ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- More than 50 people were killed in suicide attacks across Pakistan yesterday as the violence engulfing this country gave no sign of abating.
Three separate assaults in less than 15 hours hit the north, the south and an area close to Pakistan's volatile border region with Afghanistan. The fatalities pushed past 150 the number of people who have died violently in the past week, since Islamic militants vowed to punish Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in revenge for a blood-soaked government raid on a radical mosque.
The deadliest of yesterday's bombings struck a well-protected convoy carrying Chinese engineers through the town of Hub, in Baluchistan province in the south, authorities said. The attacker's vehicle blew up alongside the convoy, in a ball of fire so powerful that it destroyed four police cars and ripped off the facades of nearby shops.
At least 30 people died in the blast.
A local councilor, Abdul Jamil Gichki, told reporters that eight police officers were among the dead. However, the car in which the engineers were riding escaped major damage.
Musharraf, an army general considered by Washington to be a key ally in the battle against Islamic militancy, condemned the attack. With support for his military rule plunging at home, he appealed to his compatriots to rally around the fight against extremism.
"We have to take the country forward, and with extremist activities all economic achievements made over the years will go to waste," Musharraf warned.
Yesterday morning, a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with explosives at the gate of a parade ground belonging to a police academy in the northern city of Hangu. Six police officers and one civilian were killed.
Later yesterday, an attacker detonated himself during evening prayers at a mosque in the northwest garrison town of Kohat, about 40 miles south of Peshawar. Authorities said that the blast killed 14 people - 12 army recruits and two children - and injured 15 others.
As for the attack on the convoy in Hub, it remained unclear whether religious radicalism was the motive. Baluchistan, a region rich in natural resources, is home to a militant secessionist movement by local fighters who resent being ruled by the ethnically different Punjabis who dominate the government in Islamabad.
Three years ago, another car bombing in Baluchistan killed three Chinese engineers who were working on construction of a new deep-water port in the town of Gwadar, down the coast from Karachi, which opened to great fanfare this year.
Suicide attacks have become daily occurrences since last week's siege of the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in Islamabad, in which more than 100 people died.
The raid led to calls by militants for renunciation of a 10-month- old cease-fire agreement with the government by tribal leaders in the North Waziristan region, a stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaida fighters near the border with Afghanistan.
Although the peace pact was heavily criticized as too lenient toward the militants, Islamabad is seeking to revive it. Yesterday, a delegation of tribal leaders left Peshawar for Miram Shah, North Waziristan's main town, to negotiate a return to the cease-fire.
Mubashir Zaidi and Henry Chu write for the Los Angeles Times.
