~Spectre
4th February 2010, 19:16
TIMERGARA: Three American soldiers were among eight people killed in a suicide attack in Lower Dir district on Wednesday.
It is the first time US soldiers have been killed in the tribal region, near the Afghan border, in an attack that drew attention towards a little-known programme involving the US army training Frontier Corps personnel.
A senior security official said the bomber slammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a convoy of the Frontier Corps. They were going to inaugurate a school in Kad.
The school was blown up by the Taliban, but rebuilt with the help of the United States Assistance for International Development (USAID), the official said.
(According to AFP news agency, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and alleged that the dead Americans belonged to US security company Blackwater Worldwide, now known as Xe.
We claim responsibility for the blast, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Azam Tariq said in a call from an unspecified place.
The Americans killed were members of the Blackwater group. We know they are responsible for bomb blasts in Peshawar and other Pakistani cities, he said).
Among those killed were three US soldiers, four schoolgirls and a paramilitary soldier. The US soldiers were identified as Sergeants John, Sikle and Andrew. A US army major, identified as Major Roth, was critically injured.
It's not letting me post links, I got it from Pakistan based Dawn, though the story is available in several places.
They were denying that the U.S. even had mercenaries there, now they won't even be able to deny that they have actual soldiers there.
This could be quite destabilizing for Pakistan's government. Especially by the border region.
It is the first time US soldiers have been killed in the tribal region, near the Afghan border, in an attack that drew attention towards a little-known programme involving the US army training Frontier Corps personnel.
A senior security official said the bomber slammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a convoy of the Frontier Corps. They were going to inaugurate a school in Kad.
The school was blown up by the Taliban, but rebuilt with the help of the United States Assistance for International Development (USAID), the official said.
(According to AFP news agency, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and alleged that the dead Americans belonged to US security company Blackwater Worldwide, now known as Xe.
We claim responsibility for the blast, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Azam Tariq said in a call from an unspecified place.
The Americans killed were members of the Blackwater group. We know they are responsible for bomb blasts in Peshawar and other Pakistani cities, he said).
Among those killed were three US soldiers, four schoolgirls and a paramilitary soldier. The US soldiers were identified as Sergeants John, Sikle and Andrew. A US army major, identified as Major Roth, was critically injured.
It's not letting me post links, I got it from Pakistan based Dawn, though the story is available in several places.
They were denying that the U.S. even had mercenaries there, now they won't even be able to deny that they have actual soldiers there.
This could be quite destabilizing for Pakistan's government. Especially by the border region.