TIMELINE: Militant attacks in Pakistan

Tue Jun 9, 2009 4:44pm EDT
 
[-] Text [+]

(Reuters) - Militants attacked a hotel popular with foreigners in the Pakistani city of Peshawar with guns and a truck bomb on Tuesday, killing five people including a U.N. worker, authorities said.

Following is a timeline of major attacks in 2009:

February 5 - At least 24 people are killed in a suspected suicide bombing near Shi'ite mosque in Dera Ghazi Khan, central Pakistan.

February 20 - Suicide bomber kills 27 people and wounds 65 in an attack on a funeral procession for a Shi'ite Muslim killed a day earlier in Dera Ismail Khan town.

March 3 - Gunmen attack a bus carrying Sri Lanka's cricket team outside a Lahore stadium, killing seven people, including six policemen and a driver, and wounding six of the cricketers and a British coach.

March 27 - A suicide bomber kills 37 people when he blows himself up in a crowded mosque near the Afghan border. Among the dead are 14 policemen and paramilitary soldiers.

March 30 - Militants armed with guns and grenades storm a police training center in Lahore killing eight recruits, wounding scores and holding off police and troops for eight hours. The attack is claimed by Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. Four militants are killed and three arrested.

April 5 - A suicide bomber blows himself up in a religious center for minority Shi'ite Muslims in Chakwal in central Pakistan. At least 17 people are killed and about 11 seriously wounded. The attack comes a day after a suicide attack in Islamabad killed eight paramilitary soldiers.

April 15 - A suicide car-bomber blows himself up at a security post in the northwest, killing nine policemen and three civilians.

April 18 - A suicide car-bomber rams a military convoy, killing 25 soldiers and police and two passers-by near Kohat, 190 km (120 miles) west of Islamabad.

April 25 - Twelve children who mistake a bomb for a toy are killed when it explodes as they play with it in the Low Dir district near Swat. Authorities say it is unclear whether the incident is an "act of terrorism" or an accident.

May 11 - Ten people are killed and more than a dozen wounded in a suicide car bomb attack on a security checkpost near Peshawar.

May 16, 2008 - Car packed with mortar bombs blows up in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing 11 people, including four children passing in a school bus.

May 27 - Gunmen attack a police headquarters in the Pakistani city of Lahore, setting off a car-bomb that killed at least 24 people.

May 28 - Two bombs explode in a market in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing six people.

June 5 - A suicide bomber killed around 40 people at a mosque in northwest Pakistan as U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke consulted the country's leaders on what needs to be done once the army eliminates the Taliban in Swat valley.

June 9 - Militants attack the Pearl Continental Hotel, which is popular with foreigners, in the Pakistani city of Peshawar with guns and a truck bomb killing five people including a U.N. worker, authorities say.

 
A Taliban fighter poses with weapons in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan October 30, 2009. REUTERS/Stringer
Taliban may wait out Washington's "endgame"

Washington's hint of an Afghanistan endgame in saying U.S. troops won't still be there in 2017 might help win over a war-weary public, but there is no guarantee a notoriously patient Taliban won't just wait the Americans out.  Full Article | Full Coverage 

More News

Army repels Taliban in NW Pakistan after hotel blast
Wednesday, 10 Jun 2009 07:14pm EDT 
Attack on Pakistan hotel fuels anger with Taliban
Wednesday, 10 Jun 2009 10:55am EDT 
Car bomb rips through south Iraq market, 33 killed
Wednesday, 10 Jun 2009 10:26am EDT 
Militants attack Pakistani hotel, 5 dead, 70 hurt
Tuesday, 9 Jun 2009 07:47pm EDT 
Shock gives way to praise for Madrid bombings comic
Tuesday, 9 Jun 2009 04:35pm EDT 

Editor's Choice

A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours.  Slideshow 

Most Popular on Reuters

  • Articles
  • Video
Men transport a pig on a horse cart along a highway on the outskirts of Havana November 26, 2009.  REUTERS/Desmond Boylan
Cubans fear hard times ahead, impatient for change

Cubans are bracing for hard times in 2010 as President Raul Castro slashes imports and cuts government spending to get Cuba out of crisis -- and they are growing impatient with the slow pace of economic reform.  Full Article