Suicide bombers kill 41 at refugee camp in northwest Pakistan

[bemildred]

Source: LAT

Two suicide bombers attacked a refugee camp in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 41 people and injured 64 others in what appeared to be retaliation for the military's latest military offensive against Taliban militants in the volatile tribal areas' Orakzai region.

The dead and wounded were all Orakzai tribespeople who had been queueing up for food at a refugee camp in the Kohat region, said North-West Frontier Province Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain. Police said a suicide bomber dressed in a burqa rushed up to the line and blew himself up.

As other tribespeople and rescue personnel rushed to the blast site to help the wounded, a second bomber, also dressed in a burqa, detonated his explosives.

"The second explosion was more devastating than the first," said Dilawar Khan Bangash, a senior Kohat police officer. Bangash said the death toll was likely to rise.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/asia/la-fg-pakistan-blast18-2010apr18,0,3360775.story

[pocoloco]

1. Why target refugees?

[bemildred]

2. A good question, damn if I know. nt

[Robb]

4. A couple of reasons I can think of.

Some 200,000 have been displaced in the region from the fighting, a ramped-up endeavor by the Pakistan army targeting militants in the tribal area -- 50,000 left in the last month. People used to pay the local Taliban for protection, with the increased fighting no one's safe and they're leaving -- bye-bye revenue stream. The idea could be to convince some it's no safer in Kuccha Pakka than back in the hills.

Second, the target was a World Food Programme relief center -- westerners, always a good bet for a target.

[Turbineguy]

3. How clever and courageous!

To attack unarmed refugees. These boys deserve double the usual number of virgins!

[unabelladonna]

5. suicide bombers?

no, they're homicide bombers.....fox is right about this. what kind of human being DELIBERATELY targets innocents?

[cqo_000]

6. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al-Alami claims responsibility

The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s Al-Aalmi group has reportedly claimed responsibility for the bombings, and cited the presence of Shias at the IDP camp as the reason for the attack.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010%5C04%5C18%5Cstory_18-4-2010_pg1_2