Pakistan on edge after two blasts

This was the second suicide blast in a week. Last Tuesday, a suicide bomber killed 14 people and injured 10 others in Islamabad's twin city, Rawalpindi. According to the BBC, security in Islamabad had been tightened before Monday's attack owing to reports that several suicide bombers had infiltrated the capital.

The Pakistani Interior Ministry has been warning of terrorist attacks in the capital since the country's lawyers launched a nationwide protest to agitate for the reinstatement of the deposed chief justice on March 12. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, the ministry is bracing for more attacks.

Last week, [Interior Minister Rehman] Malik had warned that suicide bombers planned to enter the capital during a planned protest by political foes of the government. Malik told [the Tribune correspondent] then that he shut down the city – placing cargo containers across highways to form checkpoints manned by police and soldiers – "to avoid bloodshed."

"We arrested 14 handlers and eight suicide bombers," he said [on Monday]. "That is why we were and are on red alert. We knew they would try to create terror."

He suspected the bombers came from Pakistan's tribal areas, adding: "There could be more."

Pakistani intelligence agencies warned on Monday that foreign militants are targeting urban centers, reports Dawn.

Security was tightened across the country on Monday after intelligence agencies warned that Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud has dispatched 20 foreign militants, mostly Uzbeks, to carry out terror strikes in major cities.

A senior police official said agencies had warned police that the terrorists had left for Bannu on their way to Islamabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi and other major cities....

Police teams, led by SSP Operations [Chief] Yasin Farooq, were checking hotels and vehicles. He said 36 'suspicious' people had been rounded up and at least 79 motorbikes, 19 cars and two rickshaws had been impounded.

As Pakistan's law-enforcement agencies prepare for more terrorist attacks, the Obama administration is planning to increase civilian aid in an effort to curtail militant activities, reports the Los Angeles Times.

The Obama administration plans to dramatically increase civilian aid to Pakistan as part of its new strategy on Afghanistan and the surrounding region, hoping the overture will lead to more effective steps by the Pakistani military to shut down insurgent sanctuaries, U.S. officials said.

A threefold increase in civilian aid would come on top of more than $10 billion in mostly military assistance since 2001....

Under the plan, the administration would boost Pakistani civilian aid to $1.5 billion a year or more.

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