• 9 more killed as Taliban attacks target secular campaigns in Pakistan

    The Taliban has issued a warning that it will increase attacks on foreign military forces in Afghanistan. NBC's Ron Mott reports.

    By Fakhar ur Rehman, NBC News

    ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Taliban in Pakistan has stepped up its campaign of terror attacks in an effort to stymie public meetings by secular political parties ahead of a general election scheduled for May 11.

    Dual attacks Sunday targeted the offices of two political parties in the northwest part of Pakistan, killing nine people. In the first attack, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a political office in the city of Kohat, killing six and injuring nine.



    The second bombing, in the suburb of Peshawar, killed three and injured 11. Pakistani officials said the attacks were designed to suppress political participation by secular parties.

    "The purpose of the attacks are to keep away secular political parties," Pakistan's former Interior Minister Rehman Malik told NBC News. "Dark black clouds are hovering on the fate of the elections."

    The two attacks Sunday followed a string of deadly bombings targeting politicians in recent days. Last week, a suicide bomber blew himself outside a political meeting in Peshawar, killing 16.

    Related: Series of bomb blasts shake Pakistani city

    Fayaz Aziz / Reuters

    A man tends to his sister, who was injured in a bomb blast, at a hospital in Peshawar April 28, 2013.

    The Taliban claimed responsibly for the bombing campaign, a spokesman for the group told NBC News.

    Ihsanullah Ihsan, speaking from an undisclosed location, said the Taliban had attacked targeted three "secular, pro-West" political parties.

    "We accept the responsibility of all the attacks on politicians and their offices," Ihan said.

    He said the attacks would continue and that the political parties targeted by the Taliban had "killed hundreds of our people and destroyed their houses during military operations in the country."

    Related: Afghan Taliban marks start of 'monumental' spring offensive

    Arshad Arbab / EPA

    Pakistani police officers inspect the election campaign office of independent candidate Waris Afridi, after a bomb explosion on the outskirts of Peshawar.

     

     

  • Blasts, raid on government building kill at least 24 in Baghdad

    Karim Kadim / AP

    Black smoke from a car bomb rises in central Baghdad on Thursday.

    By Adam Schreck, The Associated Press

    BAGHDAD -- A string of explosions tore through central Baghdad within minutes of each other on Thursday, followed by a coordinated assault by gunmen who raided a government building and battled security forces in the streets. The attack left at least 24 people dead and dozens wounded.

    The fighting lasted about an hour, ending with security forces storming the building, killing the gunmen and evacuating hundreds of people who had hunkered down in their offices, according to police.

    There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the attack bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda's Iraqi arm. The group, known as the Islamic State of Iraq, frequently uses car bombs and coordinated blasts in an effort to undermine Iraqis' confidence in the Shiite-led government.

    Coordinated blasts in Baghdad killed at least 24 people near the heavily fortified Green Zone. NBCNews.com's Richard Lui reports.

    The attack erupted shortly after midday in Baghdad's Allawi area, a largely commercial district that is home to the Iraqi National Museum and the city's main bus station.

    At least two blasts, including one car bomb and another believed to be from a suicide bomber, went off near a building currently housing the Justice Ministry. A police officer who was among the troops sent to clear the area said that approximately six gunmen wearing police uniforms quickly stormed the building.

    "Everybody panicked (after the first blast) and seconds later we heard a second explosion. I looked through the window and I saw some gunmen wearing police uniforms entering the building. We knew that these policemen were fake," said Asmaa Abbas, a Justice Ministry employee who was working in her third-floor office.

    A gunbattle quickly broke out between the intruders and security forces, as other explosions went off near the bus station and the headquarters for a VIP protection force that provides bodyguards for lawmakers, government ministers and other senior officials.

    'The longest hour of my life'
    After about an hour, security forces stormed the building and some of the gunmen detonated explosives they were wearing, the officer on the scene said.

    "It was the longest hour in my life," said Abbas, the employee.

    Saad Shalash / Reuters

    An Iraqi Red Crescent ambulance transports people injured in one of Thursday's attacks in central Baghdad.

    Deputy Justice Minister Busho Ibrahim said there were more than 1,000 people in the four-story building at the time of the attack. He said the minister was abroad and was not inside.

    "When the explosions and shooting started, the guards evacuated me out a back door, and I have no idea what happened after that," he said, speaking over the telephone from outside the building.

    The attack killed 24 people in addition to the gunmen and wounded 57 others, police said. The dead include seven police officers.

    Hospital officials confirmed the casualty numbers. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

    Violence in Iraq has subsided from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but deadly attacks remain frequent almost a decade after the U.S.-led invasion.

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    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Pakistani Taliban chief says group won't disarm but may negotiate

    Handout via EPA

    Hakimullah Mehsud, right, chief of the Pakistani Taliban, records a video with deputy chief Wali ur-Rehman. The video was given to Reuters on Dec. 28.

    By NBCNews.com staff and wire services

    DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — On the heels of weeks of high-profile insurgent attacks in Pakistan, the head of the country's Taliban released a video saying his militia is willing to negotiate with the government but not to disarm.

    The release of the 40-minute video to Reuters follows several significant Taliban attacks in the northern city of Peshawar this month. Among them was a sophisticated attack on the airport that began with multiple suicide bombings and spread to ground fighting in a nearby neighborhood; a car bombing that killed 17 people in a marketplace; another bombing that killed nine people, including a senior politician who was among the group's most outspoken critics; the killing of eight polio workers within 48 hours; and the kidnap of 22 paramilitary forces on Thursday.

    At least 17 people are dead and dozens wounded when a car bomb detonated in a crowded market in Peshawar, Pakistan. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    The attacks underline the Taliban's ability to strike high-profile, well-protected targets even as the amount of territory it controls has shrunk and its leaders have been picked off by U.S. drones. An intelligence source in Pakistan has told NBCNews.com that the Taliban appears to be trying to wrap up the year in a position of power. Another intelligence source said the attacks may be "payback" for Pakistan's easing of relations with the United States.

    In the video, Hakimullah Mehsud says, "We believe in dialogue, but it should not be frivolous. Asking us to lay down arms is a joke."

    Mehsud sits cradling a rifle next to his deputy, Wali ur-Rehman. Military officials say there has been a split between the two men, but Mehsud said that was propaganda.

    "Wali ur-Rehman is sitting with me here and we will be together until death," said Mehsud, pointing at his companion.


    Pakistani officials did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

    The Taliban said in a letter released Thursday that they wanted Pakistan to rewrite its laws and constitution to conform with Islamic law, break its alliance with the United States, and stop interfering in the war in Afghanistan and focus on India instead.

    Mehsud referred to the killing of the senior politician in his speech and said the political party, the largely Pashtun Awami National Party, would continue to be a target along with other politicians.

    "We are against the democratic system because it is un-Islamic," Mehsud said. "Our war isn't against any party. It is against the non-Islamic system and anyone who supports it."

    Pakistan is due to hold elections next spring. The current government, which came to power five years ago, struck an uneasy deal with the Taliban in 2009 that allowed the militia to control Swat valley, less than 60 miles from the capital, Islamabad.

    A few months later, the military launched an operation that pushed the militants back. The U.S. military also intensified its use of drone strikes.

    Now the Taliban control far less territory and the frequency and deadliness of their bombings has declined dramatically.

    NBCNews.com's Waj Khan and John Newland and Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Iraq bus blast kills more than 30 during Eid holiday

    Thaier Al-sudani / REUTERS

    Residents inspect the site of a bomb attack in Baghdad Oct. 27, 2012. Two blasts hit a Baghdad Shi'ite neighborhood and a bus full of Iranian pilgrims on Saturday, killing at least 30 people on the second day of the Islamic Eid al Adha religious festival, police and hospital sources said.

     

    By Reuters

    BAGHDAD — Bombings on Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad and a blast on an Iranian pilgrim bus killed more than 30 people on Saturday, marring Iraqi celebrations of the second day of the Islamic Eid al Adha religious festival.

    Violence in Iraq has eased sharply, but Sunni Islamist insurgents and al-Qaida's Iraq wing often target Shiites in an attempt to stir up the kind of sectarian tensions that dragged the country close to civil war in 2006-2007.

    Two car bombs exploded on Saturday, one ripping into a restaurant in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City and killing at least 23 people, police and hospital sources said.

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    "I was just selling fruit and we were surprised by a huge explosion on the other side of the street," Hassan Falih Shami, a grocery stall owner near the site of the blast. "You can see pools of blood, the shoes and pieces of clothing."


    Hours earlier, a roadside bomb planted near an open-air market killed seven people, including three children at a playground. Another blast killed six people when it hit a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims to a Baghdad shrine, police and hospital officials said.

    Police said the attack on the Iranian pilgrims came from a bomb that had been attached to their bus. It exploded around 300 yards from a police checkpoint, sending the bus out of control before it flipped over on its side.

    Insurgents have carried out at least one major attack a month since the last U.S. troops left in December. Iraqi officials worry Syria's crisis is bolstering Iraqi insurgents.

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    The monthly death toll from attacks in Iraq doubled in September to 365, the highest number of casualties in two years, including a series of bombings targeting Shiite neighborhoods that killed more than 100 people.

    Security officials had said they believe insurgents would try to carry out a large attack during the religious holiday, which started on Friday.

    Car bombs exploded and mortars landed around the Shiite neighborhood of Shula, northwestern Baghdad, on Tuesday killing eight people and wounding 28, and another person was killed by a mortar round in Kadhimiya area.

    Reporting by Raheem Salman; Writing by Patrick Markey

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