by Imdad Hussain
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| A suicide bombing in the eastern Lahore city killed at least 11 people. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) |
ISLAMABAD, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Analysts in Pakistan are divided over the role behind the massive suicide blast in Lahore on Monday, however, they agree that Taliban are too weak to launch such an attack on their own.
A building of Pakistani Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Lahore, the capital city of Punjab and the second biggest city in Pakistan, was targeted in a suicide car bomb blast Monday morning, killing at least 13 people including two security officials and injuring 89 others.
A Peshawar-based senior journalist told Xinhua that Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast when he contacted Azam Tariq, the spokesman of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
But analysts maintain that TTP has weakened to a large extent and has no ability to launch such a planned attack.
Former Secretary of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Brigadier Mehmood Shah told Xinhua that the militants have been forced to divide into small segments in various areas of the country and they are on run now.
Shah, also an expert on Pakistani tribal areas and military affairs, said that Taliban accept responsibility for such attacks just to give an impression of their presence and strength.
He said that it has been witnessed the capture of a number of militants and their leaders from various Pakistani cities including Karachi, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, areas in Azad Kashmir.
He said that every small Taliban group has its own agenda but he does not believe that the attack in Lahore was carried out by TTP.
On the contrary, Imtiaz Gul, an expert on militancy, said that no doubt that TTP has weakened to a large extent, however, an organization never can be busted by killing or arresting a few of its leaders or members.
"Yes, the possibility of carrying out the Lahore attack by TTP is there and involvement of foreign hand cannot be ruled out," Gul said.
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