BLAST ON MARKET IN PAKISTAN KILLS NEAR 40

MORE THAN 40 DIE AND DOZENS INJURED IN TALIBAN
SUICIDE BOMBING IN PAKISTAN'S SWAT VALLEY

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AFP) - A suicide car bomber attacked a military vehicle in a crowded market in northwest Pakistan on Monday, killing morte than 40 people and wounding dozens more, police and hospital officials said. The explosion occurred at the Alpuri market - whose shops are adjacent to a police station and a mosque - in North-West Frontier Province. Among the dead, according to a local police official, were six soldiers and four newly recruited members of a community police force. The Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast, and they said that it was only the first in a planned wave of strikes intended to avenge the killing of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in a CIA missile strike in August. "Forty-six people are injured - six of them are troops. Five of the troops are in a serious condition. "It was a suicide blast. The attacker was on foot.", an army spokesman said. The bomber targeted the convoy as it passed through a security checkpost near a crowded bazaar, hitting both a military target and maximising civilian casualties.

The attack is just the latest in a string of Taliban blasts in recent weeks that have left dozens of civilians dead. It followed air strikes against Taliban camps in the previous 24 hours which were a response to the storming and siege of the Pakistan army's headquarters in Rawalpindi at the weekend.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

According to Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Transcendental Divine Love is the strongest spiritual force on earth which can establish close relation of love and unity of hearts amongst all human beings and thereby establish real peace in the world. There is an outbreak of conflagration of group clashes throughout the world. Nowhere you will find peace. I am worried to read in newspapers the news of bomb explosions and disturbances. A section of people have become so violent and barbarous that they do not hesitate in committing heinous crimes in assassinating innocent persons to fulfill their political ends. All humanitarian considerations have been relinquished. They are now seeking justifications in committing such great sins.

Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaja :
""Strongest Spiritual Force on Earth"
Press conference, on 29 December, 2000, Mumbai."