U.S. Consulate Attacked In Pakistan

Stratfor:

Three explosions, two rocket attacks and subsequent gunfire have been reported in the near vicinity of the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan, on April 5. The attack occurred early afternoon local time when the consulate would have been full of both American and local employees. The death toll is reported at 36 but is expected to rise.

There are no assessments yet of the damage that the consulate building has sustained, but reports indicate that the explosions led to the collapse of other, adjacent buildings. Pakistani soldiers are also reported to be engaging militants in gunfire, indicating that militants are actively engaged in an attack near the area — possibly with the intention of breaching the U.S. Consulate.

Many U.S. diplomatic missions (including the one in Peshawar) have a number of built in security features, such as a perimeter wall, ample stand-off distance between the buildings and the wall, reinforced concrete structure and windows and marines stationed inside to ward off attacks. While militant activity in the tribal belt of northwest Pakistan has led to regular attacks against targets of the Pakistani state, today’s assault against the consulate is an extremely rare direct attack on a U.S. target.

STRATFOR is monitoring the situation for more details.

UPDATE:

One attacker was able to blow up in the U.S. Consulate premises, AAJ TV reported April 5. The front side of the U.S. Consulate has been totally destroyed. Reports indicate that seven or eight security personnel in the consulate are dead. The consulate’s communication system is down.


from The Telegraph:

Taliban attempt to storm US consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan
Taliban militants armed with guns and suicide vests targeted the US consulate in Pakistan's northwestern capital and unleashed carnage at a political rally on Monday, killing 43 people.

The apparently co-ordinated attacks were the deadliest so far this year in nuclear-armed Pakistan, where the government is closely allied to the US-led war against al-Qaeda and in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The ability of heavily-armed militants to get so close to the US mission and other military installations, such as the provincial headquarters of Pakistan's premier spy agency, will raise further questions about endemic insecurity.

"The target was certainly the American consulate but they didn't succeed in getting there," said Pakistani police officer Ghulam Hussain.

"One of the suicide bombers blew himself up close to the gate. Police guarding the US consulate started retaliatory fire. More blasts took place. We have recovered unexploded material from four different points," he said.

Three powerful explosions and bouts of gunfire echoed through the area, where the attacks occurred at a checkpoint about 20 yards from the US consulate where heavy thick smoke spewed into the sky.

"We can confirm there has been an attack on the US consulate Peshawar facilities," US embassy spokeswoman Ariel Howard told AFP, unable to provide any details about the nature of the attack, possible damage or casualties.

Pakistan's main Taliban faction claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened to carry out further assaults on Americans.

"We accept the attacks on the American consulate. This is revenge for drone attacks," said Azam Tariq, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman.

"We have already told you that we have 2,800 to 3,000 fedayeen (suicide bombers). We will carry out more such attacks. We will target any place where there are Americans," he said.

Pakistani police and army sealed off the area, preventing journalists from accessing the scene and later carried out a number of controlled explosions.

A provincial cabinet minister said four militants, a policeman and another person were killed during the attack.

"They came in two vehicles. The militants were well-equipped. It was a well-organised attack," Bashir Ahmed Bilour, senior minister in the North West Frontier Province government headquartered in the city, told reporters.

"The situation is now under control," he said, following a gun battle between the assailants and security forces.

"The militants were trying to enter the American consulate, but they did not succeed," he said.

It was not clear whether some of the assailants may have escaped.

Peshawar lies on the edge of Pakistan's tribal belt – branded by Washington a global headquarters of al-Qaeda – and has been subject to numerous attacks by Islamist militants, although recent months have seen a relative lull.

Around 3,200 people have been killed in suicide and bomb attacks over the last three years in Pakistan, blamed on militants opposed to the US alliance in the war on al-Qaeda and against the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Earlier on Monday, a suicide bomber attacked an open-air rally in the northwest district of Lower Dir, where Pakistan waged a major offensive against local Taliban insurgents last year.

The attack killed 41 people during a celebration organised by the leading secular political party in northwest and was the deadliest in Lower Dir since the anti-Taliban offensive.

"Forty-one people have been killed and 82 others wounded," Qazi Jamil, police chief for the northwestern region of Malakand, told AFP, saying it had been a suicide car bomb attack.

Residents reportedly said the bomb exploded close to the stage at the political gathering.

The Awami National Party (ANP) said it organised the meeting to celebrate plans to rename North West Frontier Province – Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as laid out in a package of constitutional reform being debated in the federal parliament.

The new name honours the Pashtun-majority population in the province, replaces a name that dates back to British colonial rule and is part of efforts to devolve greater authority to the provinces.

Lower Dir borders Pakistan's lawless tribal belt, where suspected Taliban armed with petrol bombs and rockets torched eight tankers used to supply fuel to Nato forces in Afghanistan before dawn on Monday, officials said.

Dozens of fighters launched the attack at Zakha Khel in the tribal district of Khyber, local administration chief Shafeerullah Wazir told AFP.

Under US pressure, Pakistan has in the past year significantly increased operations against militants in its tribal belt.