With more than 70 killed in bombings over the weekend, Pakistan appears to be lurching towards civil war in the aftermath of the Red Mosque attack. A suicide bomber killed at least 26, including six police, and wounded over 50 others July 15 at a police recruitment center at DeraIsmail Khan in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) near the Afghan border. That same day, militants in North Waziristan, one of the NWFP's autonomous Tribal Areas, announced they are ending a 10-month-old cease-fire accord with the government. Follwing the Red Mosque raid last week, al-Qaeda's number-two man Ayman al-Zawahri called for jihad against the Pakistan government, which has sent thousands of troops into remote areas to try to keep a lid on rirsing popular anger. (Xinhua [2], LAT [3], July 16)
