Attacks in Pakistan

This item appears on page 18 of the March 2010 issue.

The presence of Al-Qaida, Taliban elements and indigenous militant sectarian groups poses a potential danger throughout Pakistan, especially in the western border regions. The State Department warns that militants are seeking to increase their attacks in Pakistan’s cities, focusing on civilian and government targets and places that Westerners visit. 

Recent attacks by terrorists included armed assaults on the Pakistani Army headquarters in Rawalpindi, the United Nations World Food Program’s office in Islamabad and police training complexes in Lahore; targeted assassinations, and suicide bomb attacks in public areas, such as an Islamabad university, a Rawalpindi mosque and marketplaces in Lahore and Peshawar.