At least 80 die in bin Laden revenge attack

AT LEAST 80 people died when a pair of Taliban suicide bombers attacked a paramilitary training centre in the north-west of Pakistan, in the first major retaliation for the death of Osama bin Laden.

The blasts at the Frontier Corps training centre in Shabqada yesterday morning were the deadliest Pakistan has suffered this year, and came less than three weeks after the covert American raid which killed the al-Qaida terror chief in his hide-out in Abbottabad on May 2.

“We have done this to avenge the Abbottabad incident,” said Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, in a phone call to foreign reporters. He warned that the group was also planning attacks on Americans living inside Pakistan.

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The two bombers blew themselves up at the main gate of the facility for the Frontier Constabulary in Shabqada, a poorly equipped but vital frontline force in the battle against al-Qaida and allied Islamist groups close to the Afghan border.

Like other branches of Pakistan’s security forces, the constabulary has received US funding to help with training and equipment.

About 900 young men were leaving the centre yesterday morning after six months of residential training.

One survivor told how the men were in high spirits and looking forward to seeing their families, many of them carrying gifts for friends at home.

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“We were heading toward a van when the first blast took place,” said 21-year-old Rehmanullah Khan. “We fell on the ground and then there was another blast.”

At least 80 people were killed – 66 of them recruits – and around 120 people were wounded.

“We enjoyed our time together, all the good and bad weather, and I cannot forget the cries of my friends before they died,” Mr Khan said.

Police officials said a suicide bomber in his late teens or early 20s set off one of the blasts.

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“The first blast occurred in the middle of the road, and after that there was a huge blast that was more powerful than the first,” said Abdul Wahid, a 25-year-old recruit whose legs were wounded in the attack.

He said he was knocked to the ground by the force of the explosions. “After falling, I just started crawling and dragging myself to a safer place...along the wall of a roadside shop,” he said.

Some people had been sitting inside public minivans and others were loading luggage atop the vehicles when the bombers struck.

The scene was littered with shards of glass mixed with blood and flesh, onlookers said. The explosions destroyed at least 10 vans.

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Police revealed the explosive vests had been packed with ball bearings and nails. Up to four pounds of explosives were used in one of the bombs.

Yesterday’s blasts were the first major militant attack in Pakistan since bin Laden’s death, and the deadliest the country has faced this year.

Ahsan, the Taliban spokesman, suggested the attack was aimed in part as punishment against Pakistani authorities for failing to stop the unilateral US raid which killed bin Laden, a perceived violation of sovereignty which has sparked considerable nationalist and Islamist anger in Pakistan.

“The Pakistani army has failed to protect its land,” Ahsan said.

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Bin Laden and four of his associates were killed by a team of US Navy Seals who raided his compound in the garrison city of Abbottabad, around three hours’ drive from where yesterday’s attacks took place.

Bin Laden is believed to have lived in the fortified house for up to six years.

Despite widespread suspicion of collusion with bin Laden from within the country’s intelligence services, Pakistani officials have vehemently denied any prior knowledge of his whereabouts and criticised the American raid as a violation of their country’s borders.

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