Police target

On Monday, the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for an early morning attack in the southern port city of Karachi. A suicide bomber killed eight, including six policemen, when he detonated an explosives-laden vehicle outside the home of Chaudhry Mohammad Aslam, the senior superintendent of police who has been tasked with cracking down on militancy as head of the counter-terrorism unit at the Crime Investigation Department.

Aslam, who had reportedly been threatened before, escaped unhurt and said he would not be intimidated. "This is a cowardly act," he told local media. "I'm not scared. I will not spare them."

A Pakistani Taliban spokesman told Reuters that other police officials would be attacked for "taking action against our people." He named five other police officials on the list.

Extensive damage

Apart from the policemen who were guarding the house, a mother and her child were also killed. The death toll might have been worse if the attack had happened slightly later as many children would have been on their way to schools located nearby in Karachi's Defense neighbourhood, an upscale residential area.

Much of Aslam's house was destroyed by the blast which left an eight-foot crater. Local television footage showed extensive damage, with the fronts of several two-storey buildings totally blown away.

Although Karachi is not as frequently the target of militant attacks as Pakistan's other cities, it is thought to be the home of many Taliban militants who have fled army operations in the country's northwest, near the border with Afghanistan.

The city has been plagued by ethnic and political violence this year.

Author: Anne Thomas (Reuters, AFP, AP)
Editor: Grahame Lucas