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The Pakistani military and police were on guard after a suicide bomber killed seven people near a major air force complex in northwest Pakistan on Friday, while an explosion killed 17 on a bus heading to wedding elsewhere in the region. It’s the latest in a surge of militant attacks this month. We’ll guage the mood on the ground in Pakistan. Download MP3
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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman. This is The World. There were more bomb attacks by militants in Pakistan today. One attack targeted a key Pakistani military facility 50 miles northwest of Islamabad. A suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body at a checkpoint outside the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex. At least seven people were killed. The latest attacks bring the total number of deaths from bombings in Pakistan to over 200, just this month. Aryn Baker is the Pakistan and Afghanistan Bureau Chief for Time Magazine. She’s in Islamabad. So Aryn, tell us more about the attack on the aeronautical complex. What kind of facility is that anyway?
ARYN BAKER: It’s a basic– I mean, what it sounds like, building airplanes, refurbishing, where some of them are stored. I think it was incorrectly pointed out that this was a nuclear facility when the story first broke, which is incorrect. That is a little bit further away. And also you want to keep in mind that not only would that be attacked today, that we had another mine attack up in the tribal areas that killed 15 and another attack on a bus that injured 15 people in a wedding party. So it’s actually the third attack today.
WERMAN: As far as in Islamabad right now, what are the security measures that are in place?
BAKER: You know, it’s looking more and more like Baghdad or Kabul. Every time I go down the street, there’s another security block. That means there’ll be like a zig zag portion of the city where you have to go through concrete barriers, usually a police officer too. They inspect IDs of the driver, they inspect who’s in the car. They check your trunk. You see these giant concrete barriers of eight to ten feet tall. You can’t even see the houses any more, completely blocked off from the road as blast barriers, in preparation for bomb attacks. The face of the city has changed remarkably in the last six years I’ve been here.
WERMAN: Well, the attacks come as the Pakistani military is conducting a counter-insurgency offensive in south Waziristan. Islamabad’s people are being described in reports as getting increasingly edgy. What is it like in Islamabad right now?
BAKER: It’s a lot more quiet than it used to be. Markets that used to be frequented by Pakistanis, elite Pakistanis and foreigners alike are dead. I have a friend who just opened a coffee shop about four months ago in a very popular foreigners’ market, is just watching his profits plummet. Restaurants that we used to frequent several years ago, they’ve all been bombed or attacked or threatened. We don’t go out nearly as much as we used to. I think twice about sitting outside in an outdoor terrace at a café. Now I go inside. I check to make sure that the windows have a blast film.
WERMAN: Now you say, “We don’t go out the way we used to.” Are you referring to journalists? Are you referring to expatriates? Are you referring to elites in Islamabad?
BAKER: All three, actually. I mean, obviously lower class Pakistanis can’t afford to go out. Middle class would go to the local food markets, but those have been a lot more quiet too, because people are afraid. Those are targeted as soft targets, because they’re less secure. It’s all much quieter than it used to be.
WERMAN: Now I know today’s attack took place 50 miles northwest of Islamabad, but there have been four attacks in Islamabad alone this month. Does it feel like the attacks are getting more focused on Islamabad, or do people in Islamabad still feel they’re kind of protected?
BAKER: No, you definitely feel like you’re being targeted here. In fact, I just called a guy today to put blast film in my windows, because I’m expecting something to happen in my neighborhood any day.
WERMAN: Well, Aryn, stay safe. Aryn Baker is the Pakistan and Afghanistan bureau chief for Time Magazine in Islamabad. Thank you very much.
BAKER: Thank you.
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