Bin Laden Blowback?: More Than 80 Killed in Pakistan Blasts

On Friday, a pair of suicide bombings killed more than 80 Frontier Corps trainees who were celebrating at a graduation party in Shabqadar in northwestern Pakistan. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks as a form of retaliation for the death of Osama bin Laden, but that link was questioned by Pakistani police officials later in the day.  —KA

The Guardian:

The Taliban said the vicious double suicide bombing in Shabqadar, a trading town on the edge of the tribal belt in Charsadda district in north-western Pakistan, claimed the first part of the blood price they had promised to extract for the American killing of Bin Laden on 2 May. It was conducted with ruthless efficiency.

Abid Khan, 24, cowered in his sweetshop when he heard the first blast and then, eight minutes later, a second. Rushing to the scene, he found some 200 trainee soldiers strewn on the road among mangled vans and a pile of bags.

“It was very bad,” he said in slow, precise English. “Some people had no hand. Some people had no foot. Some heads were far away [from] the people.” He repeated himself. “It was very bad.”

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guardian.co.uk

Wrecked vans give a glimpse of the destruction after suicide bombings Friday in Pakistan.