Another list displaying the conflicted society of Pakistan

Reuters today provides a list of the "militant violence" that has taken place in Pakistan since December 2007. It is a convenient list because it reveals how many targets the extremist insurgents have. The list does not include many other occasions of abuse of human beings -- like the flogging of a 17 year old girl in Swat. We can only grieve for those who have to live in such a world. For most Americans it seems so alien, so far away -- while in the mean time they have their own problems: gunmen lay in wait for police officers in Philadelphia and an estranged man attacks the only world he knew, a center for habiltating immigrants. RLC

TIMELINE - Attacks destabilise strife-torn Pakistan

Sun Apr 5, 2009 10:50am BST

(Reuters) - A suicide bomber blew himself up in a religious centre for minority Shi'ite Muslims in central Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least 17 people, a day after a deadly suicide attack in the capital, officials said.

Militant violence has surged in nuclear-armed Pakistan in the last two years, with numerous attacks on security forces and government and Western targets. Following is a timeline of major attacks in Pakistan since late 2007:

October 19, 2007 - At least 139 people are killed in a suicide bomb attack on former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's motorcade as she is driven through the financial capital of Karachi at the end of eight years of exile. She was unhurt.

December 21 - A suicide bomber kills at least 41 people in a mosque in Charsadda district, in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), during the Muslim Eid festival prayers.

December 27 - Bhutto is killed in a gun and bomb attack after a rally in northern garrison town of Rawalpindi. At least 16 others are killed.

February 29, 2008 - A suicide attack on a police funeral kills 40 people in the turbulent northwestern district of Swat, 160 km (100 miles) from Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

March 2 - At least 40 people are killed as suicide bomber attacks a gathering of tribal elders in Darra Adam Khel, a northwestern tribal region.

March 11 - Two suicide car bombers kill 24, most of them in an attack on a government security office in the country's second largest city, Lahore, near the Pakistan-India border.

March 15 - A bomb attack at an Italian restaurant in Islamabad, a favourite hangout for foreigners, kills a Turkish woman and wounds several others, including four FBI agents.

August 19 - Suspected suicide bomber kills 23 in compound of hospital in Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP, southwest of Islamabad, as Shi'ite Muslims protest a leader's killing.

August 21 - Two suicide bombers blow themselves up outside the main defence industry complex in Wah, 30 km (18 miles) northwest of Islamabad. Nearly 50 people are killed and about 70 wounded.

September 20 - Suicide truck bomb attack blamed on Islamist militants kills 55 people, destroys Marriott hotel in Islamabad.

December 5 - A car bomb kills at least 20 people and wounds scores in Peshawar, capital of NWFP.

December 28 - At least 30 people are killed in a suicide car bomb blast at a polling station near Buner, in the NWFP, during a by-election for a provincial assembly.

February 5, 2009 - At least 24 people are killed in a suspected suicide bombing near Shi'ite mosque in Dera Ghazi Khan, central Pakistan.

February 20 - Suicide bomber kills 27 people and wounds 65 in an attack on a funeral procession for a Shi'ite Muslim killed a day earlier in Dera Ismail Khan.

March 3 - Gunmen attack a bus carrying Sri Lanka's cricket team outside a Lahore stadium, killing seven people, including six policemen and a driver, and wounding six of the cricketers and a British coach.

March 27 - A suicide bomber kills 37 people when he blows himself up in a crowded Pakistani mosque near the Afghan border. Among the dead are 14 policemen and paramilitary soldiers.

March 30 - Militants armed with guns and grenades storm a police training centre in Lahore killing eight recruits, wounding scores and holding off police and troops for eight hours. The attack is claimed by Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. Four militants are killed and three arrested.

April 5 - A suicide bomber blows himself up in a religious centre for minority Shi'ite Muslims in Chakwal in central Pakistan. At least 17 people are killed and around 11 seriously wounded. The attack comes a day after a suicide attack in Islamabad killed eight paramilitary troops in Islamabad.

(Writing by David Cutler and Carl Bagh; Additional writing by Jijo Jacob, Editing by Dean Yates)

© Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Thomson Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters and its logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the world.

Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.