Acts of Terrorism in Pakistan

[Flintlock]

Militants behead 'spy' in Pakistani tribal area: police

1 day ago

WANA, Pakistan (AFP) — Pro-Taliban militants beheaded a policeman in Pakistan's troubled tribal belt bordering Afghanistan on Monday after accusing him of spying for security forces, police said.

The body of 35-year-old Shaukat Khan was found dumped in a field at Dabar village in the tribal zone of South Waziristan, a day after he was abducted by gunmen, senior police officer Mumtaz Zarin told AFP.

A note found near the body said he was involved in the killing of Islamist warlord Nek Mohammad in a suspected US missile strike in June 2004 in the region, Zarin said.

"He had admitted his role in providing intelligence to the authorities," the note said. "We have repeatedly said we will teach such people a lesson."

Khan had been working as a tribal policeman at the local administration office in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, which is inundated with Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants.

Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants have killed several tribesmen in recent months over allegations that they were spying for Pakistani forces in the tribal areas and US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Pakistan's new government is in talks with local militants over a possible peace pact and a key commander in South Waziristan, Baitullah Mehsud, last week declared a ceasefire with the military.

AFP: Militants behead 'spy' in Pakistani tribal area: police

 

[Flintlock]

Militants blow up gas pipeline in Pakistan, company says

Posted Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:00am AEST

Suspected tribal rebels blew up a gas pipeline in insurgency-hit south-west province of Baluchistan, suspending supplies to several districts in central Pakistan, officials said.

A main gas pipeline transporting natural gas from Sui plant in Dera Bugti district was damaged by planting explosives at two places overnight, gas company spokesman Mohammad Inayatullah said.

Another pipeline was also blown up in a separate pre-dawn attack in the nearby Naseerabad district, the spokesman for the state-owned gas company said, adding that the blasts caused no casualties.

"The attacks forced the closure of supplies to industrial units in Punjab," the spokesman said, adding that alternate arrangements were made to feed domestic consumers in the populous province.

He said security forces reached the blast sites and repair work was underway.

"We hope to resume supplies late Sunday," he added.

A militant group, Baluch Republican Army, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Dera Bugti, 400 kilometres south-east of the provincial capital Quetta, was the hometown of Baluch tribal chief Nawab Akbar Bugti, who was killed in his hideout by security forces in August 2006.

Impoverished Baluchistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has been wracked by an insurgency waged by ethnic Baluch tribes seeking more political rights and a greater share of profits from the region's natural resources.

Hundreds of people have died in violence in the province since the insurgency flared in late 2004.

The province has also been hit by attacks blamed on Taliban militants.

Militants blow up gas pipeline in Pakistan, company says - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

[Flintlock]

Gunmen kill two intelligence agents in SW Pakistan
Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:51am EDT
QUETTA, Pakistan, April 29 (Reuters) - Gunmen killed two Pakistani intelligence agents in a drive-by shooting in the southwestern town of Khuzdar on Tuesday, police said.

The pair, who worked for the Military Intelligence (MI), were on their way home from their office when they were sprayed with bullets in a bazaar by attackers riding on a motorbike.

Khuzdar is located in Baluchistan, the country's largest but poorest province, where tribal militants have been waging a low-level insurgency for provincial autonomy.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack but Mohammad Zafar, a senior police official in Khuzdar, blamed Baluch militants for the killings.

Pakistan's new coalition government, formed after a general election in Feb. 18, has vowed to open dialogue with Baluch nationalists to resolve the decades-old problem but militants have continued their attacks.

On Saturday a bomb exploded near an office of MI in the town of Dera Bugti, damaging the building.

The intelligence agency has been active in Baluchistan since President Pervez Musharraf, who quit army chief late last year, ordered a military crackdown in late 2005 after being targeted by a rocket attack while visiting the province.

The militants are fighting for greater autonomy and a larger share of the benefits from the province's natural resources.

They target government installations, security forces, gas pipelines, railway tracks and electricity pylons. (Reporting by Gul Yousafzai; Writing by Kamran Haider; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Gunmen kill two intelligence agents in SW Pakistan | Reuters

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Interesting how the attacks have increased in Baluchistan with the new government coming in.

This also coincides with the possible reemergence of Kashmir Freedom fighting groups in Karachi. A possible vacuum in authority and policy as the new government finds its feet, and determines how to proceed.

It must be noted now that the attacks in Balochistan are completely unilateral by the Baloch militants, with Army operations having been at a standstill for the most part since the elections.

The attacks have also been ethnically motivated and directed at non-combatants in some cases, such as the murder of a university VC, who was originally from Punjab.

It would be interesting to see how the more "nationalist Baluch" Government elected in Baluchistan will address these issues. I can see two possible scenarios:

1. This will result in the Baluch militant groups who have refused to stop fighting being rejected by the non-violent Baluch nationalists, therefore putting even more pressure on them and an eventual restarting of the military op (this time with Baluch nationalist support) that is more effective since it obtains support from the non-violent Sardar's and the people under them.

2. The Baluch nationalist government uses the stepped up violence to push for a complete withdrawal of the military from Balochistan under the pretext of "pacifying" the militants, and then pushes even further for extra-constitutional autonomy as the only solution.

 

[Flintlock]

Suicide attack kills 10 in northwest Pakistan: official

14 hours ago

ISLAMABAD (AFP) — A suicide bomber attacked the office of a radical Islamic group in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing 10 people and wounding 15 others, a senior security official said.

"The bomber entered the office and blew himself up among dozens of workers of the organisation," the official told AFP.

The bomber targeted the office of Tanzeem Amar Bil-maruf wal Nahi Al-munkar (Organisation for the Promotion of Virtue and Suppression of Vice) in tribal Khyber district near the provincial capital Peshawar.

"It was a suicide attack and occured in a madrassa," local administration official Ghulam Habib told AFP.

Hospital sources in Peshawar said 15 injured were brought to local hospital.

It was the second attack in less than a week after Taliban rebels killed four people including two policemen in a car bombing in the northwestern city of Mardan.

The Mardan attack broke an almost six-week lull in militant attacks in Pakistan which was plagued by a wave of unprecedented violence in the past year that claimed more than 1,000 lives.

An official of the shadowy group also confirmed the attack and said the bomber was a teenager who wanted to kill the head of the group, Haji Namdar, who escaped unhurt.

Local officials said it was the first attack on a pro-Taliban outfit which could be linked to a turf rivalry between rebel groups in the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan, a known hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.

AFP: Suicide attack kills 10 in northwest Pakistan: official

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

^^^^^ The above news is incorrect. Only 18 people were injured in the suicide bombing.

Suicide bomber targets ‘vice and virtue’ organisation chief​

* Haji Namdar unhurt, at least 18 others injured in attack on Khyber madrassa

BARA: A suicide bomber blew himself up in a Khyber Agency madrassa on Thursday injuring at least 18 people in a bid apparently aimed at killing the head of a religio-militant organisation, eyewitnesses and security officials said.

“I was the target,” Haji Namdar, chief of the Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munkar (Promotion of Virtue and Suppression of Vice) organisation, told Daily Times. “I am safe.”

The suicide bomber, aged between 15 and 18, blew himself up as he approached Namdar at the madrassa in Takya, eyewitnesses said.

One eyewitness, Amin Khan, said the attacker struck after Namdar had finished a sermon and appealed for donations for jihad, AP reported.

“As people were handing out their contributions, a boy … stood up with a pistol in his hand, pretending to offer the weapon as a donation,” another witness, Mohammad Yaqub, told AFP.

Only one of three explosives-filled sections of the attacker’s suicide belt had detonated, Amin Khan told AP.

“There would have been much devastation if all the detonators worked,” said security officials. They also said the dead bomber’s face was recognisable and “he looks to be a foreigner”.

The injured were rushed to hospitals in Peshawar.

Namdar said he was not opposed to suicide bombings targeting “Islam’s enemy”, but was opposed to attacks on fellow Muslims.

He said the attack could be a “reaction” to his organisation’s action against people who attempted to kidnap Mahsud Scouts troops in Kambarkhel this week. “We expelled those people ... and the same people could be involved in the attack,” said Namdar. He said his organisation was investigating the attack and “will move” against the perpetrators.

Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani strongly condemned the attack on Thursday, APP reported. He expressed his sympathies with those injured in the attack, and directed authorities concerned to ensure that they receive the best medical treatment. qazi rauf/agencies

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

Interesting how its a Taliban leader who admittedly does not condemn suicide bombings (although directed at "non-Muslims" only - and we know how quickly any opponent becomes a "non-Muslim" for these people) that this attack was directed at.

 

[Flintlock]

Policeman killed in Pakistan suicide blast

48 minutes ago

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — A suicide bomber blew himself up near a police check post in northwestern Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a policeman and wounding five others, an officer said.

The attack took place at a check post on the outskirts of Bannu city, local police officer Iftikhar Khan told AFP.

"The bomber came in an auto rickshaw and exploded himself during a search of the vehicle at the check post," Khan said.

A policeman was killed and five others wounded including the rickshaw driver and three policemen, he said.

The suicide bomber was blown to pieces, he added.

AFP: Policeman killed in Pakistan suicide blast

 

[Flintlock]

^^^^^ The above news is incorrect. Only 18 people were injured in the suicide bombing.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

Interesting how its a Taliban leader who admittedly does not condemn suicide bombings (although directed at "non-Muslims" only - and we know how quickly any opponent becomes a "non-Muslim" for these people) that this attack was directed at.

I don't get it...why are the extremists killing each other? Or was it a targeted assassination by the government?

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

I don't get it...why are the extremists killing each other? Or was it a targeted assassination by the government?

There isn't much difference between the different Taliban factions when it comes to their interpretation of Islam (very obscurantist) - but there are differences in how they view the State.

B Mehsud sees no issue in fighting the State and conduct suicide bombings that kill innocents, if he is not given carte Blanche to do as he wants. Haji Omar has been preaching a message that it is unislamic to use suicide bombings against Muslims, and to fight the Pakistan military. As such his message goes against what Mehsud (who is the one suspected of ordering the assassination attempt) wants to do, and casts his actions as "un-Islamic".

The Govt. most likely is neutral to groups such as Haji Omar's and Mangal Bagh's Taliban factions, because they provide a natural counterweight to the TTP, despite the fact that these groups too want to enforce their version of Islam.

 

[Flintlock]

Pakistan Army soldier beheaded

Islamabad (PTI): A Pakistan Army soldier was beheaded in the restive North Waziristan tribal region by suspected Taliban militants who put a note on his body saying that he was killed for being a "American spy".

Feroz Khan, who hailed from Mir Ali town of North Waziristan, was kidnapped on April 23 and found dead 15 km east of Miranshah.

"Feroz, member of the Khushali Toorikhel tribe in Mir Ali town, was an American spy and the video of his confession will soon be made available in Miranshah's markets," read the note found on his body.

The body had bullet wounds and the severed head was found lying nearby. Witnesses said the soldier was beheaded by the local Taliban. No group has claimed responsibility for his death.

 

[Flintlock]

Pakistan Suicide Attack Kills 11 in Tribal Region (Update1)

By Ed Johnson

May 19 (Bloomberg) -- A suicide bomber killed at least 11 people in northwestern Pakistan in an attack aimed at sabotaging peace talks between the government and pro-Taliban militants, local officials said.

Fourteen people were injured when the bomber blew himself up outside a bakery in the city of Mardan yesterday, the official Associated Press of Pakistan reported, citing North West Frontier Province Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti.

Pakistani Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was to avenge a missile strike last week that killed 14 people in the town of Damadola, Agence France-Presse reported, citing spokesman Maulvi Omar. Tribal leaders have said the strike was carried out by an unmanned U.S. drone. The U.S. military hasn't commented.

The peace talks are aimed at rooting out al-Qaeda fighters from the region bordering Afghanistan and curbing terrorist attacks that left more than 2,000 people dead in Pakistan last year. The policy has raised questions from Bush administration officials, who say previous truces let the Taliban step up attacks on U.S. and NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

Bush Talks

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met yesterday with President George W. Bush at a World Economic Forum conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and said his government is committed to fighting extremism, APP reported. ``We stand by the world in the fight against terrorism,'' Gilani told reporters following hourlong talks with Bush.

The new government, elected Feb. 18, says it will use a combination of military force and negotiations to curb terrorism and began holding truce talks with the country's most prominent Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud last month.

Authorities in North West Frontier Province last month freed militant leader Sufi Muhammad, the founder of a movement that seized control of the northern Swat Valley in October, after he promised to respect government institutions.

Last week, Pakistani authorities and pro-Taliban militants exchanged dozens of prisoners in North and South Waziristan districts as part of the truce talks with Mehsud, who is demanding the withdrawal of Pakistani troops from the region.

The army isn't withdrawing from Waziristan, APP cited spokesman Major General Athar Abbas as telling reporters yesterday. Troops are only ``relocating.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net.

 

[IceCold]

This was expected. US strikes and we suffer. HOwever US does not alone strike as mentioned at quite a few places, the drones take off from within the pakistani terrority, being US is just a coverup story to suppress the public anger. But the point is how are we going to settle the issue between the two sides? Pakistan is getting squandered between the crossfire.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

This was expected. US strikes and we suffer. HOwever US does not alone strike as mentioned at quite a few places, the drones take off from within the pakistani terrority, being US is just a coverup story to suppress the public anger. But the point is how are we going to settle the issue between the two sides? Pakistan is getting squandered between the crossfire.

The GoP may pursue whatever track it sees best, but I do not see why there should be any confusion amongst us over what should be done.

The Taliban need to disarm or be destroyed.

The government has laready indicated that it is ready to impose Shariah in these areas. In SWAT the bill is ready - and what has Mullah FM or TTP's response been?

We do not want to give up our weapons, we do not want any interference in our "activities" in the rest of the country (read more Lal Masjid), we want a withdrawal of the Army.

Given the above demands, is there any doubt that these people were never really interested in "shariah"?

Their objective mirrors that of the Afghan Taliban, an eventual takeover of a nation they consider beset with "immorality", and turn it into a "pure Islamic Emirate", no matter how they lie about it and try and couch it in "oh we are merely fighting for our rights against the US, and then the PA".

It is clear that this isn't just about FATA or NATO anymore - it is about controlling Pakistan.

 

[asaad-ul-islam]

as hard as it is to admit, I guess I was wrong. I was the one who argued for a peace deal with these militants, in hopes for a reduction in bomb attacks and peace. yet, these hypocrites attack us for their lack of defense and incapability against the US.

why don't they fight who really poses a threat, instead of picking on their own brothers who are willing to make peace with them despite the bloodshed. it's just like i mentioned before, these takfirists are very similar to the khawaarij or the rebels at time of the caliphate of Ali.

likewise they should be isolated and wiped out, just like their predecessors were wiped out before them. they attack and kill innocent civilians because they can't fight head on with the forces. they attack and kill soldiers during ceasefire and when treaties and promises are made.

however, i still do think it's important to note how the us has sabotaged the peace deal by striking villagers with a UAV strike. there was no higher al-qaeda official that was reported to be killed. nonetheless, it still shows the current "democratic" govt.'s ability to not be able to do anything.

 

[vish]

The GoP may pursue whatever track it sees best, but I do not see why there should be any confusion amongst us over what should be done.

The Taliban need to disarm or be destroyed.

The government has laready indicated that it is ready to impose Shariah in these areas. In SWAT the bill is ready - and what has Mullah FM or TTP's response been?

We do not want to give up our weapons, we do not want any interference in our "activities" in the rest of the country (read more Lal Masjid), we want a withdrawal of the Army.

Given the above demands, is there any doubt that these people were never really interested in "shariah"?

Their objective mirrors that of the Afghan Taliban, an eventual takeover of a nation they consider beset with "immorality", and turn it into a "pure Islamic Emirate", no matter how they lie about it and try and couch it in "oh we are merely fighting for our rights against the US, and then the PA".

It is clear that this isn't just about FATA or NATO anymore - it is about controlling Pakistan.

I’m sorry I don’t have anything to add here.

AM, well, sir, you just hit the nail in the coffin.