taliban militants who have been moving towards Peshawar, raising fears for the city's security.
Troops backed by armoured vehicles and helicopters met virtually no resistance when they moved in and secured Bara, about 15 kilometres southwest of Peshawar.
Troops destroyed several militant compounds as well as an FM radio station and an interrogation centre, officials said.
The offensive is the first major military action a new government has launched since it took power after February elections, and comes after growing alarm about the spread of militants in the northwest.
It also came as US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, Richard Boucher, arrived in Pakistan.
Boucher met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who said his government would talk to militants who laid down arms but would "never negotiate with militants nor allow foreigners to use our soil against another country', Gilani's office said.
Gilani is due to go to Washington for talks with President George Bush next month.
Underscoring US concern about Pakistan, the New York Times said on yesterday US officials drafted a secret plan last year to make it easier for US special forces to operate in Pakistan's tribal lands.
The plan was later put on hold, it said.
The offensive in the northwest had no direct impact on Pakistani stocks, where trade has been dull for days because of political and economic uncertainty.
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