File Photo. Asif Hassan—AFP
Explosion triggered gunbattle between militants and soldiers in which 19 extremists died, says military.
A suicide attack has killed seven Pakistani soldiers in North Waziristan, the military said on Monday.
“When being chased and cordoned, a terrorist exploded his suicide jacket Sunday night. Resultantly, seven soldiers embraced shahadat,” the military said in a statement. The blast triggered a gunbattle between militants and troops in which 19 insurgents were killed, the military added.
The area is remote and off-limits to journalists, making it difficult to verify the Army’s claims such as the number and identity of those killed.
Pakistan has been battling a homegrown Islamist insurgency for over a decade following the late 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. The Pakistan Army began a major campaign against Taliban and other militant strongholds in North Waziristan in June last year. Authorities have now vowed to intensify operations both in the border regions and across the country.
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Suicide is the worst possible crime on earth. It is lower than the lowest, worse than the worst. It is an insult to God. If someone commits suicide, it is the worst possible betrayal of God because each individual is the embodiment of God’s highest Dream. God’s highest Dream is to make each and every individual His absolutely choice instrument. God gives us limited freedom, but if we use that limited freedom to destroy ourselves, we are destroying everything that God wanted to create in and through us. God gives us a knife thinking that we will use it to cut a mango and share it with our friends. But instead of cutting a mango, if we stab ourselves out of anger, frustration and doubt, it is the worst possible sin that we are committing.
When normal people die, even if they were not spiritual, they ascend to a certain plane of consciousness. But people who commit suicide enter into a low, lower, lowest plane of consciousness where they suffer excruciating pains. The excruciating pains that human beings can suffer on earth are nothing in comparison to the torture that they undergo in this plane of consciousness. I have a free access to all the planes, so I know what happens to those who commit suicide and I also know what happens to people who lead a spiritual life. I know, because I have the capacity to go to the abysmal abyss, just as I have the capacity to go to the highest height.
God created us for our perfection; He created us to give Him joy. Those who identify only with their body, those who live only in the mind and in the vital, feel that they own their bodies. But we do not own our bodies; the owner is the One who created us. It was He who gave us the body. So we have no right to destroy it. The Creator is always the possessor, but we have to take some responsibility for taking care of the creation. If we take responsibility for our body and keep it healthy, if we take care of our doubting and restless mind and our strangling vital, we will never commit suicide. – Sri Chinmoy