| 2011 Faisalabad bombing | |
|---|---|
| Part of Islamic Terrorism | |
| Location | Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan |
| Date | 8 March 2011 |
Attack type | Car bombing |
| Weapons | Car bomb |
| Deaths | 25+ |
| Injured | 127+ |
| Perpetrators | Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan |
The 2011 Faisalabad bombing occurred on 8 March 2011. [1] At least 25 people were killed and over 127 wounded when a car bombing occurred in a compressed natural gas station in Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan. [2] Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the explosion. [3]
Faisalabad is the third-largest city in Pakistan and an important industrial hub of Punjab province; the attack was the first of its kind in the area, which usually remained safe from terrorist incidents. [4] Many textile companies are based in Faisalabad. [5] Pro-Taliban militant groups had been gaining strength in the area, which had previously witnessed sectarian violence. [6]
The car bomb exploded at a compressed natural gas station at about 10:30 am, leaving a 7-foot deep by 15-foot wide crater. [1] According to local officials a Toyota Corolla packed with 40 kilograms of explosives was used in the attack. [7]
The vicinity in which the attack took place was a sensitive area, surrounded by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and military offices. A Pakistan International Airlines building and an ISI building were damaged in the bombing. [2] The bomb caused several gas cylinders to explode and damaged several vehicles and buildings. [6]
The gas station was reduced to a pile of bricks and twisted metal. Rescue officials used heavy machinery and cranes to remove rubble from the scene to search for survivors. [2] Among the dead were an ISI officer and a schoolteacher. [8]
A spokesman for Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan stated that the bombing, which targeted an ISI building, was in retaliation for the killing of Omar Kundi, a Taliban commander, by special forces in Faisalabad in 2010. [3]
The Pakistani Taliban, formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan, is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani border. Formed in 2007 by Baitullah Mehsud, its current leader is Noor Wali Mehsud, who has publicly pledged allegiance to the Afghan Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban share a common ideology with the Afghan Taliban and have assisted them in the 2001–2021 war, but the two groups have separate operation and command structures.
The 2009 Lahore bombing, at police headquarters in Lahore, Pakistan on 27 May 2009, killed at least 35 people and injured 250. During the attack gunmen fired on guards then destroyed the emergency response building at the city's police headquarters. Offices used by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency nearby also suffered damage.
The Pakistan Army General Headquarters attack, was a hostage-rescue mission carried by SSG Division on 10 October 2009, when 10 gunmen in military uniform opened fire on the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan. The attack killed nine soldiers, nine militants and two civilians and was a major escalation in Pakistan's domestic insurgency. One militant was wounded and captured by security forces. Soon after the attack, the militants infiltrated the security buildings where 22 civilian and military officials were held hostage by the militants. The Pakistan Army immediately launched a hostage rescue operation led by the SSG Division, Army Special Forces and the 13th Regular Regiment.
The October 2009 Lahore attacks were simultaneous assaults on three buildings across Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, on 15 October 2009, around 9:15 am local time. The attacks killed 38 and wounded at least 20. One group of militants attacked the Regional Headquarters of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), while a second group raided the Manawan Police Training School. The third team of militants attacked the Elite Police Academy.
The March 2010 Lahore bombings were three separate, but related, bomb attacks in the Pakistani city of Lahore on 8 and 12 March 2010. Lahore, with a population of six million, is Pakistan's second largest city, and the capital of the Punjab province. After several attacks in Lahore in 2009, these were the first major incidents in the city in 2010. The 12 March bombings are the deadliest attacks in Pakistan to date in 2010.
On April 5, 2010, two bombings in Pakistan killed up to 50 people and injured 100 more. In the first attack the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar was attacked by militants. The coordinated attack involved a vehicle suicide bomb and attackers who tried to enter the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar by using grenades and weapons fire. Three explosions went off within a span of 15 minutes in the area of Saddar and Hayatabad Avenue, near the American consulate and the Peshawar headquarters of Pakistan's intelligence agency. Several militants came in two vehicles. The first vehicle exploded near a security checkpoint, and gunmen in the second car opened fire. A Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan spokesman claimed responsibility for the assault on the consulate. In Timergara, Lower Dir district an Awami National Party rally came under attack. Pakistani Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq said "Americans are our enemies. We carried out the attack on their consulate in Peshawar. We plan more such attacks."
This is a list of terrorist attacks in Pakistan in the calendar year 2011.
In 2008, Pakistan saw 40 terrorist attacks, which caused 154 fatalities and 256 injuries.
In 2009, Pakistan suffered 50 terrorist, insurgent and sectarian-related incidents that killed 180 people and injured 300.
Ehsanullah Ehsan is a former spokesman of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and later Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. As a spokesperson of the groups, Ehsan would use media campaigns, social media networks and call up local journalists to claim responsibility for terrorist attacks on behalf of the groups. He was initially a spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). In 2014, he left TTP after he had developed ideological differences with the TTP leadership following the appointment of Fazlullah as the leader of the group. He later co-founded Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and became its spokesman. In 2015, as a spokesman of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, he condemned Fazlullah-led Tehrik-e-Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar.
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Events in the year 2014 in Pakistan.
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On 27 March 2016, on Easter Sunday, at least 75 people were killed, and over 340 were injured, in a suicide bombing that hit the main entrance of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, one of the largest parks in Lahore, Pakistan. The attack targeted Christians who were celebrating Easter. The majority of the victims were women and children. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack. The attack led to worldwide condemnation and national mourning throughout Pakistan. Pakistan also launched a widespread counter-terrorism operation in South Punjab, arresting more than 200 people who may have had a possible connection to the attack.
Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad is a codename of a combined military operation by the Pakistani military in support of local law enforcement agencies to disarm and eliminate the terrorist sleeper cells across all states of Pakistan, started on 22 February 2017. The operation is aimed to eliminate the threat of terrorism, and consolidating the gains of Operation Zarb-e-Azb which was launched in 2014 as a joint military offensive. It is further aimed at ensuring the security of Pakistan's borders. The operation is ongoing active participation from Pakistan Army, Pakistan Air Force, Pakistan Navy, Pakistan Police and other Warfare and Civil Armed Forces managed under the Government of Pakistan. More than 375,000 operations have been carried out against terrorists so far. This operation has been mostly acknowledged after Operation Zarb e Azb.
Terrorist incidents in Pakistan in 2018 include:
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