PAKISTAN ATTACK- A TEENAGE BOY, SUICIDE BOMBER

           A teenage suicide bomber dressed in school uniform has blown himself up at an army compound in Pakistan, killing at least 31 people, officials say.He attacked as recruits exercised at a parade ground of the Punjab Regiment, inside an enclosed military area of the north-western city of Mardan.A Taliban militant said his group had carried out the bombing. Such attacks on the army have decreased recently as militants have largely targeted civilian areas. In the aftermath of the bombing, police and soldiers are manning the entrance to the Mardan compound. There is a queue of ambulances outside the main entrance, and the security forces are checking everyone coming in and out. A group of schoolboys dressed in blue blazers stopped on their way home from school to tell us that they believed the attack was simply wrong."This is against humanity. A lot of people died. I don't know how a kid could do this," said 16-year-old Mohammed Salman, who was sitting in his classroom when he heard the explosion.Another boy said pupils would now be afraid to go to school, knowing that a child of their own age had carried out such an atrocity so close to where they live. He says the bomber managed to slip past at least six checkpoints by wearing the uniform of a college located inside the cantonment.Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack."Such cowardly attacks cannot affect the morale of the security agencies and the resolve of the nation to eradicate terrorism," he said in a statement.Mardan police official Abdullah Khan told that the teenage bomber had worn the uniform of the Aziz Bhatti College. The bomber struck at 0800 (0300 GMT) as recruits were doing physical training on the parade ground, he said (Ref: BBC News)

Prof.John Kurakar