Would-Be Assassin 'A Foreigner' (Musharraf)

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 12-27-2003

[blam]

Would-be assassin 'a foreigner'

(Filed: 27/12/2003)

A suicide bomber who attempted to assassinate President Pervaiz Musharraf of Pakistan by driving a pick-up truck packed with explosives into his motorcade has been identified by police.

Authorities in Islamabad did not name the man held but said he was one of three terrorists involved in the Christmas Day attack in Rawalpindi, when two vehicles rammed police cars in the presidential convoy killing 12 people and wounding dozens, but leaving Gen Musharraf unscathed.

The attack was the second bombing the Pakistani leader had escaped by seconds in under a fortnight.

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the information minister, said investigators had found what they believed was skin from the face of one of the attackers. "It appears that he is not a Pakistani," he said.

The government said yesterday it would go ahead with a key summit with India in Islamabad next week despite security concerns.

Gen Musharraf, a close ally of America in its war on terrorism, blamed Muslim extremists for the attack.

[blam]

I wonder what kind of 'skin' was found?

[thoughtomator]

Saudi skin, I bet.

[angkor]

Wahabbi skin.

[TennTuxedo]

Chechen.

[yeetch!]

Makes you wonder if a revolution is planned for Pakistan. Two frantic attempts to take out the pro-western leader. Check the number two guy who would inherit.

[blam]

"Chechen."

That was my first thought too.

[blam]

"Makes you wonder if a revolution is planned for Pakistan. Two frantic attempts to take out the pro-western leader. Check the number two guy who would inherit."

I heard today that US supplied jamming equipment prevented the explosion from going off as planned on the first assassination attempt.

[mikegi]

I guess this means that the attacker was either white or black? Anyway, I wonder if the assassination attempts on Musharraf are related to the current terror warnings. It would be similar to UBL having the Northern Alliance's Massoud killed a couple of days before 9/11. UBL knew we would use the NA in our response. Now, UBL's got another ugly attack scheduled here in the USA and knows that we'll really put pressure on Musharraf to help us retaliate.

[WackyKat]

It would be similar to UBL having the Northern Alliance's Massoud killed a couple of days before 9/11. UBL knew we would use the NA in our response. Now, UBL's got another ugly attack scheduled here in the USA and knows that we'll really put pressure on Musharraf to help us retaliate.

Good one.... connecting the dots

[CommandoFrank]

found what they believed was skin from the face of one of the attackers.

This puts a new meaning to "Give me some skin, Man..."

[eastforker]

Let me put a differant perspective to it.We, the US SOF, was already in Afghanistan working with the NA fixin to clobber OBL when OBL got wind of it.He decided it was time to make a preemptive strike against the US and maybe scare us into backing down.Think about it,how could we have had operatives so soon on the ground working with the NA in Afghanistan.It is my belief GW was tracking OBL long before 911.

[jennyp]

Excellent point!

Let's see... this means that if the Christmas attack was foiled, they probably are scrambling to implement a Plan B very soon. IOW they don't feel they have the luxury of waiting for the alert to blow over so they can carefully plan the next attack.

Which would mean they don't have time for a courier to make the rounds in person (away from our prying eyes) to arrange other means of communication which haven't been tapped by the intel agencies yet. Which means they have to plan the next attack on the same compromised channels. So if we're lucky (and if the French don't screw up again), they could yet get smoked out before they get their second chance.

Looking at it from the opposite direction: If they do decide to call it off now, there's no reason to go after Musharraf right away.

OK, I've got it: Musharraf's safety will warn of Son of 9/11. If they try to assassinate him a third time, that means that Son of 9/11 is still imminent. (It's much easier to set up another suicide bombing against a convoy in Pakistan than to crash an airliner in the US.)

But if we don't hear of any more attempts on Musharraf's life for a while, then we can assume that Son of 9/11 has been postponed.

[jennyp]

Shermy, what do you think of #8 & #12?

[aposiopetic]

Is this more, or less, complicated than the set of components needed to put together a sunset regarded by us humanoids as a thing of beauty?

[jennyp]

So, do you agree with me that a 3rd assassination attempt on Musharraf will be a good indicator that the Son of 9/11 attack is still imminent? What do you think about that?

[aposiopetic]

As in many (most? all?) things, it would be much easier for me to ignore the evidence supporting the conclusion that I disfavor. (In that vein, thank you for abiding my impertinent but ingenuous (emphasis on the *u*) non sequitur.)

To answer your question, I must say I was shocked that the second attack against PM took place so soon after the first. If AQ is so well-organized that it can wreak havoc in Pakistan whenever it wants, we could be in for a wild ride indeed.

[Shermy]

Interesting stuff.

As for the bomber, my guess from another despcription is Malay or indonesian.