Militants raid Pakistan police station; 10 killed (AP)

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – Two militants attacked a police station in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, fighting gunbattles before blowing themselves up during a five-hour standoff that killed at least 10 officers, authorities said.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack that involved a female suicide bomber, saying it was partly in revenge for the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Similar recent attacks have underscored the vulnerability of Pakistan's security establishment, which is reeling from humiliation following the unilateral U.S. raid.

After the militants entered the police station in Kolachi, TV footage showed black-clad security squads armed with rifles scrambling into positions around the facility. Three explosions rocked the scene in quick succession, setting off plumes of smoke into the sky.

At least 10 police officers died, while five others were wounded during the siege, regional police chief Imtiaz Shah said.

"Our people are being killed inside," said police constable Jan Mohammad, who emerged from the station bleeding after he managed to escape and was quickly taken away by rescue teams.

Intelligence officials said early on that between seven and 20 attackers were involved. But toward the end of the operation, as security teams canvassed the building for leftover bombs or booby traps, police official Salahuddin Khan said investigators believed that only two, possibly three, attackers staged the assault.

Two of them detonated their suicide vests, including the woman, he said. Female suicide bombers are rare, but not unprecedented, in Pakistan. One of the attackers detonated a vest as an armored vehicle tried to enter the compound, police official Javed Khan said.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan said the group sent two attackers, one of them a woman. The group has claimed responsibility for several attacks in the weeks since May 2, when U.S. Navy SEALs killed bin Laden in his compound in the northwest garrison city of Abbottabad.

The Taliban consider Pakistani security forces a legitimate target because of the South Asian nation's alliance with the United States. That relationship that has come under severe strain since the bin Laden raid.

Pakistani leaders say they had no idea bin Laden was hiding in Abbottabad, and have called the U.S. strike as a violation of their sovereignty. U.S. officials say they've seen no evidence top Pakistani leaders knew of the terror chief's whereabouts, but that secrecy was vital to ensuring the mission's success.

The bin Laden raid in particular angered and humiliated Pakistan's military, which was unable to detect the incursion by U.S. choppers.

The embarrassment has deepened as security forces have been unable to stop militant attacks since, including an 18-hour standoff at a naval base in the city's south that killed at least 10 people and bore similarities to Saturday's attack in Kolachi.

Earlier Saturday, 15 insurgents died in the northwest tribal region of Orakzai during a clash between two factions of the Pakistani Taliban, government official Mir Alam said. Orakzai has been the scene of a Pakistani army offensive.

Also Saturday, a small bomb partially went off near a Red Cross office in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city with a population of 18 million. No one was hurt.

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Associated Press writers Ashraf Khan in Karachi, Hussain Afzal in Parachinar and Riaz Khan in Peshawar contributed to this report.

Pakistani support for military action against militants drops - poll - Reuters India

 

Volunteers help injured men to an ambulance from the site of a suicide attack during a Shi'ite procession in Quetta September 3, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Rizwan Saeed/Files

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD | Wed Jun 22, 2011 12:49pm IST

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Domestic support for the Pakistani military's campaign against Islamist militant groups has waned in recent years, a poll by a U.S. group has found, showing deep-rooted opposition among the Pakistani public to the United States.

The findings of two Pew Research Center surveys will be disappointing for the United States, which wants its ally to deal forcefully with militants, particularly those fighting U.S.-led foreign forces across the border in Afghanistan who take refuge in northwestern Pakistani border enclaves.

The survey of 3,221 Pakistanis found that just 37 percent of them supported using the army to fight militants, which was 16 percent lower than two years ago, according to Pew.

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The surveys also showed that most Pakistanis -- 63 percent -- disapproved of the secret U.S. raid in May that killed Osama bin Laden, with 55 percent describing it as a "bad thing".

It was not clear if the respondents disapproved of the killing of the al Qaeda leader, who has not been popular in the country in recent years, or the secret U.S. raid which many people saw as a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty.

Only 12 percent of respondents had a positive view of the United States and only 8 percent had confidence in President Barack Obama "to do the right thing in world affairs", Pew said.

"Most Pakistanis see the United States as an enemy, consider it a potential military threat and oppose American-led anti-terrorism efforts," Pew said.

The overwhelming rejection of U.S. goals and efforts in the region puts Pakistan's U.S.-allied government and military in a difficult position in trying to please its people while working with the United States.

Although Pakistan said the death of bin Laden was a positive step in the battle against militancy, his killing by U.S. Navy SEALs in his Pakistani hideout seriously damaged already strained ties between the uneasy allies.

After the raid, the Pakistan army cut back the number of U.S. troops stationed in the country and ended their role in training Pakistani soldiers involved in fighting militants.

The Pakistan military also faced rare criticism at home for its failure to discover that the al Qaeda chief had been living in the country, apparently undetected, for years.

"OVERWHELMINGLY POPULAR"

But Pew said despite criticism after the bin Laden raid, the military remained "overwhelmingly popular", with 79 percent of respondents saying it had a good influence on the country.

The ratings for military chief General Ashfaq Kayani saw a slight decrease after the bin Laden raid with 52 percent of people favourable and 21 percent unfavourable.

Previously, Kayani was viewed positively by 57 percent, with 18 percent seeing him in a negative light.

Militants have stepped up attacks in recent weeks to avenge bin Laden's killing.

Pew said 55 percent of people surveyed were "very or somewhat worried" that the militants might take over Pakistan, though that fear was down from 69 percent two years ago.

Still, 63 percent considered Islamic extremism a problem although that was a decline from two years ago, when 79 percent said they were worried.

Views of al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban as threats have fluctuated over the years.

In 2009, 61 percent of Pakistanis viewed al Qaeda as a threat, dropping to 38 percent in 2010 and rising to 49 percent after bin Laden's death. The Taliban were seen as a very serious threat by 73 percent in 2009, but that had dropped to 54 percent.

Worryingly for the United States, 26 percent of respondents saw the Taliban regaining control in Afghanistan as good for Pakistan while 21 percent said it would be bad.

In 2010, 18 percent believed it would be good for Pakistan.

(Editing by Chris Allbritton and Robert Birsel)