Pakistani Army Under Siege From Taliban Suicide Bombers

Okay, this has been going on for awhile but in the past two days, the Taliban's use of suicide bombers has hit Pakistani army installations hard. The latest attack, from the story at Breitbart, went like this:

A massive car bomb tore through an army building in an eastern Pakistani city Tuesday, killing 12 people in the third attack in 24 hours as the nation battles a fierce Taliban insurgency.
The blast in the prime minister's hometown of Multan came after 49 people were killed when two bombs devastated a market in Lahore, engulfing shops in flames and burying people alive.

What the Taliban are trying to do in all of this is hit at the moral and loyalty of the Pakistani army's troops - there have been many instances in the past where the resolve of the Pakistani troops has been suspect. They have been known to flat out lay down their weapons and leave the battlefield and are reknowned for surrendering in a heavily pitched firefight. The Taliban are doing to the army targets in Pakistan what al Qaeda tried to do to the police and security forces installations in Iraq - al Qaeda in Iraq's theory was to bomb police stations and recruiting centers so as to dry up the number of police recruits.

So far, I have been impressed with the resolve of the Pakistani government in all of the operations going on against the Taliban. They have not only held up, but have expanded the operations and one can look at the number of Taliban suicide bombings as an indication of just how hard the Pakistani military is hitting them.

Now, I don't have time to put up another blogpost but look at the good news here that is buried at the bottom of the story excerpted below:

Early Tuesday, a missile strike by a US drone aircraft killed three suspected militants in the tribal belt, intelligence officials said, amid press reports that the CIA has been authorised to expand the drone programme.

It was just six months ago that the Pakistani government was bitching and moaning about CIA drone attacks in the Northwest...that was until they realized the size of the Taliban monster in their midst...now they are 100% behind these attacks. Go figure, huh?

Twelve dead as car bomb targets Pakistan army

A massive car bomb tore through an army building in an eastern Pakistani city Tuesday, killing 12 people in the third attack in 24 hours as the nation battles a fierce Taliban insurgency.
The blast in the prime minister's hometown of Multan came after 49 people were killed when two bombs devastated a market in Lahore, engulfing shops in flames and burying people alive.
A total of 71 people have been killed in blasts since midday Monday, in an apparent surge in attacks by Islamist fighters avenging a Pakistan military operation against them in the rugged tribal belt near the Afghan border.

Strikes against military targets have increased, underscoring weaknesses at the heart of the nuclear-armed nation's most powerful establishment.
Multan's top administrative official Sayed Mohammad Ali Gardezi told reporters that a group of militants armed with rocket-launchers tried to target the offices of Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter Services Intelligence.
"Soldiers retaliated and killed two attackers. They did not succeed to hit the target but another army building was damaged," he said.
The attackers managed to detonate about 800 to 1,000 kilograms (1,760 to 2,200 pounds) of explosives hidden in a pick-up truck, officials said, although it was not clear if it was a suicide attack.
Multan emergency services official Kaleem Ullah told AFP that 12 people, most of them civilians, had died in the blast and 18 others were injured.
On Monday, two bombs planted 30 metres (yards) apart blew up within seconds of each other at the bustling Moon Market in central Lahore, engulfing the area in flames as people were milling around the shops and restaurants.
"Forty-nine people were killed and around 150 were injured in these blasts," Chaudhry Shafiq, a senior city police official, told AFP on Tuesday.
Imran Anjum, a rescue official on site, told AFP that 11 women and six children were among the dead.
Lahore was the second provincial capital to be hit on Monday, about eight hours after a suicide bomber killed 10 people outside a courthouse in the northwestern city of Peshawar, a frequent target of Taliban militants.
The Moon Market blast was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since October 28, when a massive car bomb tore through a market in Peshawar, killing 125 people. "It was like doomsday," shopkeeper Mohammad Billal said, surveying about 30 devastated shops on Tuesday.
"I saw people dying and crying. Some of them were burnt to death. Most of the injured were from families who came for late night shopping."
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the slew of attacks, but officials blamed the Lahore bombings on Taliban fighters avenging an ambitious military operation to dismantle their strongholds in South Waziristan.
"After the successful operation in Waziristan, the terrorists have started targeting innocent people, women and children," Rana Sanaullah, provincial law and home minister for Punjab province, told reporters.
A fierce Islamist insurgency has killed more than 2,670 people in attacks in Pakistan mostly blamed on the Taliban in the last two-and-a-half years.
October and November saw a surge in blasts, which are increasingly audacious and potent, many targeting civilians or military installations.
Pakistan's military is engaged in offensives against Islamist fighters across much of the northwest including the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, a region branded by Washington as the most dangerous place on earth.
The tribal belt has been plagued by instability for years, exacerbated in 2001 when a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime from Afghanistan, sending hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants into the lawless region.
Washington and London are pressuring Pakistan to do more to capture Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and prevent militants crossing the border and targeting foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan.
Early Tuesday, a missile strike by a US drone aircraft killed three suspected militants in the tribal belt, intelligence officials said, amid press reports that the CIA has been authorised to expand the drone programme.