Lawyers across Pakistan boycotted courts July 18, the day after a bomb attack on an anti-government rally by attorneys in Islamabad killed 15 people. Gen Musharraf strongly condemned the "terrorist attack" and called for calm, but lawyers called the blast an attempt to disrupt their opposition movement. Ousted chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was due to attend the rally. He arrived two hours after the blast, Justice Chaudhry visited the venue of the rally where he led brief prayers for the victims, including many supporters of the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

With more than 70 killed in bombings over the weekend, Pakistan appears to be lurching towards civil war in the aftermath of the Red Mosque attack. A suicide bomber killed at least 26, including six police, and wounded over 50 others July 15 at a police recruitment center at DeraIsmail Khan in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) near the Afghan border. That same day, militants in North Waziristan, one of the NWFP's autonomous Tribal Areas, announced they are ending a 10-month-old cease-fire accord with the government. Follwing the Red Mosque raid last week, al-Qaeda's number-two man Ayman al-Zawahri called for jihad against the Pakistan government, which has sent thousands of troops into remote areas to try to keep a lid on rirsing popular anger. (Xinhua, LAT, July 16)

A suicide bomber targeted a NATO patrol in a marketplace filled with children in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province July 10, killing 13 elementary-school students and at least four other people. Eight Dutch soldiers and at least 35 Afghans were wounded. The Taliban claimed responsibility. (Seattle Times, July 11) Meanwhile, three Afghan police officers and a civilian truck driver were killed when Taliban guerillas attacked the police vehicle with machine-gun fire in Paktia province. (News24, South Africa, July 11)

Gee, just what Musharraf needs—the State Department weighing in for his repression, augmenting the (accurate) perception that he is Washington's toady. Don't they have enough sense to keep quiet? This brings Pakistan one step closer to an Islamist coup, which has been long in the making... From Pakistan's Daily Times, July 11:

US backs mosque action
The US State Department backed Pakistan’s decision to storm Lal Masjid in Islamabad on Tuesday.

From Reporters Without Borders (RSF), via the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), July 6:

Reporters Without Borders has condemned the arrests of two journalists by intelligence officers in the past six days. Both Mohammad Asif Nang, editor of the government magazine Peace Jirga, and Kamran Mir Hazar, editor of the Kabul Press website, had been critical of the government.

Security forces arrested Maulana Abdul Aziz, imam of the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad, as he attempted to escape covered in a burqa with a group of similarly clad women July 4. More than 1,000 of his followers surrendered as army and police troops backed by armored vehicles and helicopters tightened their siege of the complex. Authorities say Abdul Aziz will face terrorism and murder charges.

Ten civilians were killed June 23 inside the Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan in a mortar attack from Afghan territory—fired by foreign forces, a local authorities say. "Ten innocent people were reported killed when some mortars hit civilians in Mangroti village in the Shawal region," said military spokesman Maj-Gen. Waheed Arshad. Thirteen others were injured, he said. Some locals put the death toll at 20, and a home was destroyed. Residents said the dead included a child, a woman and seven men, all from the same family. "Pakistan has lodged a strong protest with coalition forces seeking an explanation," Gen. Arshad said.

A NATO air-strike on supposed Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan has killed dozens of civilians, including women, children and a Muslim cleric, Afghan officials charged June 22. The clash began the previous night when Taliban fighters attacked NATO troops in the Gereshk district of Helmand province and then fled to a residential area, said Mohammed Anwar Esaqzai, a local member of parliament. After a firefight of several hours, he said, NATO forces called in an airstrike that killed 36 civilians belonging to three families. "This is happening a lot," Esaqzai said. "If it continues to happen, it will raise the anger of the people and cause big problems for NATO."