Pakistan’s PM confronts Bush over cross-border raids on militants
Bruce Loudon; 20/5/08
The spectre of suicide bombings returned to Pakistan yesterday after a lull of almost three months, only hours after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani personally confronted US President George W. Bush over “provocative” cross-border raids aimed at al-Qa’ida targets. The raids - in particular last week’s CIA missile attack on an al-Qa’ida compound at Damadola, in the Bajaur Tribal Agency - are blamed by Pakistani officials for sparking a suicide bombing on Sunday in a market at the Punjab Regiment garrison in Mardan, a town in North West Frontier Province. Thirteen people, including five soldiers, were killed and 23 injured - the biggest such attack since Pakistan’s elections in February, and one that casts a shadow over the Government’s attempts to negotiate peace deals with extremist groups linked to al-Qa’ida and the Taliban.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23725066-25837,00.html