Bad News From Pakistan

[Annie]

Many links:

http://billroggio.com/archives/2007/02/pakistan_a_bajaur_pe.php

Pakistan: A Bajaur 'peace deal' is coming
A peace deal in imminent in Bajaur, despite the worsening situation in the tribal agencies

The Pakistani government is preparing to cede the Federally Administered Tribal Agency of Bajaur to the Taliban. Jan Aurakzai, the governor of the Northwest Frontier Province, has informed the media that a 'peace deal' fashioned after the Waziristan Accord is imminent, Dawn reports.

Bajaur has long been an al-Qaeda command and control center. The Taliban and al-Qaeda funnel their northern Afghanistan operations from Bajaur. Afghanistan's Kunar province, which sits just across the border from Bajaur, is one of the most violent provinces in Afghanistan.

Last October, the Pakistani government was just 24 hours from signing an agreement with the 'Pakistani Taliban' of Maulana Faqir Mohamed's Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (or TNSM, which translates to the Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Sharia) when airstrikes hit a Taliban training camp in a madrassa Chingai. While the Pakistani government claimed responsibility, this was likely a U.S. Special Operations strike designed to sabotage the deal.

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[waltky]

At least 140 people were killed in an oil tanker explosion in Pakistan...

At least 140 killed in Pakistan oil tanker explosion
June 25, 2017 -- At least 140 people were killed in eastern Pakistan Sunday when an overturned oil tanker exploded as people attempted to collect spilling fuel in containers.

Punjab government spokesman Salman Sufi told CNN another 130 people were injured in the incident and a state of emergency has been declared in the area. Police official Mohammad Akhtar said the truck fell off the road as it traveled through the city of Bahawalpur.

The BBC -- which said the death toll could increase -- reported it appears the tanker blew a tire while the driver was rounding a sharp bend in the road in the Kachi Pul area. "People living in roadside villages, carrying domestic pots, rushed to the scene to collect oil and they also made phone calls to their relatives living in other villages to immediately come to collect oil," the British broadcaster quoted an unnamed source as saying.

"The Prime Minister has directed provincial government to provide full medical assistance to the injured with burns," said a statement from Pakistan Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif's office. "The Prime Minister has expressed sympathies with the bereaved families and prayed for the departed souls."

At least 140 killed in Pakistan oil tanker explosion

 

[waltky]

Pakistan Tanker Fire Toll Rises to 190...

Deaths in Pakistan Push Tanker Fire Toll to 190
Friday 30th June, 2017 - A Pakistani government official says the death toll from a massive fuel truck fire earlier this week has climbed to 190, after 17 more people died in hospital from severe burns.

Rao Taslim Ahmad, a deputy commissioner in the city of Bahawalpur in central Pakistan, says some of the victims who were rushed to hospitals following the blaze were still in critical condition Friday.

The disaster struck early Sunday outside Bahawalpur when the driver of the oil tanker, which was en route from the southern port city of Karachi to Lahore, lost control and crashed on a highway.

The fuel ignited when villagers rushed to the scene to collect the spilled oil, ignoring warnings from police. Pakistan held a collective funeral for 130 of the victims Tuesday.

Deaths in Pakistan Push Tanker Fire Toll to 190