Pakistan’s Supreme Court announced on Thursday that its building was off-limits to anyone without "legal business." Holidays for police personnel have been cancelled and police checkpoints have been augmented.
The latest in a chain of attacks in recent weeks happened on Thursday, Oct. 22, when two gunmen riding motorcycles opened fire in broad daylight on an army jeep, killing senior military officer Brigadier Ahmed Moinuddin and his driver. The officer was deputy commander of the U.N. peacekeeping forces in Sudan, and had returned to Pakistan in recent days because of family affairs.Authorities believe that many of the bombings in Pakistan that have taken the lives of many civilians are being planned by Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in the lawless tribal region of South Waziristan, where the Pakistani army started an offensive on Oct. 17. Officials say more than 120,000 civilians have now fled the war zone. Difficult terrain, mines and fierce clashes have slowed Pakistan’s advance, and officials admit the offensive could take longer than expected.