PESHAWAR, Jan 24 With Friday's suicide car bombing in Swat District the number of incidents involving suicide bombings has risen to 21 in the restive valley claiming lives of at least 160 persons.
The car bombing near a security check post at Fizzagut, once a known as a picnic spot, killing two security personnel, was the first since the start of the current year.
According to the data collected by Dawn a total of seven suicide blasts occurred during the year 2007 in different areas of Swat wherein about 70 persons were killed. The year 2008 witnessed 13 incidents of suicide bombings that claimed lives of around 90 persons. In these 21 blasts about 75 personnel of law enforcement agencies including army, police, Frontier Corps and Frontier Constabulary were killed.
The first incident of the suicide blasts in Swat occurred on July 12, 2007, when two suicide bombers rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a police van near Takhtaband bridge killing three cops. The most devastating suicide blast took place on February 29, 2008, when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the funeral of a DSP, Jawed Iqbal, killing 42 persons and injuring 50 others. The DSP was killed earlier in the day in a roadside bombing in Lakki Marwat district.
The second most damaging incident occurred on July 15, 2007 when multiple blasts targeting a convoy of security forces took place killing 21 persons mostly security personnel. At two different spots in the militants' stronghold of Matta, suicide bombers hit an army convoy with explosives-laden vehicles in July 2007.
In another devastating incident at least 20 persons including 17 personnel of the Frontier Constabulary were killed, when a powerful bomb ripped through a truck near Police Lines in Mingora on October 25, 2007. The then head of FC and home secretary claimed that it was an incident of suicide bombing.
Similarly, on December 23, 2007, a suicide bomber targeted a convoy of security forces on Shahdara Road, which was followed by firing by the forces. At least 13 persons including four soldiers were killed in the incident.
In yet another incident 12 persons were killed including three cops, when a bomber smashed his vehicle into a check point at Ningolai in Kabal area on December 9, 2007. The month of July 2007 was the deadliest in Swat as three incidents of suicide bombings occurred. Two incidents each took place in the months of December 2007; February, September, November and December 2008. One incident each occurred during the months of August and October 2007; January, March, May, August and October 2008 as well as in January 2009.
