Closed captioning of: Suicide blast in Pakistan kill children, police
>>>
taliban is claiming responsibility for a deadly suicide becoombing this morning in
pakistan
. it killed
17 people
including 9
police officers
. the taliban says it's intentionally targeting police encouraging residents to fight back against the militants. they're threatening more violence to come. nbc news's tom asphalt joins me from kabul,
afghanistan
. this is just the latest violence in a wave of attacks. meanwhile, this is also on top of the devastating flooding that's happening there in
pakistan
, as well. how will r the two related to one another.
>> reporter:
well, certainly, the aim of the radicals is to destabilize the government and in the case of the latest attack on the
main road
and
rail line
leading from waziristan province in northwest
pakistan
down into the populas punjab area and been the goal to spread that discontent down into the majority of the population. so by targeting police in the area, they're sending the government a strong message. they don't want interference in the way they run the areas at the moment and so far because the police have been encouraging the locals to form militias to stand up against the militants, they're telling the police stay out of our business. we want to run this area. thomas?
>>
tom, explain what the flooding and the devastation happening there with so many people distraught, you know, fleeing from their areas are having to deal with on top of this. is it also incuring more panic for everybody?
>> reporter:
well, it's certainly creating a great deal of discomfort. millions of people who have nowhere to live that don't have enough to eat. this is tying down the
pakistani military
. it's tying down government funds. and it's concentrating the minds of the government on alleviating the suffering caused by the flooding. meantime, those militants in waziristan can continue sending arms and men across the border into
afghanistan
. now, over the past couple of weeks, there have been along with further earlier in the year missile attacks from u.s. planes against mill about the strongholds and seeing them retaliate for that and trying to destabilize the government. thomas?
>>
tom aspell in kabul,
afghanistan
, thank you.
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