200 held over AJK attack

MIRPUR (AJK) – In the wake of first-ever suicide attack on security personnel in Muzaffarabad, the security has been put on red alert across AJK to foil any terrorist attempt, official sources said.
The sources said Saturday that police have intensified thorough checking at all the entering and exit points. Checkposts have been erected at Bararkot, Kohala, Azad Pattan, Dhalkot, Mangla, Dhangalli, Jatlan and Gujrat-Bhimbher entry points, said Mirpur Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Tayyeb.
Besides, the checking of all the vehicles moving in the district including the city has also been geared up by the police on small and major roads. Souces said security of all the important private, public buildings including govt offices, shopping malls and sensitive installations has been beefed up.
Meanwhile, a high level meeting of senior police officers of the district was held here with SSP Sardar Gulfraz Khan in the chair.
The meeting decided to take stringent measures to strengthen the security arrangements in the district.
The SSP directed the police officials including SHOs of all the police stations to remain alert and vigilant round-the-clock by keeping a close watch on the suspicious persons.
AFP adds: The bomber who carried out the first suicide attack in Azad Kashmir is a Taliban militant from the northwest tribal zone of Waziristan, an official said Saturday.
The blast Friday hit an army vehicle in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Kashmir, killing two soldiers and wounding three others. “The suicide bomber has been identified as Abid. He belonged to Taliban group in Waziristan,” Raja Kafeel, a spokesman for the AJK prime minister, told AFP. Police said they were investigating the attack. “We are investigating how a suicide bomber managed to enter in the sensitive military area,” senior police official Raja Ilyas told AFP.
A Taliban spokesman on Saturday said the bombing was in retaliation for military operations against the militants. “We claim responsibility for this attack. This was done in revenge for the Waziristan operation and air strikes,” Hakimullah Mehsud, a spokesman for Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, told AFP by telephone from unknown location.
“We warn the government to stop the operation and air strikes in Waziristan otherwise we will continue such attacks all over Pakistan,” he said.
A top administration official in Muzaffarabad, Chaudhry Imtiaz, said police had arrested about 200 people for questioning, adding that security had been beefed up in different parts of Azad Kashmir.
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