THIS WEEK'S arrest of five Pakistani CIA-informers, including a Pakistani army major is yet further fallout from the US assassination of Obama bin Laden. As Pakistan endures a new outbreak in terrorist bombings in Peshawar and Islamabad �ê" the direct result of the assassination in nearby Abbottabad �ê" the Pakistan government has also reacted with anger, vowing to clamp down on unauthorised CIA activity and reduce its cooperation with the US. Twin bombings in a Peshawar market district on Saturday led to the killing of 35 people. This was followed Monday by a suicide attack on a bank in Islamabad, killing the security guard and the bomber, Islamabad's first suicide bombing in more than 18 months. The Peshawar attacks took place across the street from the offices of the top political agent to Khyber, part of Pakistan's volatile tribal region, and a short distance from army housing units. The attacks came hours after separate visits by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, CIA Director Leon Panetta, and US Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides. The Americans came to try to repair relations that were strained to the breaking point following the covert US raid that killed Bin Laden. Panetta's meetings were intended specifically on agreement about the size and scope of future American intelligence activities. In an attempt to rebuild their relationship, Washington and Islamabad have agreed to form a joint intelligence team to track down terrorists inside Pakistan, drawing in part from the records taken from Bin Laden's Abbottabad home, but the subsequent arrests of CIA informers shows that US-Pakistani relations are still far from smooth. Though the Taliban vowed to avenge the assassination of Bin Laden, they denied responsibility for the Peshawar bombings. Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan called reporters Sunday in the North Waziristan tribal region to tell them, "We do not target civilians and mosques. Our targets are security forces fighting with the United States." A Pakistan official says terrorism is on the rise because of the increasing distrust among Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US.
