Pakistan puts up chest-thumping show

Pakistani

Rangers (black) and Indian Border Security Force personnel

(brown) performing during the daily beatingof-the-retreat ceremony at the IndiaPakistan Wagah Border Post, west of

Amritsar, on Monday. ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday celebrated 70 years of independence from British India with a patriotic display that included a giant flag and a show of airpower, as the military’s top brass vowed to wipe out terrorists, hours before a new bomb attack killed six soldiers.

Celebrations began at the stroke of midnight with firework shows in major cities.

At the highly symbolic Wagah eastern border crossing with India, army chief General Qamar

DONALD TRUMP, US president Javed Bajwa raised a massive national flag on a 122m pole as crowds chanted patriotic slogans.

Following the chest-thumping performance, Bajwa said the country was making progress and promised to “go after each and every terrorist in Pakistan”.

“We have made a few mistakes in the past, but we are on the road to development under the guidance of our constitution.”

Later on Monday, a roadside bomb in restive Balochistan province’s Harnai district killed six paramilitary soldiers and wounded two others, a spokesman for the troops said. The separatist Baluch Liberation Army claimed responsibility.

The attack came days after a powerful bomb targeted a military vehicle in the provincial capital Quetta on Saturday, killing 14 people, including several troops.

The military later said the blast, claimed by the Islamic State group, was intended to mar the celebrations. AFP