ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – A suicide bomber rammed his car into a police station in northwest Pakistan Monday killing at least 17 people, police said, in the third in a string of attacks by al Qaeda- and Taliban-linked militants over the last week.

An official said the death toll could rise as the police station had collapsed after the blast and workers were trying to rescue people trapped in the debris.

By Zeeshan Haider

(Reuters) – Suspected Islamist militants exploded three bombs at a Shi’ite procession in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday, killing 33 people and piling pressure on the government already overwhelmed by floods.

Here are some questions and answers on implications of the attacks which came after a lull in violence during floods.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan’s army on Wednesday said it scrapped talks with U.S. military officials after a military delegation sent to Washington had to go through “unwarranted” airport security checks.

Mistrust exists between Pakistan and the United States even though they have been allies for decades.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – A month after torrential monsoon rains triggered Pakistan’s worst natural disaster on record, flood waters are starting to recede — but leaving countless survivors at risk of death from hunger and disease.

The disaster has killed at least 1,643 people, forced more than six million from their homes, inflicted billions of dollars of damage to infrastructure and the vital agriculture sector and stirred anger against the U.S.-backed government which has struggled to cope.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan has moved some helicopters from the fight against the Taliban to rescue and relief operations in flooded regions, possibly weakening the military push against militants and allowing them to regroup.

“The first priority of these helicopters is relief work,” a security official said on condition of anonymity.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – More tents and plastic sheets have been secured to help 4.6 million shelterless Pakistanis, a U.N. spokesman said on Saturday, easing pressure on aid workers hoping to stop diseases spreading in the country’s flood crisis.

Waters began raging through an area of Pakistan about the size of England some three weeks ago, ravaging crops, washing away villages, destroying roads and bridges and leaving millions homeless and penniless.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan said it will clamp down on charities linked to Islamist militants amid fears their involvement in flood relief, exploiting anger against the government, will undermine the fight against groups like the Taliban.

Islamist charities have moved in swiftly to fill the vacuum left by a government overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster and struggling to reach millions of people in dire need of shelter, food and clean water.

ISLAMABAD, Aug 19 (Reuters) – More than four million
Pakistanis have been made homeless by nearly three weeks of
floods, the United Nations said on Thursday, making the
critical task of securing greater amounts of aid more urgent.

The U.N. had earlier said that two million people had lost
their homes in the worst floods in Pakistan’s history.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – The number of people rendered homeless by the devastating floods in Pakistan has risen to more than 4 million, the United Nations said on Thursday, making the critical task of securing greater amounts of aid more urgent.

The U.N. had earlier said that 2 million people had lost their homes in the worst floods in Pakistan’s history, which began nearly three weeks.

NOWSHERA, Pakistan (Reuters) – With little aid from a weak civilian government, many Pakistani flood victims are pinning hopes on the military as the only institution capable of helping them rebuild their lives.

Survivors of the country’s worst floods in history are increasingly impatient over a lack of food and relief goods, and are criticizing President Asif Ali Zardari’s government for mismanagement.