Pakistan Taliban Takes Responsibility for Deadly Mosque Attack

Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The Taliban claimed responsibility for a grenade and gunfire attack that killed at least 17 children and 19 adults attending weekly prayers in a mosque near Pakistani army headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi.

A bomb blast brought down parts of the building as worshippers fled in panic yesterday, witnesses told Dawn News television. Two of the attackers were suicide bombers, while two died in gun battles with security forces, the army said in a statement.

Nine of the victims were military officers, including a major general and a brigadier, the army said. The Friday noon prayer at the mosque normally is packed with active and retired military personnel who live in the Qasim Market neighborhood, a few minutes’ drive from army headquarters, said Shaukat Qadir, a military analyst and retired Pakistani army brigadier.

Mufti Wali Rehman, second in command of the Taliban in Pakistan, told Geo TV the group took responsibility.

The attack was the latest in a series of Islamic militant bombings and guerrilla raids, many on military targets, that have killed about 400 people since the army began an offensive Oct. 17 against Pakistan’s largest Taliban faction. The fighting has taken place in the South Waziristan district near the border with Afghanistan.

“I saw 30 to 35 people lying dead in front of me,” including women and children, as gunmen fought a prolonged battle with security forces, Nasser Alisher told the channel. A military spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, said 36 had been confirmed dead.

Five Attackers Seen

At least five militants were involved in the attack, said Qadir, citing officials. A single policeman tried to stop the team as it moved on the mosque, grappling with an attacker who detonated a suicide bomb he was wearing, killing both men, he said.

As gunfire continued through the afternoon, TV stations showed Pakistani police and soldiers directing traffic away from the neighborhood as helicopters hovered overhead.

President Barack Obama said on Dec. 1 that the U.S. will dispatch 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan next year, calling Afghanistan and Pakistan the “epicenter of violent extremism practiced by al-Qaeda.”

Militant attacks in Pakistan this week sapped investors’ confidence in an economy that is dependent on foreign aid. The benchmark Karachi Stock Index had its steepest weekly slide in a month, falling 2.1 percent.

Recent Attacks

Guerrillas disguised in army uniforms assaulted the army headquarters in Rawalpindi on Oct. 10, killing 10 military personnel and four civilians. Qasim Market was hit in September 2007 by a suicide bomber who struck a bus carrying Defense Ministry employees.

As the army continues its Waziristan offensive, Taliban militants have fled to the Khyber, Kurram and Orakzai districts of Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal zone along the border.

They have fought escalating battles with security forces in the past month. The army will continue its attacks on suspected Taliban camps in those areas, Abbas said Nov. 30 in a telephone interview.