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137 people have fallen prey to terrorism since Lal Masjid operation

By Shafiq Sharif

LAHORE: About 137 people, including personnel of the armed forces and police, have died and 327 have sustained injuries in 21 terrorist attacks across Pakistan since the military operation against Lal Masjid in Islamabad on July 3.
According to data collected by Daily Times the terrorist attacks included suicide bombings, remote controlled and timed devise explosions and rocket attacks on law enforcement personnel.
Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani Durrani said the incidents were not in reaction to the Lal Masjid operation. Inter Services Public Relations spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad backed the information minister’s statement, but Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said the attacks were ‘backlash’ of the Lal Masjid operation.
A chronology of the attacks that have taken place after the Lal Masjid operation:
July 3: Unidentified militants explode a remote controlled device in Swat, killing four people and injuring the district police officer.
July 4: A suicide bomber attacks an army convoy in North Waziristan, killing eleven people, including six army personnel.
July 5: Unidentified militants attack a police patrol vehicle in Peshawar, killing four policemen and injuring another four. In another incident, terrorists fired a rocket on an army post in Landi Kotal.
Only few hours later that day, a suicide attack in Swat killed four people, including a major and a lieutenant of the Pakistan Army.
July 6: Unidentified militants try to hit President General Pervez Musharraf’s aeroplane when it took off from the Chaklala Airbase in Rawalpindi. No causalities were reported. On the same day, militants kidnap six pro-government tribal elders in North Waziristan and later kill them.
July 8: Unidentified militants attack a police party in Peshawar, killing an assistant sub-inspector and injuring three junior officers.

July 10: Terrorists explode a bomb in Peshawar, killing a deputy superintendent of police and ten others.
July 12: A rocket attack at the Mingora bypass on Kohala Road in the NWFP killed eight people including three policemen. Another rocket attack on a Frontier Constabulary check post in Khar, Bajaur Agency, caused no casualties.

July 13: Terrorists kidnap and later kill three pro-government tribal leaders in North Waziristan.
July 14: A remote controlled explosion at the Bannu Airport near a security check post kills three law enforcement officials. Militants carried out another attack in Malakand Agency, but no one was hurt. A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car in a FC convoy near Miranshah, killing 26 and injuring 29 security officials. In another incident, militants attack army personnel busy in flood-relief operation in Balochistan, killing an army officer.

July 15: A suicide bomber attacks security forces in Swat, killing 19 people and injuring another 26. In another incident the same day, a suicide bomber kills 26 police officials at the Dera Ismail Khan Police Lines.
July 17: A suicide bomber detonates the explosives strapped to his waist near a stage prepared for the address of the chief justice of Pakistan. Fifteen people were reportedly killed in the attack.

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