Lahore park suicide blast: Taliban faction claims responsibility, kills over 65

Lahore park suicide blast: Taliban faction claims responsibility, kills over 65

A suicide bomber killed at least 65 people, mostly women and children, at a park in Lahore on Sunday in an attack claimed by a Pakistani Taliban faction which said it had targeted Christians. More than 300 other people were wounded, officials said.

The chief minister of Punjab province, Shahbaz Sharif, announced three days mourning and pledged to ensure that those involved in the attack are brought to trial.

Senior police officer Haider Ashraf says the explosion took place close to the children's rides in Gulshan-e-Iqbal park. He says the explosion appeared to have been a suicide bombing, but investigations were ongoing. The area was crowded with Christians celebrating the Easter holidays, he said.

The Taliban faction Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attack.

“The target was Christians,” a spokesman for the faction, Ehsanullah Ehsan, said. “We want to send this message to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that we have entered Lahore. He can do what he wants but he won’t be able to stop us. Our suicide bombers will continue these attacks.”

In Pictures | Deadly blast in crowded Lahore park kills over 60

"It is suspected that a suicide bomber blew himself up at the main gate of the park," Deputy Inspector General Lahore Police Haider Asharaf said. He said about 8-10 kilogrammes of explosive might have been used in the blast.

Heard about the blast in Lahore. I strongly condemn it. My condolences to families of the deceased & prayers with the injured: PM

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 27, 2016

District Coordination Officer Lahore retired Capt Muhammad Usman said: "At least 56 people have been killed and over 126 injured in the blast."

He, however, ruled out that Christians were the target of the attack. "It was not a Christian park. Christians may be among the dead."

Punjab minister Bilal Yasin said over 200 people have been injured in the blast. "The death toll may rise as a number of injured are in critical condition," he said.

Men mourn the death of their relatives after a blast outside a public park in Lahore, Pakistan, March 27, 2016. (Source: Reuters)

An official of the Punjab police told reporters that the suicide bomber - believed to be in his 20s - managed to enter the park and blew himself up near the swings. "It appears that the suicide bomber's main target were children," he said.

The park is located in a posh-locality in Lahore - a comparatively peaceful city in an otherwise violence-wrecked Pakistan which is also the hometown of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The army has joined rescue officials to shift the injured to hospitals. An emergency has been declared in city hospitals and appeals have been made to people to donate blood.

"We must bring the killers of our innocent brothers, sisters and children to justice and will never allow these savage inhumans to over-run our life and liberty," military spokesman  Asim Bajwa said in a post on Twitter.

Eyewitnesses said there were scattered body parts all around the park, where a large number of families, especially women and children, were present on a Sunday evening. The crowd was "unusually large" because of Easter.

"My two children were taking swings when a powerful blast occurred. Me and the children fell on the ground. I was semi-unconscious. When I fully regained consciousness I ran to find my children," Saleem Shahid, one of the injured in the blast, said at a city hospital where he was being treated.

His children sustained injuries in the blast. "Thank God! They were alive having injuries on their head. I tore my shirt and made a bandage of it," Shahid said.

Police tried to evacuate the park but people looking for their kins refused to leave the place. "Still a good number of people are in critical condition," Emergency Services Rescue spokesperson Deeba Shahnaz said.

Punjab government has announced a three-day mourning in the province. Several leaders, including Prime Minister Sharif and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan, have condemned the blast. Christians leaders also strongly condemned the attack.

Source(s): The Indian Express

27 radicalised Bangladeshis arrested in Singapore under Internal Security Act: MHA

SINGAPORE – The Internal Security Act (ISA) arrested twenty seven (27) male Bangladeshis worker in Singapore. It was the first uncovered jihadist terror cell that comprises foreigners.

The investigations showed that the group arrested has been meeting subsequent to 2013, the group supported the armed terrorist groups such as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Al – Qaeda.

“Few of them were deliberated as the waging armed jihad workers, but they are not planning for any terrorist attacks in Singapore” – Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The Bangladeshis works as construction worker, were arrested last year between November 16 and December 1. Most of them had stayed and worked in Singapore for seven years.

“They were a serious threat to Singapore, even though they were plotting "nefarious activities" in their home country.” – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong

He added that Singapore is tightening its security and acting to protect its racial and religious harmony.

"Radicalization and terrorism must never take root in Singapore," said PM Lee. 

Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam warned that the men could have easily changed their minds and attacked Singapore. 

"Our security agencies have done well in picking them up early. I had said yesterday ( that the threat of terrorism is real. We are getting daily reminders of that," Mr Shanmugan wrote in his Facebook post.

Of the 27, 26 were members of a closed religious study group that subscribed to extremist beliefs and teachings of radical figures like Anwar al-Awlaki, an American and Yemeni Islamic lecturer alleged to have ties with militant group Al-Qaeda. Awlaki was killed in a drone strike in Yemen in September 2011.

The remaining man was not a member of the study group, but was discovered to have been undergoing radicalisation. He supported extremist preachers and possessed jihadi-related material.

All 27 have had their work passes cancelled, and 26 of them have since been repatriated to Bangladesh, where the authorities were informed of the circumstances of their repatriation.

The last person is now in prison for attempting to leave Singapore illegally after learning of his fellow members' arrests. He will also be repatriated once he completes his sentence.

This is the first time Singapore has uncovered a jihadist terror cell comprising foreigners. Previously, a few Singapore Jemaah Islamiyah members had been involved in terrorist incidents overseas, said MHA in response to media queries.

The group held weekly meetings and gatherings at a few mosques that were located near where some of them were staying. At these meetings, they discussed armed jihad and conflicts that involved Muslims, said MHA in response to media queries.

They were not employed by any particular company.  "There was also no concentration of the group members in any particular place of abode," MHA added.

Source(s): Link

Euro is poor yardstick for euro existential stress

A man stands in front of "SUPERFLEX, Euro 2012" , a 416.6 cm by 289.6 cm (164 by 114 inch) large photographic print of an Euro coin on sale by the Los Angeles-based gallery 1301 PE at the Art Cologne 2015 fair in Cologne April 15, 2015. - Source: REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

The Greek crisis is compromising currency traders’ reputation for being the first and fastest to react to big economic or political news. The prices of southern euro zone government bonds and of European equities have fallen since European politicians began to talk openly about the possibility that Greece might default or even leave the euro. Yet, at $1.1370, the euro is trading closer to the top than the bottom of its three-month range against the dollar.

What is going on? FX traders can defend themselves by saying that currency options point to underlying pessimism about the single currency’s prospects. But that fails to explain why the gloom is not showing up in the spot market.

One problem is that exchange rates are always two-sided. So, the euro/dollar also reflects what Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is going to do, and when. Bond yield spreads and stock prices can be a purer expression of investors’ concern about the threat to a monetary union which was supposed to be irreversible.

Also, hedging flows are sometimes making the euro move in counter-intuitive ways. Many foreign investors who bought euro zone stocks and bonds earlier this year hedged their exposure to the single currency, which they anticipated would fall. When asset managers scale back on their investments, or the price of these assets fall, some of these hedges are unwound – by buying euros. That pushes up the exchange rate.

Finally, uncertainty is keeping traders from placing big bets against the euro. European creditors might cut Athens more slack at the last minute. Even if they don’t and Greece leaves the euro zone, remaining members could pool more sovereignty, strengthening the foundations of the single currency. In the fog of ignorance, speculative players are sitting still. This leaves the euro at liberty to benefit from the buoyant effects of the region’s current account surplus.

The euro’s resilience could crumble if Greece steps too much closer to the brink. But even then, the bond and stock markets are likely to be a better guide to how investors view the single currency project.

Source: Reuters