Pakistan has been beset by a wave of suicide attacks in recent weeks. On September 6th, a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into a police station in northwest Pakistan, killing 19 people and injuring at least 46. The murdered included 9 police officers, 8 civilians and 2 children, according to local authorities.
Only days earlier on September 3rd, a suicide bombing at a Shiite demonstration in the western Pakistani city of Quetta left at least 65 people dead and many more injured. The Quetta strike followed a suicide attack that killed at least two people in northwestern Pakistan at a mosque of the Ahmadi sect, a religious minority whose members are frequent victims of Islamist extremists.
In addition, suicide bombers struck a Shiite march September 1st in the eastern city of Lahore, killing at least 30 and sparking riots.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the Lahore bombing. The United States has added the organization, which officials say was behind May's Times Square bomb attempt, to its list of designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
The United States condemns all the recent terrorist attacks on Pakistani civilians and police. Moreover, the U.S. condemns in the strongest possible terms, the terrorist attacks on a religious procession in Quetta and an Ahmadi worship center near Peshawar. "To target innocent civilians during the holy month of Ramadan," said a White House statement, "at an already difficult time as the country is working to recover from terrible flooding caused by monsoons makes these acts even more reprehensible." Ruinous floods have left 1,600 people dead and displaced millions.
The United States remains committed to helping the government and people of Pakistan as they recover from the devastating floods to secure a more peaceful and prosperous future, free from radical Islamic violence and threat.
The United States remains committed to helping the government and people of Pakistan.
