Pakistan's leader escapes murder 'by a minute'

[papau]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,2763,1107133,00.html

Pakistan's leader escapes murder 'by a minute'

James Astill in Islamabad
Monday December 15, 2003
The Guardian

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf narrowly escaped assassination yesterday when a bomb destroyed a road bridge moments after his motorcade passed under.

The blast was at least the third attempt on the life of a leader whose pro-American stance has enraged dozens of extremist Islamist groups in Pakistan, many of which were funded by previous regimes.

"It was certainly a terrorist act and, certainly, it was me who was targeted," the military leader told reporters, adding that the explosion was detonated within a minute of his passage.

The bomb exploded late yesterday midway between Islamabad airport and Mr Musharraf's house in Rawalpindi, 10 miles from the capital. He was on his way from the airport after visiting the southern port city of Karachi.<snip>


• Afghanistan's second loya jirga , or grand council, since the fall of the Taliban regime convened yesterday in a vast marquee outside Kabul to debate a controversial draft constitution designed to pave the way for elections in June next year...But Human Rights Watch says corruption and intimidation have ensured that the assembly is stacked with the stooges of the warlords who rule most of Afghanistan.