Brigade 313 and Taliban team up for Karachi assault

[ajtr]

Brigade 313 and Taliban team up for Karachi assault​

By BILL ROGGIONovember 12, 2010


Read more: Brigade 313 and Taliban team up for Karachi assault - The Long War Journal
Yesterday the Taliban and Brigade 313, al Qaeda's branch in Pakistan, jointly carried out a devastating attack on a police headquarters in Karachi. Several members of the assault team escaped after the battle.

The assault took place at the Crime Investigation Department headquarters in a highly secured area of Karachi in Sindh province. Two vehicles, and not one as initially reported, were used in the assault, according to witness statements and closed circuit television footage analyzed by Pakistani investigators.

The first team of attackers dismounted from a jeep and attacked the guards at the front gate, killing them and clearing the path so that the second truck, which was packed with an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of explosives, could enter the compound.

“A Shezore or a larger Mazda truck laden with explosives was used in the blast and terrorists used a Prado jeep, whose occupants first killed guards posted at the CID gate, clearing the way for the truck to enter the building,” a senior Pakistani police officer told Dawn.

Another Pakistani security official claimed that the suicide assault team had enough time to raid the headquarters' armory, and escaped with a number of weapons, Daily Times reported.

Several of the attackers boarded the jeep and fled the attack after the truck was detonated by a suicide bomber. During the assault, 17 people were killed, including two CID officers and five paramilitary soldiers guarding the building.

The attack appears to have been designed to free two Taliban commanders, one from Karachi and another associated with Bajaur Taliban chieftain Faqir Mohammed, and six Lashkar-e-Jhangvi operatives detained over the past week who were being held at the police compound. It is unclear if the captive Taliban commanders and LeJ members were freed or killed during the attack.

The attack also resulted in the loss of evidence and information on terrorists and criminals being held and investigated by the CID in Karachi. "The CID’s data on crime, notorious criminals and informers was completely destroyed, so the CID officials have no information about the suspects who were being investigated," Daily Times reported.

Brigade 313 involved in Karachi CID assault

While the Taliban claimed it carried out yesterday's attack in Karachi, al Qaeda's branch in Pakistan was also likely involved in the operation. The Taliban immediately claimed the attack, just hours after the deadly blast.

"We will continue such attacks as long as military operations continue against us," Azam Tariq, the top spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, told reporters.

But US intelligence officials familiar with al Qaeda's operations in Pakistan believe that Ilyas Kashmiri's Brigade 313 was involved in the assault. Al Qaeda, the Pakistani Taliban, and a host of Pakistani terror groups often carry out joint operations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India.

"You can see Kashmiri's hand in this attack; it has his signature," one official told The Long War Journal. "The attack was well scouted and planned, and executed almost flawlessly. They carried this attack out in a secure area, so it is likely they received some form of inside help from within Pakistan's security forces. Kashmiri has those links."

Kashmiri, a long-time jihadi trained and supported by Pakistan's military and intelligence services to wage jihad in Kashmiri, took command of al Qaeda's military wing after his predecessor, Abdullah Said al Libi, was killed in a US Predator strike in December 2009.

Kashmiri has organized multiple attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. "Kashmiri has supported attacks against Pakistani government personnel and facilities, including the 2009 attack against the offices of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Pakistani police in Lahore, Pakistan that killed 23 people and left hundreds injured," the US Treasury Department stated in a press release that announced his addition to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

A US intelligence official also told The Long War Journal that Kashmiri planned and organized the October 2009 assault on the Pakistani Army's General Headquarters complex in Rawalpindi. In that attack, the terrorist assault team shut down the complex for 18 hours; 11 soldiers were killed, including a brigadier general and a lieutenant colonel, along with nine members of the assault team; and 39 hostages were freed.

Kashmiri has also planned and executed high-profile assassinations of top Pakistani military leaders. "He directed the October 2008 assassination of the former commander of the Pakistani Special Services Group, General Amir Faisal Alvi, in retaliation for his role in the fight against militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan," according to Treasury. "He also led an al Qaeda-linked cell in planning for the assassination of a Pakistani Army general – a plan that was eventually abandoned due to al Qaeda's strategic considerations."



Read more: Brigade 313 and Taliban team up for Karachi assault - The Long War Journal

 

[FNFAL]

day by day the serpents get bolder...may god give the strength and POLITICAL Will to eradicate such monsters.

 

[Veeru]

Terrorist are swines will rot in hell and they are biggest threat to the world.

Many Pakistanis are realizing the threat of terrorism but it will take atleast 4-5 years that the reat of them will finally say enough is enough and join hand with India-China-US-Afghanistan to crush terrorism.

Till then many will support them against India and get targeted by same groups.

 

[unforgotton_man]

Terrorist are swines will rot in hell and they are biggest threat to the world.

Many Pakistanis are realizing the threat of terrorism but it will take atleast 4-5 years that the reat of them will finally say enough is enough and join hand with India-China-US-Afghanistan to crush terrorism.

Till then many will support them against India and get targeted by same groups.

there are some bigger terrorists who are financing and backing these terrorists and guess who ??? >>>> INDIA

 

[BATMAN]

it never amaze me how technology has advanced.
Foreign news paper can investigate any matter in Pakistan within hours while our own agencies are scratching their heads.

In eventual case evidence in Pakistani hand indicate foreign states are engineering terror attacks in Pakistan.

 

[kidwaibhai]

it never amaze me how technology has advanced.
Foreign news paper can investigate any matter in Pakistan within hours while our own agencies are scratching their heads.

In eventual case evidence in Pakistani hand indicate foreign states are engineering terror attacks in Pakistan.

Foreign news papers make claims that need not be help up in the court of law. our agencies have the burden of proof on them that is why they have to be sure before they make fantastical claims to the media. they are also prohibited to talking to the media when something is under investigation. This long war guy keeps making claims that are mostly untrue. our own agno kicked his behind a couple of time in debate that they had with one another.

 

[somebozo]

brigade 313 is an imaginary boogeyman of western media much like obl and talibans are!

 

[Vajra_Yuddh]

there are some bigger terrorists who are financing and backing these terrorists and guess who ??? >>>> INDIA

Man, you need to understand the magnitude of this daring now rather than play the blame game. Seriously, when was the last time your people went to the UNSC, International Court of Justice in Hague or others to take the evidence against us and prove our hand in terrorism? Not once. Why? Why are you not asking your government to do this if they really have a proof? Why sit quiet and simply point at us?

Look I know you are shocked and saddened by the attack on your soil that too almost daily, I can understand. But don't you think a better idea would be to think of a strategy to reduce this than point at some external source? I have been told that this matter has been discussed to death in this forum and still you are not ready to see the real trouble.

The terrorists have grown so strong due to years of support that they now don't need you guys anymore. And see, they are killing your own people. Their names are like you, the call themselves the torchbearers of religion; but then why are they attacking you who shares everything with them?

It is because all this "religious" and this "for the country" pretending they are doing are nothing but to get fresh brainwashed people for their greed. Now I am in 12th grade; think about how many boys of my age get brainwashed and join these people; this is what they want.

To take power, they don't need your government support. Now their branches are entrenched in your lower class so hard that it is getting tougher by the day for your army to spot and hunt them out. And still you are blaming us.

Think about it in a logical way with a cool mind when you're not angry; if your government sincerely had any proof against India, why does it not approach international organizations to intervene and prove their innocence? India did it after 26/11 and you saw that the world accepted it.

Why will they not accept your proof? I will tell you why. Because your government is not able to deal with the reality that these proxy groups are now stronger than them and use our name to keep you guys in dark. Your soldiers are dying giving up their lives, family, people for their country.

I have been reading numerous discussions of how this all started up during Soviet war and how it has compounded to this level today, with you suffering the music. So I don't want to re-open an already discussed topic.

Please think with a cool mind about what I said. Then you will realize what the problem is; it never is us and never was us; it was within your government all along ever since the 2000s began.