Militants Attack Power Station In Nw Pakistan, Plunging City Into Darkness

[News_Editor]

<p>PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- A group of suspected militants attacked a major power grid station in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, killing seven people and plunging large parts of Peshawar into darkness, local authorities said. It comes weeks before general elections.

</p>

<p>The attack occurred in the early hours of Tuesday, at around 2:30 a.m. local time, when dozens of militants attacked a power station in Sheikh Muhammdi village on the outskirts of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the region's largest power station.

</p>

<p>The heavily-armed men initially fired a number of rockets at the power station before launching a full-scale attack, assaulting employees at the station and taking hostage a number of police guards. In addition, several improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were planted and detonated at the complex.

</p>

<p>The attack completely destroyed the station's control room and caused a fire to break out. As a result, power supply was disrupted to parts of the region, including more than of the major city of Peshawar. Power was later restored but capacity difficulties are expected to last for at least several days.

</p>

<p>According to a spokesman for the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO), which operates the power station, the militants killed four staff members and three policemen. However, Geo News said the death toll could still rise as four PESCO employees and one policeman are said to be missing.

</p> <p> (Copyright 2013 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: [email protected].) </p>

[Steely Dan]

Pakistan is rapidly becoming a failed state, a nuclear failed state at that. Here is a recent report by a BBC reporter returning to Karachi, where Al-Qaeda linked groups now operate with impunity.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21840599#TWEET686724

[maidu]

Power stations are plum targets. Transmission lines are particularly easy to disable. How this article relates to Thailand:

In recent years we've had demonstrators take over two major airports, and the Gov't House twice. Quite effective in getting a message across. If Thailand goes nuclear, which it still plan to, taking over a nuke plant would not be very difficult. 10 determined guys in 2 pick up trucks could probably do so in less than a half hour. At least one of the planned Nuke plants for Thailand is planned for the southernmost region near Malaysia. Go figure.

Edited April 3, 2013 by maidu