Burqa-clad women suicide bombers in Pakistan have posed a potent threat to the country as it grapples to deal with the Taliban.
This has been vindicated by two recent attacks on the security forces that appear to have rudely awakened the authorities to the new Taliban tactic.
Thursday's attack on a security checkpost in Peshawar by women suicide bombers was the second such attack in less than two months. The previous attack was in Bajaur on June 26.
The Bajaur attack too targeted a checkpost. The bombing by the husband-wife duo left 46 people dead and over 80 injured.
The involvement of women suicide bombers has posed a major security challenge in Pakistan with the Eid shopping in full swing. As shopping is primarily done by women, security agencies are yet to devise ways to identify burqa-clad bombers in the crowd, said a report in Daily Times on Friday.
A senior police official overseeing the security measures in Lahore for Ramazan, said the government should get a decree from ulema to ask women to remove their burqas as a security measure before
entering shopping malls meant for them, he said requesting anonymity.
He said it was required because there are few women police officers available, particularly during Eid when shopping malls are thronged by women, the Daily Times report said.
Traditionally, security forces in Pakistan are reluctant to search women due to cultural sensitivities, which may have helped the Taliban to use them in their operations.
The Peshawar attackers seem to have had no hurdle in getting close to the target, although a police cordon was put in place after another blast same day near the checkpost claimed the lives of five policemen.
In Bajaur, the attackers managed to get pass the security because of one them was a woman.
Another police official contended that Peshawar attack presented a new challenge for the security forces as male officers doesn't search women.
“The attack does pose serious problems for security personnel, who will have to find ingenious ways to avert such bombings. We need to improve intelligence and gadgetry,” he said on condition of anonymity.
WRAPUP 1-Faurecia, Plastic Omnium upbeat after strong H1
PARIS, July 22 (Reuters) – French car parts maker Faurecia (EPED.PA) raised its full-year targets on Thursday while smaller supplier Plastic Omnium (PLOF.PA) made upbeat comments about the coming months as rising car demand boosted first-half results.
Carmakers and suppliers hurt by a deep industry crisis and a dramatic sales slump have benefited in recent months from scrappage schemes and rising emerging market sales, combined with an underlying recovery in economic activity in Europe.
Faurecia, which makes seats, exhausts and emissions control systems for carmakers including BMW (BMWG.DE) and Opel [GM.UL], said it saw product sales up 13-16 percent for the full year, compared with a previous target of a 4 percent rise.
Faurecia said it was aiming for over 340 million euros in operating income in the year as a whole, compared with an earlier target of over 200 million. Net cash flow would be over 100 million euros, rather than simply “positive”, it added.
Chief Executive Yann Delabriere told BFM Radio he expected the group to post a net profit for the year.
“We can easily imagine that the net profit will remain comfortably positive for the year as a whole,” he said.
Analysts had predicted first-half sales from car suppliers and carmakers would be strong, but warned there were still doubts about the second half as scrapping schemes fade and austerity measures kick in. [ID:nLDE66F083]
Plastic Omnium had a first-half net profit of 72.3 million euros, up from 8 million in the first half of 2009 and more than double the 31 million euros it posted in the full year.
The first-half operating margin reached 7.3 percent, compared with 3 percent in the first half last year. The group is expecting business to remain “dynamic” in the second half, it said in a statement.
Faurecia, 57.4 percent-owned by French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA), posted a 33.2 percent like-for-like rise in product sales in the first half to 5.4 billion euros. Overall sales rose 26.9 percent like-for-like to 6.8 billion.
Operating income swung to a 216.5 million euro profit from a 187.3 million euro loss in the first half of 2009. Net income reached 101.9 million euros, against a 364.6 million net loss.
The group said second-half sales would likely fall 5-8 percent in Europe. Sales soared in the second half of last year with scrapping schemes in full swing, providing an unfavourable basis for comparison.
Sales in the second half are set to rise 11-14 percent in North America and surge 20-25 percent in Asia, Faurecia said.
Faurecia last month set out ambitious growth and profitability targets and said it wanted to speed up development in Asia. [ID:nLDE65D11I]
For a story on truckmaker Volvo see [ID:nLDE66L06A]
(Reporting by Helen Massy-Beresford; Additional Reporting by Gilles Guillaume; Editing by James Regan and Michael Shields)