Pakistan: Increasing Attacks in Southern Punjab

A suspected suicide bomber rammed a vehicle equipped with an explosive device into a house in Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan, on Dec. 15. The house belonged to Sardar Zulfikar Ali Khan Khosa (who was not in the house during the attack), a high-ranking member of the ruling party in Punjab. The attack is the second in southern Punjab in the past week. This indicates that militants are able to maintain operations in a part of Pakistan that typically had not been targeted before. The shift in targeting is meant to continue stretching Pakistani security forces thin and to shape perceptions within Khosa's party, which in recent months has assumed a tougher stance against the militants.