Fighting intensifies in Pakistan's crucial Bajaur region

[babylonsister]

Fighting intensifies in Pakistan's crucial Bajaur region
By Saeed Shah | McClatchy Newspapers


ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Violence engulfed Pakistan's northwest Thursday, as anti-government insurgents staged suicide bombings against local counterinsurgents, killing at least 20. Meanwhile, the government said it had killed 15 insurgents in an aerial bombardment.

Coming shortly after the presidential victory of Barack Obama, who's promised to toughen U.S. policy in this region, the latest clashes underline Pakistan's awkward position: caught up in a major conflict of its own while absorbing the spillover from war in neighboring Afghanistan, many of whose fighters have taken sanctuary in Pakistan's tribal belt.

The day's biggest suicide bombing was directed at a traditional gathering known as a jirga in the Bajaur part of country's tribal area, close to the border with Afghanistan. Eighteen people were killed and 40 wounded. Another suicide attack struck a paramilitary post in Swat, a valley in the northwest that's plagued by extremists, killing at least two people and wounding 11. In the provincial capital, Peshawar, rockets struck the airport for the third time in four days.

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/55450.html

[The Magistrate]

1. Pakistan Is In The 'Bleeding Kansas' Stage Of a Civil War, Ma'am

Things really do not look good, and the consequences could prove enormous.

[babylonsister]

2. I know, The Magistrate. It's very worrisome, or should be. nt