Taliban claims attack on court compound in NW Pakistan
A faction of the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for a recent deadly bombing which killed at least 15 people and injured over two dozen others in the country’s troubled northwest.
Ehsanullah Ehsan, the spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban's Jamaat-ur-Ahrar faction, said the Monday’s blast at a court compound "was especially done as vengeance for the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri.”
Ehsan also stressed that the blast targeted the court complex as Pakistan's judiciary was strengthening laws against militancy in the country.
The attack occurred on Monday morning when a bomber blew himself up as the officers were trying to stop him from entering the court building in the town of Shabqadar, located some 150 kilometers northwest of the capital, Islamabad. Authorities said at least two children were among the dead.
Qadri, who assassinated Salmaan Taseer, the former governor of the country's province of Punjab in 2011 who sought reforms to Pakistan's blasphemy law, was executed at 04:30 local time (23:30 GMT) at Adiala jail in Rawalpindi on February 29, after all his petitions and mercy appeals were rejected.
The execution has triggered protests in some cities by supporters of extremist and militant groups. Qadri’s funeral brought supporters of pro-Saudi Wahhabi groups on to the streets, who hailed him as a hero.
Taliban and other militant groups had earlier threatened to unleash attacks if Qaderi was executed.
Qadri shot Salman Taseer-- the high-profile member of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Punjab Governor -- 28 times while guarding him in an Islamabad market in early 2011.
Critics say Pakistan's blasphemy laws are largely misused, with hundreds of people languishing in jails under false charges. In most cases, even unproven allegations frequently stir mob violence and bloodshed.
The law has raised concerns among rights activists and some liberal politicians who say it is often exploited by extremists or those who want to settle personal scores.
The developments come at a time when the Islamabad government is trying to tackle the growing militancy, political instability and extremism in the country.
In late January, Chris Murphy, a top American senator, accused Saudi Arabia of funding some 24,000 Wahhabi religious schools in Pakistan through an unleashed “tsunami of money” in order to “export intolerance” across the south Asian country.
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