Meanwhile, Bomb Attacks

artappraiser — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 05:48:36 +0000

In reply to U.S. pulls diplomats from Lahore, Pakistan, amid terror threat

Meanwhile,

Bomb Attacks Kill Dozens of Mourners in Pakistan and Afghanistan
By Salman Masood and Declan Walsh, New York Times, August 8, 2013

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The living were honoring the dead on both sides of the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan on Thursday when militant bombers struck, killing at least 44 people in two attacks that coincided with one of the holiest days on the Muslim calendar.

The heaviest toll was inflicted in the Pakistani city of Quetta, in western Baluchistan Province, where at least 30 people died in a suicide attack at the funeral of a policeman who had been killed just hours earlier.

At the eastern end of the border, in the Afghan province of Nangarhar, a bomb exploded at a graveyard where people had gathered to pay their respects to a slain relative. Fourteen women and children from the same family were killed. [....]

Shahidullah Shahid, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the Quetta attack [.....]

About the American consulate in Lahore, the same article says:

According to a warning issued Thursday, the State Department has ordered most of its diplomats in Lahore, east of Quetta, to leave in response to a terrorist threat against the American Consulate there.

At this point, it does not appear that the threat against the consulate is related to a broader terror alert that prompted the State Department to close 19 diplomatic missions in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, a senior Obama administration official said.

“The Department of State ordered this drawdown due to specific threats concerning the U.S. Consulate in Lahore,” the warning stated. In dangerous countries, like Pakistan, it is not uncommon for the United States to temporarily close consulates after receiving credible threats.

Friday is Eid-al-Fitr in Pakistan and Afghanistan. As this little TNN article explains, Eid, a divine gift from Allah, is an occasion to reach out to the poor and foster peace and communal harmony, embracing members of other faiths in the festivities.

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Meanwhile, Bomb Attacks