Chidambaram condemns attack in Pak, says no parallel with Mumbai

Home Minister P Chidambaram today condemned the militants attacking police training camp at Lahore in Pakistan killing 20 people but refused to draw a parallel between it and the Mumbai terror attack.

Conveying his sympathies to the people of Pakistan over the brutal attack, Mr Chidambaram however said there could not be parallel drawn between this attack and the Mumbai attacks as in the latter it was confirmed the involvement of Pakistani citizens.

Regarding the involvment of Jaish-e-Mohammad and Taliban in the attack, Mr Chidambaram said sitting here it would be very difficult for him to comment on who made the attack at present.

According to reports, 52 police personnel were wounded in the attack on police training camp in Pakistan while the death toll was 20.

Paramilitary troops laid siege, firing from rooftops of surrounding buildings, while the gunmen returned fire and threw grenades to keep the police at bay. About 15 to 20 gunmen were in the building but it was unclear if any police were being held hostage.

The assault came less than a month after a dozen gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's cricket team in the city, killing six police guards and a bus driver. Those gunmen escaped.

Around 850 young cadets attended the training centre but police were unsure how many were inside at the time of the attack, which began at around 0730 hrs IST. Some gunmen entered the centre, threw hand grenades and then started firing. The gunmen attacked police recruits from four sides when they were doing their routine morning drills.

The latest brazen attack will inevitably heighten fears about the mounting insecurity in nuclear-armed Pakistan.

Islamist militants have launched a campaign of violence to destabilise the Muslim state of 170 million people, and the one-year-old civilian government's ability to meet the challenge.

-- (UNI) -- 30DI9.xml

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