Terrorist incidents in Pakistan in 2003

There are only a few terrorist attacks in Pakistan, resulting over 50 deaths.

February – March 2003

• 28 February:- Two policemen were shot dead outside the United States consulate in Karachi, the same place where 12 people were killed by a car bomb nine months ago.^[1]

• 10 March:- Two people were injured when a masked terrorist opened indiscriminate fire on a mosque in Gulistan Colony, Faisalabad.^[2]

June – July 2003

• 8 June:- 11 Pakistani police trainees were shot dead in what is believed to have been a sectarian attack on Sariab Road, Quetta, as they all belonged to Hazara Shi'a branch of Islam. Another nine were reported wounded.^[3]

• 4 July:- At least 47 people were killed and 150 injured in an attack on a Shia mosque in the south-western Pakistani city of Quetta.^[4]

October – December 2003

• 3 October:- Six employees of Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) were killed and several others injured when their official van was fired upon on Hub River Road in Mauripur, Karachi. A Lashkar-e-Jhangvi cadre was officially charged.^[5]

• 6 October:- Maulana Azam Tariq, chief of the Millat-i-Islamia (formerly Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan) and MNA, was assassinated by unidentified gunmen along with four others as his car drove into the capital, Islamabad.^[6]

• 14 December:- President Pervez Musharraf survived an assassination attempt when a powerful bomb went off minutes after his highly-guarded convoy crossed a bridge in Rawalpindi. Musharraf was apparently saved by a jamming device in his limousine that prevented the remote controlled explosives from blowing up the bridge as his convoy passed over it.^[7]

• 25 December:- Another attempt was carried on the president 11 days later when two suicide bombers tried to assassinate Musharraf, but their car bombs failed to kill the president; 16 others nearby died instead. Musharraf escaped with only a cracked windscreen on his car. Militant Amjad Farooqi was apparently suspected as being the mastermind behind these attempts, and was killed by Pakistani forces in 2004 after an extensive manhunt.^[8]

References

1. Phil Reeves. "Police officers killed in gun attack outside US consulate in Karachi" The Independent, 1 March 2003
2. "Two injured in Faisalabad mosque attack" Dawn, 10 March 2003
3. "Police massacre in Pakistan" BBC News, 8 June 2003
4. "47 killed in Quetta mosque attack" Daily Times, 5 July 2003
5. "Evidence concluded in Suparco killing case" Dawn, 24 June 2005
6. "Azam Tariq gunned down in Islamabad" Dawn, 7 October 2003
7. Near miss for Musharraf convoy BBC News
8. Musharraf survives second assassination attempt in two weeks CBC Canada