Islamabad (AsiaNews / Agencies) -At least 46 dead and over 100 wounded is the provisional death toll from a bomb attack today in Peshawar, north-west Pakistan. Local officials report that a vehicle packed with explosives, detonated in near a crowded market in Khyber. According to preliminary reports it is a suicide attack, the latest in a series of attacks in recent weeks that have bloodied the region.
Analysts explain that the attacks are a likely response to the Pakistani army offensive in South Waziristan, the heart of the fundamentalist fight in the country. They are also indicating a change in the extremist’s strategy, instead of bringing spectacular attacks against the police, military and Western targets - as was the case with the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, just over a year ago - the terrorists seek to provoke panic with attacks of lesser intensity.
In today’s attack, the terrorist used less than 50 kilograms of explosives containing fragments and bullets to create the greatest possible damage in a crowded area at the time of the explosion. Shafqat Malik, a police official in Peshawar, told the BBC that the suicide bomber "detonated the bomb when the vehicle was alongside a bus, which at that time, was crossing the market."
Hospital officials stress that the number of victims is destined to grow in the coming hours, many of the wounded are in critical condition.
Rehman Malik, Minister for Foreign Affairs, strongly condemns the attack and confirms the government's intention to root out the fundamentalist threat. "One thing is clear - emphasizes the Minister - these professional killers called Taliban must be faced in an even more decisive manner". He adds that "today’s episode" would only "accelerate" the possibility of an operation against the Taliban in South Waziristan, a large-scale military operation to be launched before winter.