Taliban Observe Ramadan By Car Bombing 13 Pakistanis To Death

Did I not predict this? Actually, it wasn't much of a prediction - it's more like stating that the sun will rise in the East but we noted here the other day that the Pakistani government had decided to halt all military operations in NW Pakistan in observance of the islamic fastfest of Ramadan and I simply scoffed at that since I knew the Taliban and al Qaeda would never stop their violence. And so, today...the Taliban drove a pickup jammed with explosives into a check point...blew it up....killed 13 Pakistanis and injured more than 60. Here's some of the details from Breitbart:

A pickup truck packed with a large amount of explosives blew up a security checkpoint in Pakistan's volatile northwest Saturday, killing at least 13 people and injuring nearly 60 in an attack that may have been intended for a more important target, police said.
The suicide attack occurred on the outskirts of Peshawar on the day Pakistani lawmakers voted for a new president, underscoring the challenges facing a country the U.S. has pressured to crack down on insurgents.
Television footage showed a blast crater three feet deep and destroyed vehicles and pieces of debris scattered across a large area. Officials said many people were trapped under the rubble of damaged buildings in a nearby market. Civilians dug frantically with their hands in hopes of finding survivors.

The AP writer goes on in the article to say that no one claimed responsibility yet for the attack - as if there was any doubt on that! I guess what I'd like to point out here is this....part of radical islam, part of the Taliban mode of operating is the most extreme interpretation of the Qur'an and of islam in itself. So, we have the Taliban following the strictest guidelines of the theology day in and day out but in situations like this, they defy the idea of Ramadan which calls for an end of violence and such acts. And that is what makes the Taliban so unpredicatable. They will do things totally inconsistent with a "religion" that they claim is the basis of their mission, yet they consistently do things INCONSISTENT with that "religion." These Taliban are simply natural born killers.

Police: Blast in northwestern Pakistan kills 13

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - A pickup truck packed with a large amount of explosives blew up a security checkpoint in Pakistan's volatile northwest Saturday, killing at least 13 people and injuring nearly 60 in an attack that may have been intended for a more important target, police said.
The suicide attack occurred on the outskirts of Peshawar on the day Pakistani lawmakers voted for a new president, underscoring the challenges facing a country the U.S. has pressured to crack down on insurgents.
Television footage showed a blast crater three feet deep and destroyed vehicles and pieces of debris scattered across a large area. Officials said many people were trapped under the rubble of damaged buildings in a nearby market. Civilians dug frantically with their hands in hopes of finding survivors.
Nasirulmulk Bangash, a top police official in the area, said the vehicle carried at least 330 pounds of explosives—an amount he called "unprecedented"—and was apparently en route to Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province.
The amount of explosives indicated the attack was aimed at a higher-value target than the small checkpoint, but might have been tripped up by high security on election day, Bangash said, without speculating on what the intended target might have been.
At least 13 people died and nearly 60 were wounded, Bangash said.
Several of the dead were believed to be police manning the post. At Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, officials said about 30 wounded people had come for treatment.
"They have got multiple wounds," physician Mohammad Idrees said. "Some of them have their arms and legs broken, and others have got head injuries. We have declared an emergency here."
Sher Zaman, 15, told The Associated Press from a hospital bed that he was selling fruit from a cart at the market when he heard a large explosion and was knocked down when something hit him in the chest. He said residents quickly gathered and helped transport casualties to hospitals.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for Saturday's blast.
In recent weeks, however, the Pakistani Taliban have said they were to blame for a string of suicide bombings they called revenge for military offensives in the northwest region, which borders Afghanistan. One attack killed nearly 70 people at a major weapons factory.
Pakistan has struggled to contain rising militancy in its borders, and the fledgling government has tried both peace talks and military operations to stop the insurgents.
It's an effort watched closely by the U.S., which says that militants have safe havens in Pakistan's northwest from which they plan attacks in neighboring Afghanistan.
A recent U.S.-led ground cross-border assault on a Pakistani tribal region, said to have killed at least 15 people, prompted protests from the government and angered many Pakistanis.
Asif Ali Zardari, widower of slain ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, won the presidency. He has vowed to be tough on militancy.