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Friday, Sep 14, 2007
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15 soldiers killed in Pakistan

Nirupama Subramanian

Blast rips through dining hall of elite commando base

ISLAMABAD: An explosion ripped through the dining hall of an elite military commando base in the North-West Frontier Province on Thursday evening, killing at least 15 soldiers and wounding many.

Military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad confirmed 15 deaths but did not specify the number of injured.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear but media speculation centred on a suicide attack.

The explosion took place at about 7.30 p.m. in the mess of the Special Services Group at Tarbela, 100 km from the capital, close to a major dam and waterworks.

The attack sent shock waves through the country. The SSG is the Pakistan military’s top commando force, and the place where the explosion took place is reported to be in the heart of a high-security cantonment area.

In July, it was the SSG that led the attack to clear the capital’s Lal Masjid of the militants holed up inside. President Pervez Musharraf was with the SSG for a number of years.

The explosion came as the military intensified operations in the Waziristan tribal area.

On Wednesday, the military said it killed 30 to 40 militants in clashes and a similar number were reported killed as clashes continued near the Afghan border.

Media analysts were quick to make the connection between the incident and the string of attacks, many of them targeting the military, over the last two months.

But the military spokesman said it was too early to link the explosion at Tarbela “to anything.”

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