MINGORA, Pakistan – A Taliban suicide bomber targeting security forces killed at least 11 people on Saturday, Pakistani police said, part of a renewed push against the state after one of the biggest security crackdowns in years. The assault near a security checkpost in Swat Valley, which also wounded 35 people, came a day after a suicide attack on the military killed at least 45 people in the eastern city of Lahore. "Our men carried out these attacks and more strikes will continue all over the country because the entire Pakistan has become a colony of the United States," Taliban spokesman Tariq Azam told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location. Qazi Ghulam Farooq, Mingora city police chief, said the suicide bomber in the latest attack was on a rickshaw. Two soldiers, three policemen and five civilians were killed. "I saw a burning vehicle ... at least five people, including some women, who burned to death," a witness said. The road to Mingora's main courthouse was blocked by concrete slabs, sand bags and barbed wire. The blast left two rickshaws twisted and a car burning. Windows were shattered in nearby buildings in Mingora, Swat Valley's main town. The military launched a major offensive against the Pakistani Taliban in Swat in April last year, largely clearing Islamist fighters out after months of clashes. Militants have gone on the offensive again after a recent lull in violence, challenging government assertions that an assault in the militant stronghold of South Waziristan had dealt a major blow to Pakistan's al Qaeda-backed Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban have attacked many targets, including a volleyball match and army headquarters in the town of Rawalpindi, close to the capital, Islamabad.
