Pakistan suicide bomber kills 88 at volleyball game

01 Jan 2010: At least 88 people were killed on Friday when a suicide car bomber blew up himself and his vehicle as people gathered to watch a volleyball game in north-west Pakistan.

Police said dozens more were injured in the attack in the village of Shah Hasan Khan, in Bannu district.

“The villagers were watching the match between the two village teams when the bomber drove his double-cabin pick-up vehicle into them and blew it up,” said Habibullah Khan, the local chief of police.

Police said the attack was possibly retaliation against residents who had set up a militia to expel Taliban fighters from the area. The village is near South Waziristan, where the army last month completed a military offensive against extremists sheltering in the lawless territory.

Friday’s bombing took place after Pakistan’s security forces said they had foiled a suicide bomb plot against the country’s sensitive Wagah border crossing with India.

The plot, if carried out, would have sabotaged the first steps to improve relations between the two countries after the 2008 terrorist attacks on Mumbai. It was uncovered as Pakistani intelligence agents arrested 10 militants including the Taliban’s leader in Punjab, known as Khalilullah, and a 17-year-old boy who was being groomed to carry the bomb.

The crossing between Amritsar and Lahore has emotional significance for Indians and Pakistanis after being the scene of bloodshed between Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims at partition. Wagah is also popular with tourists who visit it to watch its aggressive border-closing ceremony, when guards from both sides parade like peacocks, kicking their legs in the air.

The arrest of Khalilullah was a breakthrough for Pakistan’s security services and a setback for the Taliban, which has collaborated with other militant groups to make Southern Punjab a new front in their jihad. In the past year, militants have attacked police training academies and the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.

The arrests coincided with a series of conciliatory moves that raised hopes of a thaw in relations. Yesterday diplomats in Islamabad and New Delhi exchanged lists of nuclear installations in their countries, while a joint campaign by Pakistani and Indian newspapers sought to persuade their readers to “love” one another.