Pakistan: Buddha images survive blasts

ADNKRONOS - In a grim reminder of the destruction of world famous Bamiyan Buddha statues in Afghanistan by the Taliban six years ago, militants tried on Tuesday to blow up a seventh-century Buddhist rock carving in Pakistan's Swat valley, northwest of the capital, Islamabad. The image of the sitting Buddha is carved into a 40-metre high rock in the mountains.
The Gandhara civilisation site was not damaged by the blasts.
Before the recent deterioration of the law and order situation in the valley, hundreds of tourists, mainly Buddhists, used to visit the site.