‘Unprepared’ Pak confronts challenge of fighting burqa-clad suicide bombers

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s security officials and experts have called for a review of security arrangements across the country to be prepared for future burqa-clad suicide bombers.

It comes after a suicide bomber wearing a burqa killed at least 46 people in an attack targeting the World Food Program (WFP)’s depot in Bajaura on Saturday.

Initially, there was confusion over the gender of the attacker with some officials suspecting it to be the case of a man wearing the burqa.

On Sunday, a security official in Islamabad said that the attacker was finally established to be a woman.

The confirmation marks the first incident in Pakistan when militants have sent a woman to carry out a bomb strike.

Another official claimed that a shortage of equipment like reliable explosive detectors to scan people in crowded locations and a shortage of women trained to carry out duties of detecting explosives presented challenges.

“I have never come across a woman police dog-handler in this country. This example tells you something about an overall gap,” CBS News quoted the official, as saying.

“We simply don’t have enough women who are highly trained to carry out such jobs,” the official added.

Meanwhile, analysts warned that the attack illustrated a growing desperation by Al-Qaeda and its affiliates among the Taliban to adopt new tactics for targeting different locations.

“The use of women, maybe children too, should not surprise anyone. This is where these people (militants) will employ all possible methods to make their presence felt,” said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a Pakistani commentator on military and security affairs. (ANI)