At least 8 killed and 93 injured in a terrorist attack on Lahore police centre; Baitullah Mahsud claims responsibility for the attack; 12 people die in drone attack in the Orakzai tribal agency
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    • Seven police trainees and a civilian were killed and 93 others injured as terrorists attacked a police training school in Manawan, which is just six kilometers from the Wagah border with India1. Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mahsud claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that it was “revenge for the drone attacks in Pakistan2.” He also threatened to launch an attack on the US as a protest against the drone attacks in the tribal areas and the announcement of a $5 million reward on his head3.

    The US however showed its intention to widen the scope of the drone attacks when it launched an attack killing twelve people in the Orakzai tribal agency on April 1, the first such strike in the region. Orakzai Agency is the only tribal region, out of the seven regions of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), which does not share its border with Afghanistan4. President Obama meanwhile, addressing a press conference in London on April 1, warned that al-Qaeda was planning to attack the US mainland from Pakistani soil and vowed to defeat the terror organisation5.

    In continuing violence inside Pakistan, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a camp of the Frontier Constabulary, killing at least eight FC personnel and injuring 12 others on April 4. 30 people were killed in a suicide attack in the North Waziristan Agency (NWA) on the same day while 26 people lost their lives and more than 40 others were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Chakwal city’s main mosque on April 56.

    Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari, along with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, at the Third Turkey-Pakistan-Afghanistan trilateral summit on April 1 in Ankara, vowed to increase coordination among their political, military and intelligence tiers to jointly fight militancy and terrorism and achieve greater economic cooperation to bring peace and stability to the region7.

    In other developments, the Supreme Court of Pakistan overturned an order barring Shahbaz Sharif, brother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from holding office, and allowed him to return to his post as chief minister of Punjab8.

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