Pakistan steps up violence as Russia and Georgia take break

Leaders of Pakistan’s ruling coalition were meeting Tuesday to discuss who will replace President Pervez Musharraf, who resigned Monday. For now, Mohammedmian Soomro, chairman of the senate, is acting as Pakistan’s caretaker president, but he is not expected to retain the position. Many within the ruling coalition see him as a Musharraf loyalist, analysts say. The country’s stock market and its currency rose after Musharraf stepped down on hopes that the nuclear-armed Islamic nation of 164 million was headed for political stability. Read this, it will never happen

To prove it there is increasing violence throughout Pakistan. The latest A bomb blast at a hospital in northwest Pakistan killed at least 23 people Tuesday, authorities said. Another 15 to 20 were injured. The explosion occurred near the emergency entrance to the Dera Ismail Khan District Hospital, said Malik Naveed, inspector general of police for the North West Frontier Province, where the district is located. The bomb went off while a crowd gathered outside the hospital to protest the shooting death of a Shi’ite Muslim leader, Naveed said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion, but police think a suicide bomber may have been involved.

The North West Frontier Province, near the country’s border with Afghanistan, is rife with Islamic extremists. It has been the site of recent clashes between Pakistani security forces and militants. Watch what happened at hospital » In late June, the military launched an offensive in the area — the biggest push against extremists in the tribal region since the civilian government took power in March. Islamic militants vowed to retaliate against the operation. This is political stability?

Pakistan is so stable About 100 insurgents ambushed a group of French parachutists, killing 10 soldiers in an area outside the capital known as a militant stronghold. In a separate coordinated attack, a team of homicide bombers tried unsuccessfully to storm a U.S. military base near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The death of the French soldiers marked the biggest single loss of life for international forces in combat in Afghanistan in more than three years, officials said Tuesday. “In its fight against terrorism, France has just been struck severely,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement.

But he added, “My determination remains intact. France is resolved to pursue the fight against terrorism, for democracy and liberty. The cause is just, it is the honor of France and its armies to defend it.” The soldiers were on a reconnaissance mission in the Surobi district, an area known as a militant redoubt about 30 miles east of the Afghan capital. Qazi Suliman, the district chief in Surobi, said the ambush sparked a three-hour gunbattle. Sarkozy confirmed that 10 soldiers from the 8th infantry parachute regiment were killed and 21 wounded. It is the deadliest attack against international troops in Afghanistan since June 2005, when 16 American troops were killed in Kunar province when their helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade. In July of this year nine U.S. troops died when insurgents attacked a base on the Kunar-Nuristan border in eastern Afghanistan.

In the attack on the U.S. base just a few miles from the border with Pakistan, militants failed to gain entry to Camp Salerno in Khost city after launching waves of attacks just before midnight on Monday, said Arsallah Jamal, the governor of Khost.A homicide bombing outside the same base on Monday killed 10 civilians and wounded 13 others. Ground forces, fighter aircraft and helicopters chased the retreating militants. NATO said its forces identified the attackers about 1,000 yards outside of the base perimeter and launched helicopter gunships. Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, said Afghan soldiers, aided by U.S. troops, chased and surrounded a group of insurgents, and that six militants blew themselves up when cornered. Seven other militants died in those explosions and a rolling gun battle, he said. “(The Afghan National Army) is saying that anytime we get close to them, they detonate themselves,” Jamal said. On Monday, the top U.S. general in the region, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser, issued a rare public warning that militants planned to attack civilian, military and government targets during the celebration of Independence Day on Monday. Wait until Monday

* I have said it before, as Bush claims victory in Iraq this is just beginning in Afghanistan. You can bet Russia is behind the scenes supplying arms and money to ensure we fail in Afghanistan as the US did to Russia. You know what they say about Payback? At the same time Russia is resurging thanks to Bush’s instigation with the MDS and the NZATOization of ex USSR countries. I heard this morning Rice say Russian fighters have been harassing US aircraft close to the US mainland. Oh man I just heard Russian troops are taking more American equipment and prisoners in Georgia as I speak. This in its entirety will not be resolved peacefully or soon as it is just beginning thanks to Bush and his Forever War!