As the Ayatollah Khomeini said, there is no fun in Islam. The article also suggests the attack was in retaliation for resistance to jihadist groups in the area; as any number of Western apologists could have told them, fighting back “causes” jihad. “Pakistan: Suicide bomb kills 32 at volleyball site,” by Riaz Khan and Asif Shahzad for the Associated Press, January 1:
PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A suicide car bomber drove his vehicle onto a field during a volleyball tournament in northwest Pakistan on Friday, setting off a blast that killed 32, wounded 70 and smacked of retaliation for efforts by residents to expel militants with private militias, police said.
The blast underscores the difficulty Pakistan has had in stopping militants whose reach extends far beyond Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt and who appear increasingly willing to strike civilians as well as security forces.
The attack in Lakki Marwat city was not far from South Waziristan, where the army is waging an offensive against the Pakistani Taliban. That operation has provoked apparent reprisal attacks that have killed more than 500 people since October.
In some parts of the northwest, residents have taken matters into their own hands, starting militias to beat back insurgents. Police said Friday’s bombing was possible revenge for such efforts in Lakki Marwat.
No group claimed responsibility, but that is not uncommon when large numbers of civilians are killed.
“The locality has been a hub of militants. Locals set up a militia and expelled the militants from this area. This attack seems to be reaction to their expulsion,” local police chief Ayub Khan told reporters.
He said the bomber drove a vehicle loaded with 550 pounds (250 kilograms) of high-intensity explosives onto the field, which lies in a congested neighborhood. Some nearby houses collapsed, and “we fear that some 10 or so people might have been trapped in the rubble,” Khan said.
In addition, a group of local tribal elders were holding a meeting at a mosque nearby. The mosque was damaged and some people there died, he said.
Another police official, Habib Khan, said at least 32 people died and more than 70 were wounded. He said some 300 people were on the field when the incident took place.
Regional Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the death toll may jump to more than 50. “We have 32 bodies, but there are body parts lying in the rubble,” he said.
Private TV footage taken from a hospital afterward showed bloodied men on stretchers, looking dazed as relatives hovered nearby.
Hussain reiterated the government’s resolve to target militants wherever they may be, saying “we need to be more offensive to fight them.”…
That’d be swell.