A suicide car bombing targeting Pakistani troops killed 41 people Monday, the fourth grisly militant attack in just over a week. The Taleban also claimed responsibility for the 22-hour weekend attack on the nation's heavily fortified army headquarters, saying a cell from Pakistan's most populous province carried out the raid. The claim that a Punjabi faction of the Pakistani Taleban was behind that strike is a sign the insurgents have forged links with militants outside their main strongholds in Pashtun areas close to the Afghan border, increasing their potency. The army, however, maintained it was launched from South Waziristan - where the military is preparing for what will likely be a long and bloody offensive against the major base of the Taleban along the frontier. In advance of that offensive, the militants have launched a wave of attacks across the country. In the latest strike, a suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives near an army vehicle in a market in the northwest Shangla district, provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said. The attack killed 41, including six security officers, and wounded 45 other people, he said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. “Such attacks cannot deter us from the offensive against the militants,” Hussain said. Commenting on the attack on army headquarters, Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the militants were hoping to seize senior army officials and trade them for their jailed comrades. “Their main focus was the release of their leaders,” he said, adding that the attack was launched from South Waziristan. The army also intercepted an audio of deputy Taleban leader Waliur Rehman getting an update on the attack and telling a subordinate to pray for the assailants, Abbas said.
