I suspect a CIA presence in the area. I suspect such things because of the murky and sporadic reports in my agenda-pushing press, but also because Baluchistan is an independent nation alongside a rump Pakistan in any of the globe-kicking neo-con control of the world maps you see.
There could also be an element of Baluch independence, another reason it would not merit much coverage. Don't want to give people ideas.
Anyway, I'll give you what I can and try and decode the convoluted propaganda as much as possible.
"Pakistan market bombed; 22 die" by Salman Masood and Declan Walsh | New York Times April 10, 2014
ISLAMABAD — A powerful explosion ripped through a produce market in Islamabad Wednesday, killing at least 22 people and injuring about 100 in the deadliest attack in the capital in more than five years.
The attack coincided with government efforts to negotiate a peace deal with the Pakistani Taliban. A spokesman for the Taliban immediately denied responsibility in the bombing.
“Attacks on public places and targeting innocent people is regrettable and un-Islamic,” Shahidullah Shahid said.
Yeah, I noticed anytime there is peace talk a bomb goes off. Cui bono?
A man identifying himself as a spokesman for a little-known separatist group, the United Baluch Army, claimed responsibility for the bombing. The group was virtually unheard-of until Tuesday, when it also took responsibility for an attack on a train in Baluchistan province that killed 14 and wounded 40 more. The supposed spokesman, who gave his name as Mureed Baluch, made the claim for both bombings by telephone to several Pakistani journalists.
The hallmark of a false flag by some intelligence agency.
Some analysts said they were treating the claim with caution. Baluch separatists have been fighting for independence for about eight years, accusing the government of ignoring their poverty-stricken province. But the United Baluch Army is not among the main militant groups.
Wednesday’s attack, in a bustling wholesale fruit and vegetable market on the outskirts of Islamabad, sent a loud boom across the city that spread panic during rush hour.
Television footage showed charred debris, shattered carts, and bloodstained fruit. Witnesses described bodies flying high in the air. A spokesman for the Pakistani Institute of Medical Sciences, a major hospital, said 22 people were killed and 96 wounded.
It was the deadliest attack in Islamabad since the 2008 Marriott Hotel bombing, when 54 people were killed and several hundred injured.
Oddly, that was around the time I changed rooms.
Despite a cease-fire between the government and Pakistani Taliban, there have been several attacks in the past month, most of them claimed by previously unknown militant groups.
The attacks, often attributed to Taliban splinter groups, have raised suspicions that the militants are either negotiating through violence or have become internally divided.
In continuing a push to engage the Taliban in talks, which started in earnest March 26, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is betting his government can end years of bloodshed. But the negotiations have been rocked by continuing attacks on civilians and have drawn sharp criticism from opposition leaders, like Bilawal Bhutto Zardari of the Pakistan Peoples Party, who accuse Sharif of ceding too much ground to the militants.
I never take peace talk seriously in a war paper.
Last week, the Interior Ministry released 19 Taliban prisoners from the Mehsud tribe, which has provided leadership and soldiers to the Taliban insurgency. Government officials say more prisoners will be freed.
But the Mehsuds appear to be divided. “The militants are not a monolith. There are different factions and not all of them agree on peace talks,” said Rasul Baksh Rais, of the Institute of Strategic Studies.
That's a good strategy.
Now who benefits?
--more--"
"Bomb hits train in southwest Pakistan, killing 16" Associated Press April 09, 2014
QUETTA, Pakistan — A bomb ripped through a railway car parked at a station in southwestern Pakistan, killing 16 people and sending flames and smoke billowing into the air, officials said.
The explosion in the town of Sibi also wounded 35 people, said district police chief Gulam Abbas Tarar.
Pakistani television stations showed images of the burning car, with flames shooting out of the windows and smoke billowing into the sky. A little-known separatist group later claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Sibi is in Baluchistan province, Pakistan’s largest region. The train was going from Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, to Rawalpindi, which is next to the capital of Islamabad. Sibi is located about 90 miles east of Quetta.
The bomb went off after it reached the Sibi station and passengers were boarding and disembarking from the cars, officials said.
Saad Rafiq, the federal minister for railways, told Geo TV that initial reports suggest a woman left explosives on the train car and then got off the train when it arrived at the station. The deputy commissioner of the district, Suhail-ur-Rehman, said explosives might have been concealed in luggage.
Baluchistan has been plagued by violence from various factions for years and Pakistani troops have been battling both Baluch separatists as well as sectarian groups in the area.
Later Tuesday, a spokesman for the separatist United Baluch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the bombing and warned of more such attacks in future. The attack was in retaliation for a military operation on Monday against the group’s activists in the province, said Mureed Baluch, the spokesman.
That has also been kept kind of quiet.
--more--"
"Pakistani worker at US consulate slain | Associated Press February 11, 2014
PESHAWAR, Pakistan —Elsewhere in Pakistan, separatists from the southwestern Baluchistan province blew up three gas pipelines in the central Rahim Yar Khan district, cutting supplies to millions of households overnight, according to the head of Sui Northern Gas, Arif Hameed.
I'm sure that will win the locals over in a power-starved land.
Hameed said the pipelines would take at least two days to fix, crippling gas supplies to Pakistan’s most prosperous province of Punjab.
The Baluch Republican Army claimed responsibility for the attack. Its spokesman, Sarbaz Baluch, said the attack was in response to the discovery earlier of dead bodies of Baluch activists.
Baluch separatists have been waging a low-level insurgency for years against the Pakistani government.
I believe more in them than the previously unheard of groups that are nothing more than fronts for false flags.
Also Monday, a suicide bomber’s explosive vest went off in the house of a progovernment tribal elder in Peshawar, killing four women, police said.
It was not clear whether the attacker set the vest off deliberately. He had run into the home of the elder, Jan Mohammad Afridi, in the city’s Chamkani area, after residents thought he was acting suspicious and the police started chasing him, said police chief Ahsan Shah.
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which is next to tribal areas that are bases for several militant networks, including the Pakistani Taliban.
It was not known whether Afridi, who was in another part of the house, was the initial target. Shah said police surrounded the house and exchanged gunfire with the bomber.
Shah said half of Afridi’s house was destroyed in the blast and four bodies were recovered from the rubble. He said five others in the house, including a woman and two children, were wounded.
--more--"
"Bomb hits train in southwest Pakistan, killing 16" Associated Press April 09, 2014
QUETTA, Pakistan — A bomb ripped through a railway car parked at a station in southwestern Pakistan, killing 16 people and sending flames and smoke billowing into the air, officials said.
The explosion in the town of Sibi also wounded 35 people, said district police chief Gulam Abbas Tarar.
Pakistani television stations showed images of the burning car, with flames shooting out of the windows and smoke billowing into the sky. A little-known separatist group later claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Sibi is in Baluchistan province, Pakistan’s largest region. The train was going from Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, to Rawalpindi, which is next to the capital of Islamabad. Sibi is located about 90 miles east of Quetta.
The bomb went off after it reached the Sibi station and passengers were boarding and disembarking from the cars, officials said.
Saad Rafiq, the federal minister for railways, told Geo TV that initial reports suggest a woman left explosives on the train car and then got off the train when it arrived at the station. The deputy commissioner of the district, Suhail-ur-Rehman, said explosives might have been concealed in luggage.
Baluchistan has been plagued by violence from various factions for years and Pakistani troops have been battling both Baluch separatists as well as sectarian groups in the area.
Later Tuesday, a spokesman for the separatist United Baluch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the bombing and warned of more such attacks in future. The attack was in retaliation for a military operation on Monday against the group’s activists in the province, said Mureed Baluch, the spokesman.
That has also been kept kind of quiet.
--more--"
"Pakistani worker at US consulate slain | Associated Press February 11, 2014
PESHAWAR, Pakistan —Elsewhere in Pakistan, separatists from the southwestern Baluchistan province blew up three gas pipelines in the central Rahim Yar Khan district, cutting supplies to millions of households overnight, according to the head of Sui Northern Gas, Arif Hameed.
I'm sure that will win the locals over in a power-starved land.
Hameed said the pipelines would take at least two days to fix, crippling gas supplies to Pakistan’s most prosperous province of Punjab.
The Baluch Republican Army claimed responsibility for the attack. Its spokesman, Sarbaz Baluch, said the attack was in response to the discovery earlier of dead bodies of Baluch activists.
Baluch separatists have been waging a low-level insurgency for years against the Pakistani government.
I believe more in them than the previously unheard of groups that are nothing more than fronts for false flags.
Also Monday, a suicide bomber’s explosive vest went off in the house of a progovernment tribal elder in Peshawar, killing four women, police said.
It was not clear whether the attacker set the vest off deliberately. He had run into the home of the elder, Jan Mohammad Afridi, in the city’s Chamkani area, after residents thought he was acting suspicious and the police started chasing him, said police chief Ahsan Shah.
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which is next to tribal areas that are bases for several militant networks, including the Pakistani Taliban.
It was not known whether Afridi, who was in another part of the house, was the initial target. Shah said police surrounded the house and exchanged gunfire with the bomber.
Shah said half of Afridi’s house was destroyed in the blast and four bodies were recovered from the rubble. He said five others in the house, including a woman and two children, were wounded.
--more--"
