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Naseer Ahmed / Reuters
Paramedics inspect the bodies of Shiite pilgrims killed by a car bomb in Quetta on Sunday.
QUETTA, Pakistan — Pakistani militants, who have escalated attacks in recent weeks, killed at least 40 people in two separate incidents, officials said on Sunday, challenging assertions that military offensives have broken the back of hardline Islamist groups.
A car bomb exploded near a convoy of buses taking Shiite pilgrims to Iran, killing at least 19 people and wounding 30, officials told NBC News, the latest attack on the minority sect.
Earlier Sunday, 21 tribal policemen believed to have been kidnapped by the Taliban were found shot dead in Pakistan's troubled northwest tribal region, government officials said.
Witnesses said the blast occurred as the three buses were overtaking a car about 35 miles west of Quetta, capital of sparsely populated Baluchistan province, site of many sectarian attacks, near the Iranian border.
Pakistan has experienced a spike in killings over the last year by radical Sunni Muslims targeting Shiites who they consider heretics. The violence has been especially pronounced in Baluchistan province, where the latest attack occurred.
"The bus next to us caught on fire immediately," pilgrim Hussein Ali, 60, told Reuters. "We tried to save our companions but were driven back by the intensity of the heat."
A second eyewitness said the bomber rushed by in a pick-up truck, swerved in front of the first bus and slammed on the brakes. The bus slammed into the pick-up truck and then a big explosion occurred.
Photos: Blast in Karachi kills six, wounds 48
Akbar Durrani, Baluchistan's home secretary, told Reuters that rescue teams were trying to reach victims in the wreckage of the vehicles, one of which was still in flames some time after the attack. He said the death toll could rise.
Fayaz Aziz / Reuters
A badly injured paramilitary soldier, who survived the shooting by Taliban militants, receives treatment at a hospital in Peshawar on Sunday.
At least 19 were killed in the attacks, and 30 wounded, according to government officials.
A string of attacks on Shiites underscores the government's inability to crack down on groups promoting sectarian violence.
Sectarian tensions
Shiites make up around 15 percent of Pakistan's 190 million people. They are scattered around the country, but the province of Baluchistan has the largest community, mainly made up of ethnic Hazaras, easily identified by their facial features which resemble those of Central Asians.
Pakistan's 'dynastic politics': Bhutto's son launches career
Sunni extremists have long carried out attacks against Shiites in Pakistan. But the sectarian campaign has stepped up in recent years, fueled mainly by the radical group Laskar-e-Jangvhi, aligned to Pakistani Taliban militants headquartered in the tribal region. More than 300 Shiites have been killed in Pakistan this year, according to Human Rights Watch.
The violence has pushed Baluchistan in particular deeper into chaos. The province was already facing an armed insurgency by ethnic Baluch separatists who frequently attack security forces and government facilities. But the secessionist violence has been overtaken by increasingly bold attacks against Shiites.
Pakistan, Afghanistan share vision on Taliban
The sectarian bloodletting adds another layer to the turmoil in Pakistan, where the government is fighting an insurgency by the Pakistani Taliban and where many fear Sunni hardliners are gaining strength. Shiites and rights group say the government does little to protect Shiites and that militants are emboldened because they are believed to have links to Pakistan's intelligence agencies.
Tribal policemen killed
The 21 tribal policemen who were shot dead were found by officials shortly after midnight Sunday in the Jabai area of Frontier Region Peshawar after being notified by one policeman who escaped, said Naveed Akbar Khan, a top political official in the area. Another policeman was found seriously wounded, said Khan.
The 23 policemen went missing before dawn Thursday when militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons attacked two posts in Frontier Region Peshawar. Two policemen were also killed in the attacks.
After receiving threatening telephone calls warning they would regret helping the "infidel" campaign against polio, a group of woman, working on a UN-backed polio vaccination campaign, were shot and killed by gunmen a day after a similar slaying in Karachi. Ch4 Europe's Lindsey Hilsum reports. Warning: Some images maybe disturbing.
Militants lined the policemen up on a cricket pitch late Saturday night and gunned them down, said another local official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Also Sunday, two Pakistani army soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in the North Waziristan tribal area, the main sanctuary for Taliban and al-Qaida militants in the country, security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with official policy.
NBC News' Mushtaq Yusufzai, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Good! The more dead Pakistanis the better!
The only Pakistani who will not lie and cheat is a dead one. The sooner these militant sects wipe each other off the face of the earth the better. Remember, even their cricketers cheat!
No, darn it, they were not "Pakistani militants," they were extremist Islamic terrorists. And we got yet another misleading headline from MSNBC.
@"musician by night
Lets be clear about one thing, when they said "militants", they mean Sunnis, the same as the rebels in Syria."
Lets get one more thing clear. You don't know jack.
@"Cassandra-854239
No, darn it, they were not "Pakistani militants," they were extremist Islamic terrorists. And we got yet another misleading headline from MSNBC."
ok
1. Why do you even come here if you hate MSNBC?
2.Militant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MilitantCached - Similar
You +1'd this publicly. Undo
Militant is usually used to describe a person engaged in aggressive verbal or physical combat (e.g. a terrorist or insurgent).
So the headline fits perfectly
3.. Its you that is misleading and like the guy above apparently don't know JACK about what you speak and just like flapping your gums (or fingers in this case)
I can't wait to see the "massive" Pakistani protests that are about to occur. If they can turn out for an American movie protest, they will surely show up for these murders. Or maybe not?
More the merrier. It will mean less liabilities and nuisances on earth.
"The sectarian bloodletting adds another layer to the turmoil in Pakistan, where the government is fighting an insurgency by the Pakistani Taliban and where many fear Sunni hardliners are gaining strength."
This is going on in Pakistan, a US, British, and Europe's strategic ally.
What will happen to Paki nukes? Are the "strategic ally's" nukes good one unlike those of Iran?
Can anyone guess which Islamic extremist group gets it?
I doubt if there will be any protests. Any time there's more than 3 Shiites in one place, a Sunni detonates his bomb vest. You would think that Muslims would be able to get along a little better with each other. Their main difference is Sunnis think Mohamed preferred to have sex with young boys and Shiites believe he only did farm animals. I think he liked both. I hope they all kill each other soon.
I think that everyone should shift their attention to eliminating the hardline clerics. Without their rabble rousing efforts, most of these militants would just stay home and beat their family members instead. The wholesale body counts would go down and the family members will eventually arrange an accident for their overzealous relatives.
Do Middle Eastern Muslims slaughter each other because they're Islamic, because they're primitive tribesmen living in the 12th century, or both? And they wonder why the West has such low regard for their religion and culture. If they weren't such bloodthirsty warmongers, rapists, wife-beaters and child-slave exploiters, maybe the West might believe their claim that the Koran is a "book of peace."
Sunni Muslims are seventh century Islamic desert hating and killing machines and Shiites are tenth century ones.
Against us, infidels, both seventh and tenth century join together.
So either going to heaven is a good deal.
For them, 72 virgins are assured.
So it is good deals all around!
Hope these deals are done at a faster pace.
Allah is furious with the slow pace of cleaning of Islam.
Somehow this will be blamed on the Zionist Americans or Israeli Jews.. These peace loving people are so tolerant of fellow Muslims doing sick things that it shows their culture is rotten to the core.. You could blame it on fear of reprisals but at some point a good people would stand up and say enough..
The metal rod that killed the Indian girl sounds like a Muslim thing.. This is what they did to the ambassador when they killed him.. How does such a sickness flourish in this day and age???? Is it stupidity???
If the Sunnis are attacking and killing the Shi'ites, then why don't the Shi'ites attack and kill the Sunnis?
Or did I miss that part?
Islamic clerics and scholars should declare that boys and males can be considered as virgins to reduce the shortages of virgins!
danp1220: "Their main difference is Sunnis think Mohamed preferred to have sex with young boys and Shiites believe he only did farm animals. I think he liked both."
What is this new version for Mohammed (Piss be on him)?
It seems Mohammed like young girls as much as seven, where do the boys come in the picture? Did Mohammed not get girls in his initial days?
Islamist radicals come in all flavors, Shi'ite Sunni. It isn't just Sunni Islamist radicals we need to be concerned about. Iran is a Shi'ite Theocracy, al Sadr in Iraq is a Shi'ite, Hezbollah is Shi'ite.
Just because AQ, Hamas the Taliban and the Muslim Brotherhood are all Sunni, it doesn't mean terrorists are only Sunni.
The difference between Sunni and Shi'ite is they disagree on who should have taken over when Mohamed died.
They both have killed in the name of Allah and most of the time each other. They both hate Infidels (each other), Westerners and Jews.
Muslims killing Muslims, great news. Keep up the good work and keep killing yourselves, saves the rest of the world the trouble.
BP, I do not hate MSNBC or, as you say, I wouldn't be here. However, I do object to their misleading headlines. And "terrorist" has come to mean someone who is much more extreme and fanatical than a "militant," as MSNBC knows perfectly well. My own feeling is that they are trying TOO hard to be fair, by not using the t-word.
When there are no Westerners around, Muslims must resort to killing other Muslims! Where would the religion of peace be without any murders!
poker ....anyone ???
Fascisthater, what's the common denominator?
The common denominators for all this violence and killing is NOT religion, it is HATRED, IGNORANCE, and ARROGANCE. Sadly, it is not limited to this group of people, it finds a home with groups and individuals all over the world.
Which group controls the nukes? Unsafe conditions threating the world, we may have to go in to secure weapons of mass destruction.
Notice to Iran:
We are leaving Afghanistan and lessening our role in Pakistan. Welcome to the nut show it's headed your way. Payback's a bitch.
ANYTIME the conversation starts with "god says" it won't end good. No matter which god. Even if it is the same god on both sides.
This is the type of 6th century mentality the rest of the world is allowing to infiltrate our countries......
Before you know it, the Pakistani government will be asking for some help with drone attacks on the militants.
Being evil is not a condition exclusive to Pakistani; what many of these prejudice arrogant "holier than thou" posters don't realize, is they are so far in denial of their own evil tendencies they don't realize they too act no different if they were born in these 3rd world places, or if similar surroundings placed them in the same circumstances where they live now, unfortunately this IS where they are headed because of what they are. Death & Destruction doesn't occur where evil is, death & destruction occurs when people feel righteous enough to do what they believe & get away with...
This is so sad. Every murdered adult was once an innocent child....
Yeaah!for Islam more gifts for god! This religion is disgusting nonsense equivalent to Nazism,and should be banned.
They are animals. They are the reason that evolution gets questioned.
Not much sympathy from me. I'd bet all of my money that at least some of those killed were celebrating the attacks on 9-11. Let these uneducated trolls eradicate each other. These are the same people who refuse to allow their children to receive the polio vaccine because they believe it will sterilize their children. Let them fade from the pages of time.
My condolences to the victims and their families.
good post...
My condolences to their women, children & camels...
You will need condolences' machines in case of Pakistan and other Sunni dominated nations!
Also make sure that these machines work then the Sunni Muslims do genocides of non-Muslims and Muslim minority sect and call it jihad.
Hope the machines worked during genocides of Hindus and Christians in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Darfur, Sudan, Mali, Saudi Arabia and other places.
"A car bomb exploded near a convoy of buses taking Shiite pilgrims to Iran, killing at least 19 people and wounding 30, officials told NBC News, the latest attack on the minority sect."
If Shiites pilgrims are bombed, imagine the level of Sunni Islamic religious madness!
No mention of women and children here. But if we take out 20 terrorists hiding behind 1 woman that they despise and treat like crap, we are the bad people. Thanks MSN.
I happen to agree that we must send condolences to the victims and their families. Pakistan is so far behind the times. It brings back memories of the "black/white" segregation thing of so many years ago. A question for those is that nasty country called Pakistan. If you kill everyone in the lower caste...who will do your laundry? Clean your homes? Raise your children...God knows you are incapable of raising bright, intelligent children on your own. With any luck, the Sunni's will be left to do things on their own. That being said, their children will die of malnutrition (the higher caste's are really dumb, by the way.) Lack of attention, or turn into sociopathic freaks. The entire country needs an impenetrable electric fence to keep them in there to kill themselves. I am sick and very,very, tired of our American servicemen being killed to protect people who do WANT to be protected. Allah be damned. I really mean this..if this is the so called ALLAH...He deserves to be in hell with his co-horts. My opinion only.
Maz,
The caste system is a belief of Hindus in India, not muslims in Pakistan. You are way off the mark.
ABCXYZ2
My condolences to the victims and their families.
And so it finally comes half way down the 1st page for a true human response to this madness....
Thx ABCXYZ2....
Let's be honest, they were only killing Shia. We all know that Sunnis have the correct translation of the Koran.
I think we need to send Mayors Bloomberg and Emanuel over there to fix this situation. They have certainly fixed their own cities haven't they?
Look at the picture of the Hospital..It looks like they already have Obammacare.
Actually, NYC is much safer now than at pretty much any time in its history.
"musician by night
Maybe they need a community organizer as well, lets send Obama."
Even as a community organizer he is smarter than you I'm sure and in case you haven't noticed he's moved up in the world and once again out done you by a mile. I think you're jealous. So while you criticize from behind a keyboard he is out actually doing something and making a difference in the World. You? Eating chips on the couch?
And some moron said this;
"Look at the picture of the Hospital..It looks like they already have Obammacare."
You're right! Those sheets covering the bodies would have cost you 6,000.00 each but now they are covered by Insurance and don't cost you jack, jack. Now go and actually read the Affordable Health care Act and stop being a tool for FOX news. Which is apparently where you get all your information from.
US already paid more than $700 million dollars to Pakistan.
When you send them/politicians, make sure that they have loads of monies to distribute!
BP.
Yet another mindless troll. What a fool, someone is paying for O'Baggercare Jack.. You need to stop getting from your news from the Union troll hall! Watching NBC has kept you welllll informed..Your as smart as ....O'Bagger
Yeah sure. Everyone who has paid $6,000 for a hospital sheet, please sign in and I don't mean your insurance company paid $6,000. I mean you. I also don't mean people who don't have insurance and the hospital put the sheet at $ 6,000 but you didn't pay that.
Didn't a murder free Monday in NYC make national news? How bad does a place have to be to make national news when nobody is murdered. Tell the families of the hundreds who were murdered in NYC this year how safe it is.
There will NEVER be a fix for these problems. Not in Pakistan, not in Afghanistan, not in Iraq..............
Don't ignore Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey and on on!
Many Sunni Muslims will be furious!
I agree with ya there. Sometimes I wonder if all these terrorist harboring nations, oh wait Yemen, got to add Yemen, are just stockpiling all the aid they get and preparing for the big day when they band together to completely destroy America.
Oh, those Muslims - they have nothing better to do with their lives except kill, kill, & kill.
The religion of peace, spreading the peace.
...or spreading the pieces.
good one flip. You get a like for that!
Lets send POTUS Carter with his adviser that stated, "What is more important in world history - a few stirred up Muslims or the fall of communism?" This was after they spend Billions of US Dollars; arming, funding and training the radical Muslims, using the CIA & ISI...
We can then ask if the transferring thousands of these same fighters and arms into Bosnia by POTUS Clinton. This has worked out well for the EU and helped fuel their current radical Muslim problems...
Or how POTUS Obama's 'Just War' is working out in Afghanistan...
Not to mention Libya, Egypt, and now Syria too, where our intrepid leaders in Washington have busied themselves replacing bad with worse all over the region.
Americans need to get as far away from Pakistan and Afghanistan as quickly as possible, the same is true for every other thankless jihadist state where our people reside. And keep an eye on Dearborn, Michigan.
what's happening in Dearborn...
As I recall, what happened in Dearborn, DB, was a Muslim riot.
why did they riot...
Come on Bob, You know why Tom said keep an eye on Dearborn.
thanks...i looked it up on the web...then i remembered...been a while...
its just pakistan reaping what they sowed. The world title holders of treachery, our great ally. Whats their military and ISI doing, still protecting Bin Laden?
Islam - the religion of peace!
Am I missing something here? Why do the militants seem more adept at getting things done than the police or the country's own military?
Hatred, intolerance, violence are all interconnected Just like fire,which needs air and a material, in order to exist. Without the last two, nothing on earth would burn. So too, hatred and intolerance must exist in order for violence to go forward.Anyone who hates another, for any reason, who is intolerant of another, for any reason, already is capable of the final step.Yet hatred is such an evil self reproducing living beast. That we need to be extremely careful of this creature. Those who would condemn one group to death for their alleged radical beliefs, of condemning others to death who think differently, would in the end, be no different then those they would condemn.At least spiritually, in matters of the heart.For hatred kills the soul of those who bear it.
Rather those who commit acts of murder need to be brought to justice.People need to be defended from those who would oppress them.Citizens need better training to help them defend their homes.Soldiers should be placed where they can better help those being targeted and support be given were needed most.It is not most of the country doing this, but those who are seeking to gain positions of power.
However, it isn't the U.S. responsibility to enter and help at this time. We have given over 80 billion to this country. So we owe them no allegiance,especially given that they have been helping terrorists. Including hiding Osama Bin Laden for years. Until we went in and took him out. While claiming to be cooperating fully with us, as we tried to find him. It has been made clear, Pakistan sees itself as no loyal dear friend to us.Much more blood shall be spilt.But it had better not be American.
Tolerance of Muslims is suicide.
What is there more to say? Same old, same old. Terrorists (not militants) killing anyone and anything that doesn't fit their immediate agenda. Same old, same old. Pakistan's government and officials are okay with it, so why should we care one whit what they do.
We need to bring all our folks home. Cut all foreign aid. Build a wall around the lot of them, and let them continue doing what the do. In twenty years, they'll all be dead, and be one less blemish on the planet.
Pakistan has nuclear weapons which is why we can't abandon the country altogether. I am more afraid of Pakistan with a nuclear bomb than Iran with a nuclear bomb and Iran with a nuclear weapon is scary enough!
Anita, so your idea is that we should continue paying blackmail to Pakistan? I don't think so. But as a matter of fact, many second and third world countries have the bomb, too. I don't think we should pay them, either. The best thing that could happen to them, IMO, is that they have their very own nuclear accident. Win/win for the rest of the world.
Better hurry & buy those survival ration kits!
Heck of a religion...
Anita, agreed Pakistan is a tinderbox and they have nukes India next door with nukes also article said 21 policeman kidnapped how do you kidnap 21 cops? If theat can be accomplished how secure are nukes?
zapper45701, you are the right stuff, You should be are next Pres., You have my vote!!!!!
zapper45701, you r the right stuff, You should be the next Pres. You have my Vote!!!!!!
It has been written before that the British made big mistakes in creating boundaries for the diverse populations of that area after World War II. A mammoth task now. Like the record said. "Got to keep em separated".
"Shiites and rights group say the government does little to protect Shiites and that militants are emboldened because they are believed to have links to Pakistan's intelligence agencies."
Still 21 tribal police were killed by militants! Is anyone able to control the Sunni Islamic seventh century religious Nazis.
The Islamic extremist Frankenstein monsters have started backstabbing big time the inventers of Pakistan, British, and the masters (US and allies) who kept them alive.
In most of the Islamic terrorism and plots in the US, Britain, Europe and other places, Pakis have a hand.
Half of NATO forces deaths in Afghanistan are due to Pakis.
Before followers of Islamic cult set their feet on Afghan and Paki regions, these regions were quite peaceful and prosperous.
Once the cancer of Islam gradually got control of the region, those regions have become raping, stealing, looting and killing fields.
In Afghanistan, Paki proxies Taliban did not even tolerate Buddha’s statue in Bamiyan.
Many Paki areas and some Afghan areas have become breeding and exporting centers for illegal activities including drugs growing and trading and export of Islamic radicals and terrorists all over the world.
British invented Pakistan in 47 and Pakistan is supposed to be a pure Islamic nation. In Pakistan, it was massive genocides of minorities in between 48-50.
Percentages of Hindus and Sikhs were reduced from about 24 percent less than three years by rapings, stealing, lootings, terrorizing and killing on a massive scale.
Paki Islamic religious madness did not end there.
Sunni Pakis are after Ahmedias, Sufis (fake love and dance Islamic soap opera people), Shiites (20 percent), Hazaras, and Baloochs and other minority sects/tribes.
Shiites, Sufis, Ahmedias and other minority sects/tribes people are blown up while they pray in their mosques on Fridays. And even hospitals are bombed to kill those injured.
So no one is in control in Pakistan, a "strategic ally."
No wonder: biggest backstabbers and most ungrateful Islamic extremist criminals like Gen Mush is in Britain, his son in the US, and many more in the "most hated" West!
I never met a dead Muslin that I didn't like.
And this is exactly why the MUSLIMs need to remain in the Middle East and living in the DARK AGEs.
Allowing them to immigrate to civilized countries, just brings their Islamic Mentality of of Arab lands to torture people of Civilised Nations...
Well stated Ozark. Across countries in Europe and even down in Australia there were the usual toilet-brush faced muslim protesters threatening to behead innocent citizens because someone over in the US made an amateur video they didn't like. Only muslims would find a connection in all that.
Western immigration criteria should always firstly be based on protecting resident citizens and what remains of rational culture, rather than pandering to the loony multiculturalist agitators. But many European countries are already perilously infected with the Dearborn disease on a national scale.
Cletster: Once commies were not permitted into the US and many Western nations.
Requirements for immigration and stays can be changed without changing the basic character of constitution in most nations.
Same needs to be done to keep the undesireables away and kick out those inside!
I never met a dead Muslin that I didn't like.
National Darwin Award?
The Taliban, al-Qaida and other Moslem terrorists occupy large tracts of Pakistani sovereign territory. They have used their Pakistani bases to launch terrorist attacks across the border into neighboring Afghanistan. They are also waging a war of aggression against the nation of Pakistan. Their goal is to overthrow the moderate democratic government of Pakistan and to impose a radical, Islamic dictatorship on the people of Pakistan. For some reason, the government and security forces of Pakistan have not seriously tried to defeat and remove the Islamic terrorists from their soil.
"For some reason, the government and security forces of Pakistan have not seriously tried to defeat and remove the Islamic terrorists from their soil."
Yeah, that's because the entire country is an Islamic terrorist country. The ability you have to separate them in your mind has nothing to do with reality. Let go of your delusion and you'll see things clearly.
The only thing the Pakistani military's strikes have 'broken the back of' is their own citizens' ability to defend themselves against the bloodthirsty Sunnis.
if I was religious I would think islam is satans religion. How stupid these muslims are, can't they see islam has only brought ignorance poverty and death.
big max
Learn where the root of Islam comes from and you will feel it is that religion that you described.
One was born of the flesh and one of the promise.