ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - A loud explosion shook windows throughout the Pakistani capital on Wednesday, officials and witnesses said. The cause of the blast was not clear.
The explosion came as the government prepared to swear in a new Cabinet in the presidential palace, and just hours after the announcement of the arrest of two al-Qaida suspects in the southwest of the country.
Murwat Shah, the police chief in Islamabad’s sister city, Rawalpindi, said it was not clear if the explosion was caused by a bomb. He said he could see smoke billowing from an area between the neighboring cities, which virtually merge with each other.
We are trying to find out what caused it,'' Shah told The Associated Press. From my building I can see smoke.‘’
The Interior Ministry said it had heard the explosion but had no details.
Security in the capital has been extremely tight for months.
A suicide bomber nearly assassinated Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz last month at a campaign stop west of the capital, killing nine people, including his driver.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the nation’s ultimate powerbroker, survived two attempts on his life in December as he drove through the streets of Rawalpindi. The city is the site of the nation’s army headquarters.
The government has blamed al-Qaida terrorists for all three attempts.
Musharraf has angered Islamic militants with his support of the U.S.-led campaign against al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Blast heard in Islamabad, may be sonic boom : ISLAMABAD, Sept 01: A loud explosion was heard in Islamabad, today. A senior police official said there had been no indications the blast was caused by a bomb, and **a possible explanation was that it was a sonic boom from an aircraft. ** (Reuters) (Posted @ 14:45 PST)
dont the supersonic jet fighters at Chaklala base break sound barriers every other day during regular operational sorties...? i mean thats what jet fightes do, they fly at mach speed, so the sonic boom shouldnt be that much of a big deal, or is it...?
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*Originally posted by Haris Zuberi: *
dont the supersonic jet fighters at Chaklala base break sound barriers every other day during regular operational sorties...? i mean thats what jet fightes do, they fly at mach speed, so the sonic boom shouldnt be that much of a big deal, or is it...?
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No they dont do that during regular operations... About 7-8 years ago I remember this Indian jet who entered Pakistani territory, and broke the sound barrier on his way back.
No they dont do that during regular operations... About 7-8 years ago I remember this Indian jet who entered Pakistani territory, and broke the sound barrier on his way back.
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i see, but i thought they did..but what speed do these supersonic fighters fly at during regualr flights then? and how often do they break the barrier...?the boom occurs at mach speed right? or at double mach? mach is equal to the speed of sound or is it double that of sound? quite technical stuff...:)
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*Originally posted by mufakkar: *
We have fighters based in Chaklala???
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well they have the AHQ at pindi along with GHQ, NHQ and Chakalala base is one of the largest and most imp PAF bases, so obviously they have fighters there.
i see, but i thought they did..but what speed do these supersonic fighters fly at during regualr flights then? and how often do they break the barrier...?the boom occurs at mach speed right? or at double mach? mach is equal to the speed of sound or is it double that of sound? quite technical stuff...:)
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1 Mach = the speed of sound. Approximately 1100 feet per second at sea level.
the sound barrier is broken at 1 Mach. But i seriously doubt our military planes crossed sound barrier over civilian areas even for training purpose. this has to be something else.
Some people are saying that a fighter plane which took off from Chaklala was given permission to do it, since there was a possibility of an intruder near Lahore airspace. Again I am not sure if its true.
Haris, for training, they never break the sound barrier during routine/training flights especially over civilian areas, they probably have designated areas to try out their 'top gun' skills ;)
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well they have the AHQ at pindi along with GHQ, NHQ and Chakalala base is one of the largest and most imp PAF bases, so obviously they have fighters there.
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Well yes but as far as I know Chaklala is not a fighter base. They have the Trasnport (No. 6) and VIP squadron. The closest fighter base I think is Kamra. During the afghan war, I think they kept hot start F-6s at Chaklala for a little while.
