VZCZCXRO7016
OO RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHPW #0118/01 1520602
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 010602Z JUN 09
FM AMCONSUL PESHAWAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8028
INFO RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD IMMEDIATE 4801
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE IMMEDIATE 1907
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI IMMEDIATE 1915
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL IMMEDIATE 1541
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI IMMEDIATE 1177
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON IMMEDIATE 0943
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA IMMEDIATE 0759
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA IMMEDIATE 0853
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE IMMEDIATE 0808
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO IMMEDIATE 0759
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 5092

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 PESHAWAR 000118 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  6/1/2019 
TAGS: PTER ASEC PGOV MOPS PK
SUBJECT: PESHAWAR SECURITY TIGHTENED IN THE WAKE OF MULTIPLE 
BOMBINGS, THREATS 
 
REF: PESHAWAR 111 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Lynne Tracy, Principal Officer, U.S. Consulate 
Peshawar, U.S. Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (c), (d) 
¶1. (S/NF) Summary: A series of VBIED attacks in Peshawar killed 
eleven and wounded over seventy; provincial security officials 
believe that the total would have been significantly higher had 
the largest of the bombs reached its true target.  The Peshawar 
District Coordination Officer (DCO) has reacted by imposing 
restrictions under Section 144, a portion of the Pakistani 
criminal code usually used to minimize security hazards during 
times of mass demonstrations.  The government tells us that 
continued security fears, not crowd control, have driven the 
decision to implement Section 144.  Militant promises of 
retaliation for operations in Swat and continuing credible 
threat reporting against Consulate personnel and facilities 
underscore the likelihood of further violence against Pakistani 
and U.S. interests in Peshawar and other part of the Northwest 
Frontier Province (NWFP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas 
(FATA).  End summary. 
 
 
 
Three Bombings and a Firefight in Peshawar 
 
------------------------------------------ 
 
 
 
¶2. (U) In the early evening of May 28, two approximately 5 kg 
bombs carried by motorbikes were detonated in the Qissa Khawani 
Bazaar area in Peshawar's Old City during the peak pre-dinner 
shopping time.  (Note: The two recent bombing attacks targeting 
Peshawar on May 16 and May 22 were also in the general area of 
this bazaar - reftel.  The Old City has been off limits to 
Consulate personnel since 2006.)  Press reports indicate that 
eight were killed and over seventy injured in the blasts - a low 
figure, given the congestion of the area, that underlines the 
small size of the bombs.  In the wake of the explosions, 
militants fired on responding security forces near the site of 
the blasts; in the ensuing firefight two militants were killed 
and two others arrested. 
 
 
 
¶3. (C) Approximately thirty minutes later, a double-cab pickup 
loaded with what Consulate security contacts estimate to have 
been 140 kg of explosives rammed a police van near a police 
checkpost on the southern outskirts of Peshawar and detonated, 
killing three police and injuring three others.  Consulate 
security contacts speculate that, given the imbalance between 
the large size of the bomb and the relative insignificance of 
the target, the bomb had been intended for another target inside 
Peshawar city but was diverted by the driver. 
 
 
 
Section 144 Imposed 
 
------------------- 
 
 
 
¶4. (U) In the wake of the three attacks, Peshawar District 
Coordination Officer (DCO) Sahibzada Muhammad Anis announced 
that he was banning the entry of all Afghan refugees into 
Peshawar and imposing Section 144 of Pakistan's Criminal 
Procedure Code would be imposed for the period of one month. 
This clause in the law prohibits the gathering of five or more 
persons in public places; processions and rallies of any kind; 
the driving of cars with tinted windows; the public display of 
arms and ammunition; and the riding of motorcycles by two or 
more people (a common method of transportation for 
assassinations in Pakistan). 
 
 
 
PESHAWAR 00000118  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶5. (C) Section 144 has in the past been periodically imposed on 
Peshawar in the past for periods of 1-3 months, but exclusively 
during times when large demonstrations and political or 
sectarian tensions have been expected.  In the past few years, 
it has been announced during a period of upheaval over Danish 
cartoons portraying the Prophet Mohammed, at various times 
during the anti-Musharraf Lawyers' Movement, and over several 
successive Muharram (Shi'a) celebrations.  Peshawar Additional 
Division Commissioner Javed Marwat, however, told Consulate that 
the Peshawar district and division governments are not worried 
about mass demonstrations or other actions, and that the 
decision had been requested by the Peshawar DCO rather than 
directed from higher levels.  He added that the DCO has credible 
information that two additional bomb-equipped cars were in the 
Peshawar area and that militant gunmen were infiltrating as 
well, and the imposition of Section 144 was a way of minimizing 
the risk from those elements. 
 
 
 
Comment 
 
------- 
 
 
 
¶6. (S/NF) The attacks in Peshawar as well as the May 28 attack 
in Lahore are reinforcing local worries of escalating militant 
retaliation for the military campaign in Swat.  The cantonment 
where the majority of government and military offices are 
headquartered is relatively the most well-guarded sector of 
Peshawar.  With one exception (a suicide attacker on foot in 
spring 2008), all attacks and other militant-related violence 
have taken place outside the cantonment.  While militants may 
probe the cantonments defenses, focus still appears to be on 
opportunities in less defended areas.  The Additional Chief 
Secretary of the FATA Secretariat told post on May 29 that the 
Secretariat which is located outside the cantonment had become a 
high priority target of the militants.  Post also continues to 
see credible threat reporting targeting Consulate facilities, 
particularly its residential area in University Town. 
TRACY