Operation Zarb-e-Azb | Updates, News & Discussions.

[thrilainmanila]

i just watched that taliban video ambushing Pak Army,many soldiers are lying red and dead in blood.Why on the face of earth would our soldiers be moving in those naked pick ups in such dangerous areas to be slaughtered.This need to be addressed,atleast they should be provided some Humvees type alternative.Of Billions wasted in fat generals vellas and allowances,some sum could be allocated to save the lives of ground soldiers.If this is how we take care of our soldiers,they will loose all their morale.

where is the video is it on ********

 

[Assault Rifle]

At least 4 Pakistani soldiers killed in Khyber Agency clash.
4 soldiers, 10 militants die in Khyber clash

At least one soldier killed in North Waziristan blast reports DAWN.COM

Pazir Gul adds from Peshawar: A security official was killed and another injured when an improvised explosive device went off in Dattakhel area of North Waziristan.

Security personnel were carrying out a search operation in the area when the explosion occurred. The area was cordoned off after the incident.

Published in Dawn December 8th , 2014

Two Policemen killed in Buner while protecting anti polio team

Two policemen on polio team security shot dead

 

[fatman17]

Al Qaeda Leadership Deaths

• On December 6, the Pakistan Army reportedly killed three al Qaeda militants, including al Qaeda global operations chief Adnan el Shukrijuma, his accomplice and local facilitator, in a raid in the Shin Warsak region of South Waziristan Agency. According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Shukrijuma had fled from North Waziristan due to the ongoing military offensive, Operation Zarb-e-Azb. A soldier was also reportedly killed and another injured in the raid. Shukrijuma, a naturalized American citizen born in Saudi Arabia, was among the five men charged with plotting an attack on the New York subway system in 2010.[1]
• On December 7, a U.S. drone strike killed a senior al Qaeda leader identified as Umer Farooq alias Umer Ustad and Ustad Farooq, in addition to five other militants reportedly belonging to the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, in the Khar Tangi area of Datta Khel sub-district in North Waziristan. Three other militants were also wounded in the drone strike. Farooq was reportedly the operational in-charge of al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan since 2012 as well as the chief financial officer of al Qaeda in the region. Meanwhile, military sources denied that there was a drone strike inside Pakistani territory and declared that the media reports were not true.[2]

Drone Strikes

• On December 7, a U.S. drone strike killed nine alleged Pakistani Taliban militants in the village of Shiltan in Shigal district of Afghanistan’s Kunar province. According to Kunar police chief Abdul Habib Syedkhel, a senior Pakistani Taliban commander was among those killed. The militants reportedly belonged to the Swat region of Pakistan.[4]

Militancy

• On December 7, Pakistan military airstrikes reportedly killed at least 30 militants belonging to the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group in the Mra Panga and Masdaq villages of the Datta Khel sub-district in North Waziristan. The airstrikes reportedly targeted Hafiz Gul Bahadur and his deputy Maulvi Sadiq Noor. The dead are reported to include Gul Bahadur, Sadiq Noor and Akhtar Muhammad, along with several other key commanders of the group. Military officials have not yet officially ascertained the identities of the dead militants.[5]
• According to a December 7 BBC report, the U.S. military confirmed that it “transferred custody” of three Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants to Pakistan from its Bagram airbase in Afghanistan. According to Pakistani officials, senior TTP commander Latif Mehsud, his two guards and a broker were handed over by U.S. officials to Pakistani authorities. The other two militants have been identified only as Jafar and Aziz. Mehsud was the second-in-command to the the late TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud. Latif Mehsud was captured by U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan in October 2013. Meanwhile, Afghan presidential spokesperson, Nazeefullah Salarzai claimed that Mehsud was in the custody of the Afghan government and that the government was unaware of this handover. [6]
• On December 7, an improvised explosive device (IED) killed one soldier and injured another in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan. [7]
• According to a December 8 report in The News, Lashkar-e-Islam and TTP militants attacked a security forces’ bunker in the Aka Khel area of the Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency. Twelve militants and four soldiers were killed in the encounter, while four other soldiers were injured.[8]
• On December 6, Director-General ISPR, Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa declared that more than 400 militants have surrendered so far as a result of the military operation in Khyber Agency.[9]
• On December 6, police forces reportedly arrested seven suspected criminals, including one militant, during a search operation in the Bargai, Takhtikhel and Walai areas of Lakki Marwat in Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa. Police forces also seized a hand grenade, a wireless set and ammunition from the suspected militant. [10]
• On December 5, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed asserted that Pakistani Mujahideen had a right to enter Indian-administered Kashmir to help liberate “oppressed” Kashmiris from Indian rule. Saeed also urged Islamic State militants to target Israel instead of targeting Muslim brothers in Syria and Iraq. Saeed made these remarks at the concluding session of a two-day JuD convention at the Minar-e-Pakistan monument in Lahore. JuD is banned by the U.S., the European Union, India and Russia as a terrorist organization affiliated with the militant Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). On December 8, Twitter suspended the account of Hafiz Saeed. No official explanation was given by Twitter for the account suspension.[11]
• On December 6, police arrested a suspected TTP militant in Islamabad and recovered large quantities of explosives, detonators and wires from his bag. The militant, Mukamal Khan, was a resident of Waziristan and had also spent time in Afghanistan.[12]

Military

• On December 6, army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif visited the corps headquarters in Peshawar and reviewed the progress made in Operations Zarb-e-Azb and Khyber I. Gen. Sharif was also briefed about the next phase of these operations and the strategy being prepared for repatriating people displaced from North Waziristan. Gen. Sharif reportedly expressed satisfaction regarding the military operations and applauded the army’s sacrifices.[13]
• On December 7, China’s State Councilor and Minister for Public Security Guo Shengekun met army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif and discussed issues of mutual interest, regional security and measures to enhance bilateral security and defense cooperation. The Chinese officials reportedly appreciated Pakistan’s fight against terrorism and successes achieved during the ongoing military operation in North Waziristan.[14]
• On December 8, Pakistani and U.S. officials are expected to hold the 23rd meeting of the U.S.-Pakistan Defense Consultative Group in Washington D.C. The Pakistani delegation is headed by Secretary of Defense, Retd. Lt. Gen. Alam Khattak. The talks will reportedly focus on the post-2014 U.S. military strategy for the Afghan-Pak region and Pakistan’s fight against terrorism.[15]

Militancy

• On December 8, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Muhammad Khurasani released a statement confirming the death of al Qaeda’s operations chief for North America, Adnan Shukrijumah, in a Pakistani military raid in the Shin Warsak area of South Waziristan on December 6.[1]
• According to a December 9 Dawn report, U.S. officials believe that there is logical evidence for the TTP’s involvement in drug trafficking along the Pak-Afghan border. The TTP allegedly earns revenue through the movement of illicit drugs produced in Afghanistan which transit through areas of TTP control in Pakistan.[2]
• On December 8, police forces killed Firdos Khan, a commander of the TTP’s Mehsud faction, in a raid in the Manghopir area of Karachi. Police sources claim that Khan masterminded the 2007 Karachi bomb attacks on late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s homecoming convoy that killed 150 people.[3]
• On December 9, a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) targeting a security forces’ vehicle injured at least two people in the cantonment area of Bannu district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. No group claimed responsibility for the attack. [4]
• On December 9, unknown gunmen opened fire on the vehicle of Frontier Corps (FC) spokesman, Balochistan Khan Wasey, in the Double Road area of Quetta. Wasey was critically injured in the firing.[5]
• On December 9, militants shot dead a polio vaccination team member in Faisalabad, Punjab province. Jundullah spokesman Ahmed Marwat claimed responsibility for the attack and declared that the group would continue to attack polio workers throughout Pakistan.[6]
• On December 8, TTP militants killed two policemen assigned to protect a polio vaccination team in the town of Buner near the Swat Valley. TTP spokesman Mohammad Khurasani claimed responsibility for the attack through a phone call on December 9.[7]
• On December 9, security forces successfully recovered Rana Jamil Hasan, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) provincial lawmaker, from an area in Khyber Agency bordering Afghanistan. Hasan was abducted on May 31, 2014 on the motorway near Sheikhupura in Punjab province.[8]

Militancy

• On December 9, two separate Pakistani military airstrikes killed eleven militants and injured ten others in different parts of the Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency. The first airstrike reportedly killed six militants including an Uzbek commander, and injured ten others in Sherkhel Darra in Aka Khel. Twelve militant hideouts were also destroyed. Five militants were killed in the second airstrike in Sarey Kandao in the Kaka Khel area of the Tirah Valley.[3]
• On December 10, Punjabi Taliban chief Asmatullah Mauwiya reportedly attended his father’s funeral in a village near Katcha Khu in Khanewal, Punjab province without being apprehended by the police. District police officials, however, deny Mauwiya’s presence at his father’s funeral and claim that the police failed to find him at the burial ceremony despite the presence of an active informers’ network. Mauwiya is one of the most-wanted militants in Pakistan but renounced armed struggle against Pakistan in a statement released in September 2014.[4]
• On December 10, a roadside improvised explosive device (IED), reportedly targeting security forces, injured four people in the Sariab road area of Quetta.[5]
• On December 10, armed clashes with security forces resulted in the death of one militant in the Ghot Azmat Bugti village in Jaffarabad district of Balochistan. Other militants reportedly managed to escape from the scene.[6]

Foreign Affairs

• According to a December 10 Reuters report, Pakistan has reportedly promised the U.S. that if the U.S. helps defeat the TTP in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Pakistan will help reconcile the Afghan Taliban and bring them to the negotiating table. Furthermore, according to a Pakistani official, the recent spike in attacks against al Qaeda signifies closer tactical ties between the U.S. and Pakistan but does not signify a deeper strategic shift in interests. The official added that the Americans don’t believe that Pakistan can target the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network and that overall trust level between the two countries remains low.[7]

Militancy

• On December 11, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesperson Muhammad Khurasani released a statement accusing the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai, of being an “enemy of Islam” and maligning Islam in exchange of money and fame. Khurasani further claimed that Malala is a weapon in the cultural war which the West has lost in the Middle East and the rest of the world. Meanwhile, TTP Jamatul Ahrar spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan tweeted a statement condemning Gordon Brown and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for using Malala as a child soldier. Ehsan further declared that the group would continue to fight against all kinds of soldiers.[2]
• On December 10, two Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) militants were killed in clashes with anti-Taliban militiamen belonging to the group Tauheed-ul-Islam (TI) in the Narai Baba area of the Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency. TI members reportedly attacked LI and TTP hideouts with heavy weapons and captured militants’ bunkers.[3]
• On December 9, security forces attacked LI and TTP hideouts, killing ten militants and destroying five hideouts in various areas of the Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency.[4]
• On December 11, a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) injured at least eight people in Sibi, Balochistan.[5]

Foreign Affairs

• In a joint statement after the 23rd meeting of the U.S.-Pakistan Defense Consultative Group (DCG) in Washington D.C. on December 10, the U.S. delegation affirmed Pakistan’s claim that the ongoing military operation in North Waziristan has successfully disrupted militants operating in the area. The delegations of the two countries also discussed the need for a strategy to reimburse Pakistan for operational expenses after the expiry of the Coalition Support Fund at the end of fiscal year 2015. The Pakistani delegation of the DCG was headed by Defense Secretary Retd. Lt. Gen. Alam Khattak, while the U.S. delegation was headed by Christine Wormuth, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.[6]
• On December 11, Commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), General John Campbell met with army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. The two Generals reportedly discussed matters related to the progress of Operation Zarb-e-Azb, the regional security situation and co-ordination along the Pak-Afghan border during the meeting.[7]

NWA. Machine Gun Post.

 

[fatman17]

Militancy

• On December 13, police forces killed four militants in a shootout in the city of Muzaffargarh, Punjab province. The militants reportedly belonged to Punjabi Taliban’s Abu Ubaida group. The police also recovered heavy weapons and explosives including four suicide jackets, 12 rockets, 40 hand grenades, and 328 kilograms of gun-powder from the militants. According to intelligence sources, the militants were planning a terror attack during a Shia religious ceremony in the cities of Multan and Muzaffargarh. Three police officials were also injured in the encounter.[4]
• On December 13, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) militants attacked a security forces’ bunker in the Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency. Security forces repulsed the attack, killing five militants and injuring ten others. [5]
• On December 14, security forces targeted militant hideouts, killing one militant and injuring four others, in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency.[6]
• On December 13, militants opened fire at a police check point, killing one policeman and injuring two others in Khuzdar district of Balochistan.[7]
• On December 13, a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) killed a tribal elder and injured another person in the Shakai are of Wana in South Waziristan. [8]

 

[fatman17]

School Massacre a Sign of Taliban's Desperation but also Violent Capability
By Reza Jan
December 16, 2014

Pakistani security forces drive on a road leading to the Army Public School, which was attacked by Taliban gunmen, in Peshawar, December 16, 2014. (Reuters).

At least 141 people have been killed in a Pakistani Taliban attack on a school in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar. More than 114 people are injured and the death toll could continue to rise. Most of the dead are children, including the sons and daughters of army personnel. The attack clearly demonstrates that the al Qaeda-allied Pakistani Taliban remains a deadly and potent threat, despite having been weakened by ongoing military operations and recent infighting.

The attack’s death toll now exceeds that of the 2007 Karachi bombings targeting former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto that killed at least 139 people, until now Pakistan’s deadliest terrorist attack.

School Siege
Around six militants armed with assault rifles and explosives, including suicide vests, infiltrated the school by scaling a back wall abutting a graveyard while children were taking exams and attending ceremonies.

Conflicting reports claim the attackers were disguised in Pakistani military uniforms. Upon entering, the militants indiscriminately fired on the more than 500 students and teachers. The attackers took hostages and began a protracted, hours-long siege of the school. Pakistani military forces arrived on scene and began clearing the school campus building by building. At least one of the attackers set off a suicide vest at some point during the attack. The military reports that six militants have been killed and that the nearly seven-hour-long siege of the school is now over, but that explosives planted by the militants have slowed efforts to fully clear the facility.

Revenge for Pakistan’s Military Operations
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the main Pakistani Taliban umbrella group, has claimed responsibility for the attack on the school. Its spokesman, Muhammad Khurasani, said the attack was revenge for Operation Zarb-e-Azb, a major ongoing military offensive against the TTP in North Waziristan Agency and the deaths of innocent tribesmen at the hands of the army.

There are several reasons why TTP may have chosen to attack the school. The school is an Army Public School and many soldiers’ children, likely including some of those involved in anti-Taliban operations, attend the school. The attack on the school also comes days after Malala Yousufzai, the child education activist who was targeted and shot by the Taliban in the Swat Valley in 2012, received the Nobel Peace Prize. The TTP has previously issued statements condemning Malala and the values and education system for which she advocates.

Beyond the symbolism of the target, the TTP was most likely looking for a soft target affiliated with the Pakistani military—most military facilities are secured locations and difficult to penetrate—in order to conduct a spectacular, mass-casualty attack that would refocus attention on the group.

Pressures Encouraging TTP Attacks
The TTP has been the premier Taliban umbrella movement in Pakistan and the main enemy of the state since 2007. Pakistani military operations targeted the group’s main haven in North Waziristan starting in June 2014. Extensive military operatives in North Waziristan and, subsequently, in Khyber and Orakzai Agencies of Pakistan’s tribal areas have disrupted the TTP’s operations and forced its fighters to flee. The TTP’s leadership has faced criticism from its own factions and allied groups for not striking back more effectively against the Pakistani military in the months since the operation commenced.

Many Pakistani militants are disaffected with the TTP’s current leader, Mullah Fazlullah, whom they see as ineffectual, cowardly for hiding in faraway Kunar, Afghanistan, an outsider who is not from the movement’s traditional tribal core, and incapable of quelling internal disputes among the many tribes and factions that make up the TTP. In recent months several prominent factions of the TTP have splintered to form their own groups.

Some of those new groups, such as the faction loyal to militant commander Omar Khalid Khurasani of Mohmand Agency, have begun stealing the limelight from the TTP by conducting their own spectacular, high-casualty attacks across the country, such as a bomb attack on the India-Pakistan border that killed 60 people.

The al Qaeda franchise, al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), received most of the attention and credit for an audacious attack it conducted along with the TTP on a Naval Dockyard in Karachi in September 2014. Fazlullah and the TTP were further embarrassed when Fazlullah’s own spokesman declared in October that he and several other high-level TTP commanders were defecting and pledging their allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.

Expect More Spectacular Attacks
For groups like the TTP, headline-grabbing attacks are the primary way of remaining relevant and focusing the national dialogue on its crusade to dismantle what it sees as a heretical democracy and replace it with strict Sharia rule. Such attacks, particularly against targets affiliated with the military or government, serve as advertising for the group, helping it to boost recruitment and fundraising. Demonstrating a high level of activity would also help the TTP stem further disaffection in the ranks among members who believe it has not been active enough. An attack such as the one conducted today is exactly what the TTP has been looking for to try and burnish its star and stem the hemorrhaging of fighters and momentum.

The attack serves as a stark reminder that the TTP is far from defeated and remains capable of carrying out horrific violence. Indeed, the more pressure the TTP faces, internally and or externally, the more likely it is that it will conduct spectacular attacks of the sort witnessed today.

Peshawar School Attack

• On December 17, Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) spokesperson Muhammad Khurasani posted a statement on the group’s website claiming responsibility and explaining the TTP’s motivations for the Peshawar school attack. Khurasani stated that the attack was carried out by six fighters in its “Mujahideen Special Group” under the supervision of TTP Commander for Peshawar and Darra Adam Khel, Khalifa Umar Mansoor. Mansoor was reportedly in contact with the militants and issuing instructions during the attack. Khurasani further stated that the TTP attacked the army-run school in order to avenge the injustice meted out by the government of Pakistan and the security agencies toward TTP members. The statement declared that the attack was targeted only at students who were “sane, mature, and belonged to the security personnel families.” Khurasani further stated that the attack was a warning to the security forces to cease “further genocide” of tribal Muslims, to stop killing relatives of fighters in secret prisons, and to release allegedly incarcerated family members of militants. Khurasani threatened attacks on all organizations associated with security forces if his warning was not heeded. Khurasani also advised all Muslims to isolate themselves from security forces or face consequences.[1]
• On December 17, Pakistan Army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif made a surprise visit to Kabul to seek the extradition of TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah from Afghan officials. Gen. Sharif reportedly shared classified intelligence with Afghan officials and claimed that the mastermind of the December 16 Peshawar school attack was issuing directives to the militants from Afghanistan. The Taliban commander had been earlier identified as Umar Naray. The army chief also met International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commander Gen. Joseph Dunford to present evidence of the Peshawar attack’s link with TTP sanctuaries in Kunar and Nuristan province of Afghanistan. Gen. Sharif was also expected to meet Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and was accompanied by the Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on his visit.[2]
• On December 17, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif convened an All Party Conference (APC) in Peshawar in the aftermath of the Peshawar terrorist attack. Addressing lawmakers at the Governor House in Peshawar, Prime Minister Sharif declared that the conference had decided to draft an action plan against terrorists and act upon it immediately. Prime Minister Sharif also announced that there will be no discrimination between “good” and “bad” Taliban and that terrorism will be tackled in the entire country until the last terrorist is eliminated. [3]
• On December 17, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved the removal of a moratorium on the death penalty in terrorism-related cases, following the December 16 Peshawar school attack that killed 141 people. The moratorium had reportedly been imposed under international pressure because of concerns that the courts and police were not capable of ensuring a fair trial for those accused.[4]
• On December 16, Army spokesperson Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa addressed a press conference in Peshawar to give details of the Peshawar school attack and the resulting rescue operation. Maj. Gen. Bajwa declared that the terrorists aimed to inflict maximum damage and did not try to take any hostages. The army also reportedly recovered ammunition and rations from militants which could have lasted them for several days.[5]
• On December 17, Indian lawmakers and schools observed a two-minute silence as a mark of respect for the victims of the Peshawar terrorist attack, following an appeal by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Special prayers were also held in schools and the Indian Parliament. Prime Minister Modi also spoke to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over the telephone on December 16 and pledged Indian support in the fight against terrorism. On December 17, U.S. President Barack Obama also telephoned Prime Minister Sharif and expressed his condolences and sympathies for the victims of the terrorist attack.[6]
• On December 16, international carrier Emirates announced that it was suspending flights to Peshawar for operational reasons with immediate effect until further notice. The announcement came shortly after the Peshawar terrorist attack that killed 141 people.[7]

Drone Attack

• On December 16, a U.S. drone strike killed four Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) members and seven other insurgents in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. According to the spokesman for police forces in Nangarhar, at least one of those killed in the attack was an important commander.[8]

Militancy

• In an update to a story reported on December 16, Pakistan Air Forces airstrikes killed 22 militants in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency. The airstrikes reportedly targeted the hideouts of TTP and Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) militants.[9]
• According to a December 16 Reuters report, Taliban fighters killed at least five Afghan soldiers in a three-day offensive in the Dangam district of Afghanistan’s Kunar province. The attack which began on December 14 was reportedly mounted by fighters from both Pakistan and Afghanistan and was aimed at taking control of Dangam district. 18 Taliban fighters have also reportedly been killed in the offensive. Dangam is about 70 miles from the Pakistani city of Peshawar.[10]

Pakistan Army Chief, Afghan President Vow To Fight Militants

Dec. 17, 2014 - 05:28PM | By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, center, chats with an injured student a day after militants attacked an army-run school, as army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif looks on. (AFP)

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — Pakistan army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif and Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani vowed Wednesday to fight “terrorism and extremism” together, a day after Taliban militants killed 148 people at a Pakistani school.

President Ghani held talks with Sharif in Kabul as Pakistan mourned the victims — mostly children — killed in the massacre that put new pressure on the Islamabad government to combat militancy.

Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of protecting members of the Pakistani Taliban, while Afghanistan routinely accuses neighboring Pakistan of providing shelter within its borders to the Afghan Taliban.

“The time has come for Afghanistan and Pakistan to work together in sincerity and jointly take effective actions against terrorism and extremism,” Ghani said in a statement.

“To restore peace and stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Afghanistan is prepared to independently or together with Pakistan, take serious measures against terrorism and extremism.”

The palace statement gave no details on whether the two discussed the handing over of Pakistani Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah, who is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan.

Sharif said Pakistan was hunting those behind the Peshawar attack, according to the statement from the Afghan presidency.

“(Sharif) said that Afghanistan and Pakistan should jointly work together and take serious steps in the fight against terrorism so to prevent the repeat of such acts,” it added.

Retired Afghan general Atiqullah Amarkhail dismissed Sharif’s trip as an attempt to distract attention from the failure to prevent the attack in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

“The trip is no more than a maneuver by the Pakistanis to pressure the Afghan government and pretend those responsible for the deadly Peshawar attack are based in Afghan soil,” said Amarkhail.

Some of the militants who attacked the army-run school in Peshawar Tuesday spoke in Arabic, a senior Pakistani security official told AFP, which he said suggested that they had links over the border in Afghanistan.
Ghani, who came to power in September, and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have overseen an improvement in ties in recent months.

Pakistan’s army and intelligence services that are widely seen as the driving force behind the country’s defense and foreign policies.

Afghanistan is facing its own surge in violence as US-led NATO troops pull out by the end of the year and are replaced by a 12,500-strong support mission tasked with advising and assisting the Afghan security forces.
Recent deadly attacks have targeted army buses, mine clearance teams and foreign compounds in Kabul.

 

[fatman17]

Terrorism & Insurgency
OSINT Summary: TTP militants kill 132 children during attack on army school in Pakistan
Evan Jendruck - IHS Jane's Terrorism & Insurgency Monitor
16 December 2014

Pakistani army troops arrive outside the army-run school that was under attack by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants in Peshawar, Pakistan, on 16 December. Source: PA

At least 132 children, 10 teachers, and 3 soldiers were killed when Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants attacked an army-run school located along the Warsak Road in the city of Peshawar, Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa province, on 16 December. At least seven assailants - armed with suicide vests, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and automatic rifles - laid siege to the school for nearly nine hours, wounding a total of 120 students, before eventually either detonating their explosive vests or being killed by security forces.

Speaking to Reuters shortly after the start of the attack, TTP spokesperson Muhammad Umar Khorasani stated, "We selected the army's school for the attack because the government is targeting our families and females. We want them to feel the pain." Khorasani's statement was a clear reference to the Pakistan army offensive - entitled Operation Zarb-e-Azb - which has targeted TTP and affiliated militants in North Waziristan in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) since 15 June 2014.

According to data collected by IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre (JTIC), the attack was the deadliest to take place in Pakistan since an October 2009 vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) attack in Peshawar that killed 117 people. Although high-casualty attacks on hard targets are a regular feature of the TTP's campaign, the explicit slaughtering of school children on such an extreme scale is rare for the group.

Given that the school is located only 2 kilometres (km) away from the Bacha Khan International Airport and 1 km from the US consulate in Peshawar, the clear choice of attacking a relatively unsecure target could be a sign of desperation by the TTP. Since the death of its leader Hakimullah Meshud in November 2013, the group has suffered from severe internal divisions that have resulted in at least two significant factions of the group splintering off and forming their own entities.

These splits, when combined with the army's offensive in North Waziristan since June, have seemingly had an impact on the TTP's operations, with JTIC recording a 29% decrease in attacks attributed to the TTP between 1 June and 30 November, compared with the previous six month period. Although splinter factions of the group seem to have retained the ability to conduct major attacks - such as the 2 November attack at the Wagah border crossing in Punjab province near the border with India, which killed 61 people and was claimed by both Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and the Meshud faction of the TTP - the group's main faction led by Maulana Fazlullah has seemingly struggled to maintain its attack tempo.

However, the claim of responsibility for the Peshawar school attack by Fazlullah's TTP may indicate the start of a shifting of focus by the group towards softer targets, especially as it seems unwilling or unable to attack high-value government or military assets.

Such a change in strategy may prove problematic for the group, and Fazlullah in particular, as it risks straining relations with the Afghan Taliban, which condemned the Peshawar school attack hours after it finished, saying, "The intentional killing of innocent people, children, and women are against the basics of Islam and this criteria has to be considered by every Islamic party and government."

The attack began at approximately 1030 local time, when the assailants entered the school from the lesser guarded rear entrance using a ladder. According to army spokesperson Major-General Asim Bajwa, the militants started to fire their weapons indiscriminately as soon as they entered the school auditorium, killing children in groups. "They did not want to take any hostages," he said.

According to eyewitness accounts cited in local media, the attackers were wearing army uniforms, and may have detonated a nearby explosive device at the start of the attack in order to distract the school's security guards. Several reports, citing students who escaped the attack, claimed some of the militants were speaking a foreign language.

There were approximately 1,100 students and teachers present at the school when the attack started, and according to one unnamed army official speaking to CNN, the militants went into the school with enough ammunition and other supplies to last for several days, and were not expecting to come out alive. Speaking to Al-Jazeera as the attack was still ongoing, Khorasani stated that the suicide bombers had been given orders to allow the youngest students to leave but to kill the rest.

Within one hour of the attack taking place, a heavy contingent of security forces had arrived and began evacuating different parts of the school while trying to limit the movements of the militants. The last attacker was killed by security forces during a stand-off at the school at around 1830 local time.

An attack of this magnitude will almost certainly provoke a stern counter-terrorism response against the TTP and its affiliate organisations, in addition to a likely escalation of Operation Zarb-e-Azb over the coming weeks.

Indeed, moments after the end of the siege, Pakistani army general Raheel Sharif stated, "Our resolve has taken new height. We will continue go after inhuman beasts [and] their facilitators until their final elimination." Not even 30 minutes later, Bajwa stated that Pakistan's military - acting on actionable intelligence - had carried out 10 airstrikes in Khyber Agency in response to the attack.

 

[fatman17]

Militancy

• On December 17, the Pakistan military conducted 20 airstrikes, killing 57 militants, in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency. [6]
• On December 17, Pakistani Rangers raided a TTP militant hideout, killing five militants, in the Manghopir area of Karachi. The Rangers also recovered automatic weapons and explosives from the hideout.[7]
• On December 18, a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) killed three Frontier Corps (FC) personnel when they walked over the IED in the Damadola area of Bajaur Agency.[8]
• According to a December 18 Dawn report, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Prisons has alerted the provincial government of potential jailbreaks by militants and requested law enforcement agencies to ensure fool-proof security arrangements at all jails in the province. The alert was issued following Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s decision to reinstate the death penalty in terrorism cases.[9]

 

[Icewolf]

32 terrorists killed in ground raids, 3 Jawad injured

 

[Counterpunch]

32 terrorists killed in ground raids, 3 Jawad injured

What's the source please?
And which areas were raided?

 

[fatman17]

Peshawar School Attack

• According to a December 19 report in The News, Tehrike-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Jamaatul Ahrar spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan condemned the Peshawar school attack carried out by the TTP and declared that killing of non-combatants, women, children, the old and the sick was forbidden in Islam and that TTP Jamaatul Ahrar had nothing to do with the attack. Separately, a December 18 Reuters report claims that Ghulam Rasool Shah, a deputy for Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s founder Malik Ishaq, also condemned the attack and said there was no religious, ethnic or social explanation for the cruel attack.[1]
• On December 18, Umar Mansoor, the mastermind of the Peshawar school attack, appeared in a video released by the TTP on a jihadist website. In the video, Mansoor reportedly vowed to attack more schools and civilian targets in revenge for Pakistani military operations in North Waziristan. Mansoor is reportedly the leader of the Darra Adam Khel and Peshawar chapters of TTP.[2]
• On December 19, Advisor to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz declared that the December 16 Peshawar school attack was a “game-changer” in Pakistan’s strategy for countering terrorism. Aziz added that the distinction between the “good” and “bad” terrorists has virtually disappeared following the Peshawar attack and that 16/12 Peshawar attack was like a mini 9/11 attack.[3]
• According to a December 19 Express Tribune report, army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif and Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) made a surprise visit to Kabul on December 17 and provided audio proof of TTP chief Fazlullah’s involvement in the Peshawar school attack to Afghan authorities. The army chief also reportedly made clear that the Pakistan Army was restraining itself from chasing targets across the international border despite mounting evidence. Fazlullah was reportedly in contact with the Peshawar school militants during the attack and is believed to be hiding in the Nangarhar, Nuristan and Kunar areas of Afghanistan. According to sources, the army will provide the Afghan government and ISAF a “reasonable” amount of time to take action against Fazlullah following which the Army will consider other options.[4]

Drone Strike

• On December 19, a U.S. drone strike killed eight militants in Cort village of Nazyan district in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. Several militants were also reportedly injured. According to security officials, militants based in Nazyan district were involved in planning the December 16 Peshawar school attack.[6]

Militancy

• On December 18, Pakistan military airstrikes killed 20 militants in the Akakhel, Sepah and Kukikhel areas of the Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency. The airstrikes reportedly targeted hideouts of Lashkar-e-Islam and the TTP. An Uzbek commander identified as Islamud Din was among those killed in the airstrikes.[7]
• On December 19, the Pakistan Army ambushed a group of militants moving towards the Pak-Afghan border, killing at least 32 militants, in the Wurmagai and Spurkot areas of the Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency. Three security personnel were also injured in the clashes.[8]
• On December 18, security forces raided militant hideouts, killing 12 militants, in Khyber Agency. Bodies of the dead militants are reportedly being identified by the security forces. In a separate incident, security forces repulsed a militant attack, killing 18 militants, in Khyber Agency.[9]
• On December 18, ten militants were killed in a ground offensive by security forces at Malak Shaga Nullah near Warwandu Mella in Bajaur Agency. Two militants were also reportedly injured while at least six militants managed to escape.[10]
• On December 19, security forces conducted a search operation in the Chotair area of Balochistan’s Ziarat district, killing eight militants, including a local TTP commander. The security forces also recovered arms and ammunition from the militants. [11]
• On December 19, Rangers personnel conducted a raid, killing four TTP militants, in the Musharraf Colony area of Karachi. A key TTP commander identified as Abid Muchhar was among those killed in the raid. One Rangers soldier was injured in the resulting encounter.[12]
• On December 18, security forces arrested four militants, including an Uzbek national, in the Eastern Bypass area of Quetta. Weapons and explosives were also recovered from the militants.[13]
• On December 19, an unknown gunman opened fire at two policemen, injuring them, before fleeing from the scene in Peshawar.[14]
• On December 19, two TTP militants were killed in a police operation in Gujrat, Punjab province.[15]

 

[fatman17]

Tehrik Taliban-i Pakistan (TTiP)
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
Baitullah Mahsud
On 16 December 2014, the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack on a military-run school in Peshawar which killed over 140 people, mostly children, claiming it was revenge for a Pakistani army operation in North Waziristan. A Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman claimed that they'd sent in six gunmen wearing military uniforms and suicide vests to attack the military-run facility. Over 500 students and teachers were believed to be inside when the attack began.


Negotiators for the Pakistani government and the Taliban met in Islamabad February 06, 2014 for a first round of talks aimed at ending the militants' bloody insurgency. The first meeting was aimed at charting a plan for future peace talks. The Taliban demands include imposition of strict Islamic law, the release of its fighters from jail and the withdrawal of government troops from northwestern tribal areas of Pakistan. The region is known for harboring local and foreign militants.Several earlier efforts at striking peace deals with the militants failed to end the violence for long, only allowing them to regroup, recruit new fighters and strike back with renewed vengeance. The Taliban insurgency has taken thousands of lives, as Taliban members battled for establishment of an independent, Islamic-controlled state.

The government of Pakistan agreed to participate in the talks because it wanted to bring an end to bloodshed in Pakistan as soon as possible. Preliminary peace talks between the Pakistani government and and the Pakistani Taliban were delayed after the government team failed to show up for a meeting in Islamabad February 04, 2014. Both sides were scheduled to meet at the office of Jamaat-e-Islami, a major Islamic party. The Taliban had originally appointed a five-member negotiating team, but two of them backed out. The Taliban team consisted of leaders from Pakistani religious parties with representation in the national parliament, but there was no active leader or fighter of the insurgent group in the peace committee. The group of Islamist leaders representing the Taliban appeared, but the government team decided at the last minute against attending the talks.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had "come under pressure” for his peace initiative. Critics have accused Sharif's government of taking a weak stand against the Taliban in the past.

Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is a Pakistan-based terrorist organization formed in 2007 in opposition to Pakistani military efforts in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Previously disparate militant tribes agreed to cooperate and eventually coalesced into TTP under the leadership of Baitullah Mehsud. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan is a network of at least a dozen groups that claimed responsibility for suicide bombings across Pakistan.

Tehrik Taliban-i Pakistan (TTiP / TTP - Movement of Studens in Pakistan) was an umbrella organization for indigenous Pakistani Taliban commanders, based in Pakistan, in the FATA. The name "Tehrik-i-Taliban" had been used prior to the latest December 14 announcement. An organization with a similar name emerged in FATA's Orakzai Agency in 1998. Some reports also mention a similar organization by the name of Tehrik-i- Tulaba (Movement of Students) also operating in Orakzai Agency that even established an active Shari`a court. The name and idea, therefore, is not original.

The Waziris, who by 1910 numbered some 40,000 fighting men altogether, were at that time divided into two main sections, the Darwesh Khel (30,000) and the Mahsuds (8,000), with two smaller sections. The Mahsuds, who then inhabited the tract of country lying between the Tochi Valley on the north and the Gomal river on the south, had earned for themselves an evil name as the most confirmed raiders on the border; but they were a plucky race, as active over the hills as the Afridis [in the Khyber Agency], and next to them the best-armed large tribe on the frontier. From Wana to Tank, from Tank to Bannu, and from Bannu to Datta Khel, for a distance of over 200 miles, British territory in India before the Great War was open to Mahsud depredations.

The Government of Pakistan sought stability along the border with Afghanistan by continuing their traditional policy, which followed in the footsteps of the British Raj. Pakistan achieved a series "truces" with local leaders in 2004, 2005, and 2006. In February 2005 the Pakistani military reached a peace deal with Baitullah Mahsud, and withdrew its forces from check points in the region. A Pakistan Army spokesman confirmed that a November 2004 deal included giving Baitullah Mehsud and three other tribal leaders about $540,000 to repay loans they had taken from Al Qaeda.

Abdullah Mehsud vowed to continue his "jihad" despite the pact between the Pakistan government and several of his former allies. In mid-2006, Islamabad struck a peace deal with insurgents in North Waziristan. Pakistan agreed to end military operations and remove local checkpoints, in return for an halt in insurgent attacks on government officials.

Abdullah Mehsud [Mehsud being the tribal name, not a family name], a graduate of the Gomal University, spent 25 months in the US-run Camp X-ray until his release in March 2004 [it remains unclear why he was released]. He lost a leg in a landmine explosion as the Taleban fought to take over the Afghan capital Kabul in 1996. The one-legged commander had been captured when fighting with the Taliban in 2001 in Afghanistan. Soon after his release Abdullah Mehsud ordered the kidnapping of two Chinese engineers to pressurize the government into halting counter-terrorism operations in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

By December 2004 Abdullah Mehsud was "the self-proclaimed local leader" and Baitullah Mehsud was "the commander of militant forces in Mehsud territory". In January 2005 Abdullah Mehsud and Baitullah Mehsud were on the wanted list of the authorities for their alleged involvement in attacks on troops in the Mehsud-dominated areas of the South Waziristan which borders Afghanistan.

Abdullah Mehsud, carrying a reward of Rs5 million on his head, was accused of being involved in the kidnapping of the two Chinese engineers. In January 2007 Baitullah Mehsud was said to be a lieutenant to the tribal leader, Abdullah Mehsud, who had been leading local militants in the region. By March 2007 Baitullah Mehsud was said to be "the most powerful Taliban leader in South Waziristan." In July 2007 Abdullah Mehsud died in south-western Balochistan province, reportedly at the age of 32 years old. Pakistan interior ministry spokesman Javed Cheema told the AFP news agency that Mehsud blew himself up with a hand grenade after soldiers raided a hideout in the Zhob district of Balochistan. Abdullah Mehsud had been in Afghanistan for more than a year and that there was no evidence that he organized the recent violence in Pakistan.

Baitullah Mahsud, chieftain of the Mahsud tribe in South Waziristan as of 2008, was reportedly 34 years old in 1987, suggesting he was born around 1983. Baitullah Mehsud did not attend schooling or religious madrasa. He shunned media and refused to be photographed, indicating that he stood by the Taliban version of Islam.

By 2008 Baitullah Mehsud reportedly commanded 5,000 fighters, while other reports said he commanded about 20,000 pro-Taleban militants, and a report in 2006 had estimated Baitullah Mehsud commanded an army of 30,000 fighters. All these estimates, and surely the larger one, must refer to combat-inclined men under arms rather than the number in the field fighting, given the generally modest operational tempo exhibited by Baitullah Mehsud's followers. Baitullah Mehsud was said to operate with relative impunity in Federally Administered Tribal Areas [FATA], though this claim was contradicted by his disputes with local commanders outside his Mehsud tribal area in South Waziristan. Baitullah Mahsud had reportedly built up strongholds in North and South Waziristan by recruiting and training young men, and "killing uncooperative tribal leaders."

Some accounts said that he operated under the legendary Afghan Taleban commander, Jalaluddin Haqqani. Other accounts claim that Mehsud was independent of the Afghan Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan - but he was giving them sanctuary and they were training his forces.

Baitullah Mehsud may have been among the most irreconcilable of elements in western Pakistan. Baitullah Mehsud was once quoted as saying, "Only Jihad can bring peace to the world." Mehsud refused to recognize the Durand Line as a legitimate frontier and has explicitly ruled out any end to the "jihad in Afghanistan." The NWFP governor claimed that Mehsud oversaw an annual money flow of up to three billion Pakistani rupees (about $45 million) to sustain his regional militancy. Most of this money was said to be raised through trafficking in drugs. Mehsud and his organization were reportedly used by the Government of Pakistan as conduits for the payment of compensation to local residents affected by the fighting in South Waziristan.

Baitullah Mehsud issued vows to avenge Pakistani military and paramilitary attacks in the region in early 2007; he reportedly has been linked to at least four anti-government suicide bombings in Pakistan and in 2007 emerged as a major challenge to Islamabad's writ in the tribal areas.

On 30 August 2007 some 250 Pakistani soldiers, including a colonel and 8 other officers, were taken prisoner when pro-Taliban militants ambushed their convoy in South Waziristan. The troops apparently offered no resistance before surrendering to Islamist extremists reportedly loyal to fugitive commander Baitullah Mahsud. President Musharraf later criticized the troops for taking insufficient precautionary measures. Only hours after Musharraf's November 3 emergency decree, the militants released 211 of the troops. Reports indicate that government authorities had released 25 detained militants in exchange, including several men said to be convicted aspiring suicide bombers.

On 23 October 2007, a credible newspaper in Pakistan disclosed that five militant groups joined hands to set up an organization named Tehrik-i-Taliban in Mohmand Agency with a goal "to flush out gangs carrying out criminal activities in the name of Taliban." Other reports stated that the Tehriki-Taliban Pakistan umbrella organization of the Pakistani Taliban groups was formed in December 2007.

The 27 December 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, in a suicide bombing after a political rally in Rawalpindi, was the most prominent suicide attack of the year. Pakistani government officials quickly blamed pro-Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked militant Baitullah Mehsud for Bhutto's killing. Through a spokesman, Mehsud has denied any involvement in the killing. The Government of Pakistan immediately stated that Baitullah Mahsud, a leading Pakistani Taliban commander with close ties to AQ, was responsible for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. In Pakistan there was a massive outburst of rage against Musharraf and everything associated with his government, including the government's claim that it had evidence that the Pakistani Taliban, led by Baitullah Mahsud, carried out the assassination, claiming they had intercepted a telephone conversation in which Mehsud took credit for the act.

Supporters of Benazir Bhutto remained skeptical of the country's initial investigation that concluded al-Qaida or Taliban assassins most likely killed her in December 2007. The initial investigation by Pakistani authorities into the gun and suicide bomb attack that killed her after a political rally in Rawalpindi blamed Baitullah Mehsud, a Pakistani Taliban commander. US intelligence officials also named him as the most likely suspect. Her supporters have rejected those findings, suggesting that Ms. Bhutto's political opponents may have been involved and tampered with the investigation.

British investigators later largely confirmed the initial findings, although admitted their access to evidence was limited.

In South Waziristan, Baitullah Mehsud's forces conducted successful assaults on key forts in Ladha, Sararogha and Seplatoi between 10 and 17 January 2008. Although the Pakistani security forces had generally been successful in rolling back such gains, even the temporary loss of control over towns or military facilities represents a significant blow to the legitimacy and credibility of the government.
On 19 January 2008, 14 men were arrested by Spanish authorities in Barcelona, 12 of whom were Pakistani. Police found what they said was bomb-related material in a number of raids. One of the plotters reportedly told an informant, "Only the leadership of the organization knows what requests the emir [Mehsud] will make after the first attack, but if they are not carried out, there will be a second attack in Spain, and a third. And then in Germany, France, Portugal and the United Kingdom. There are many people prepared there."

On Feb. 10, 2008 Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said the war on terror in Afghanistan is Europe's war. "Many who have been arrested have had direct connections to al Qaeda," he said. "Some have met with top leaders or attended training camps abroad. Some are connected to al Qaeda in Iraq. In the most recent case, the Barcelona cell appears to have ties to a terrorist training network run by Baitullah Mehsud, a Pakistan-based extremist commander affiliated with the Taliban and al Qaeda - who we believe was responsible for the assassination of (former Pakistani Prime Minister) Benazir Bhutto."

In early- and mid-2008, Pakistani forces pulled back from TTiP's stronghold in Waziristan. These deals did not lead to greater stability. In a video interview recorded in August 2008, Maulvi Omar, the official spokesman of TTP, claimed that the organization was responsible for the foiled suicide bombing plot. When asked whether the TTP could ever carry out an attack against the West, Omar replied: "The one in Barcelona was conducted by twelve of our men. They were under pledge to Baitullah Mehsud and TTP has already claimed responsibility, because Spain's military presence in Afghanistan."

The Islamabad government formally banned the TTP in August 2008 due to its alleged involvement in a series of domestic suicide attacks. TTP is said to have a presence in all seven agencies of FATA and many districts in NWFP. By early 2009 TTP was characterized as "a conglomerate of between 30-40 militant groups operating in agencies of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)." A shura of 40 senior Taliban leaders established the TTP as an umbrella organization. Militant commander Baitullah Mehsud was appointed as its amir, Maulana Hafiz Gul Bahadur of North Waziristan as senior naib amir (deputy) and Maulana Faqir Muhammad of Bajaur Agency as the third in command.

As Steve Emerson noted : "These tribal and Taliban militias, however, are vulnerable in one sense: there is a certain amount of tension and discord stemming from disagreements and inter-tribal distrust. One example of this is an apparent schism between Mehsud and Hafiz Gul Bahadur, another Taliban leader in Waziristan and deputy commander of TTP, Mehsud's umbrella organization. While Bahadur and Mehsud are leaders of the same organization, they are of different tribes. Bahadur was among the signatories of the peace deal between the Pakistani government and North Waziristan in September 2006, mentioned above. Bahadur has resisted Mehsud's efforts too coordinate attacks in North Waziristan, which is Bahadur's turf. Bahadur has even negotiated independent ceasefires and truces with the Pakistani Army and told Mehsud to steer clear of North Waziristan."

On 01 October 2008 Military officials in the field confirmed to CNN that Mehsud had died. Geo Television of Pakistan and other local stations also reported his death. Mehsud is said to have succumbed to kidney failure. The reports of his death were greatly exagerated.

When Baitullah Mehsud's TTP became a serious threat to the government, the government tried to unite other militant groups against Baitullah Mehsud, thus, bringing together Hafiz Gul Bahadur and Maulvi Nazeer. By 21 February 2009 a 14-member Shura of Pakistani and Afghan Taliban commanders played a role in resolving differences among the three militant commanders. Leaders of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, Taliban commander in North Waziristan and Maulvi Nazeer, militant commander in South Waziristan pardoned each other for the previous killings of their people and material losses.

After a suspected US drone strike killed Baitullah Mehsud, Hakimullah Mehsud took charge of the Taliban in Pakistan in 2009. Hakimullah had been close to Baitullah, being appointed his chief spokesman in 2007. Hakimullah became known as a rising star within the Taliban and masterminded a series of attacks on NATO supply vehicles headed for Afghanistan. Thought to be responsible for thousands of deaths, Hakimullah Mehsud had a $5 million bounty placed on his head by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Pakistani Taliban leader earned a reputation for being "fiery," "aggressive" and "reckless."

TTP claimed to have supported the failed attempt by Faisal Shahzad to detonate an explosive device in New York City’s Times Square on May 1, 2010. TTP’s claim was validated by investigations that revealed that TTP directed and facilitated the plot. Throughout 2011, TTP carried out attacks against the Government of Pakistan and civilian targets, as well as against U.S. targets in Pakistan. Attacks in 2011 included: a March bombing at a gas station in Faisalabad that killed 31 people; an April double suicide bombing at a Sufi shrine in Dera Ghazi Khan that left more than 50 dead; a May bombing of an American consulate convoy in Peshawar that killed one person and injured 12; a May siege of a naval base in Karachi; and a September attack against a school bus that killed four children and the bus driver.

TTP continued to utilize the same tactics against similar targets in 2012. In March, a suicide bomber struck at a mosque in Khyber Agency, and killed over a dozen people while injuring approximately 10 others. In May, an attack in the Bajaur tribal region killed 24 people when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a police checkpoint near a crowded market. In August, TTP stormed a Pakistani Air Force base in Kamra; five Pakistani soldiers were killed in the ensuing firefight. Also in August, TTP militants pulled 22 Shia Muslims off busses in the remote Pakistani district of Manshera before shooting them dead.

The Pakistani army said it was investigating reports that Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud died from injuries sustained in a US drone missile strike in mid-January 2010. The army's announcement followed a report on Pakistani state television that Mehsud had died and has been buried. The Taliban has denied again Sunday that their leader was killed. Conflicting reports about the militant leader's death first surfaced after the January bombing in northwest Pakistan that killed at least a dozen militants. The Taliban released two audio tapes after the bombing as proof Mehsud survived the attack. Some reports say Mehsud may have been killed in another drone attack a few days later. Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told the French News Agency that Mehsud is "alive and safe." He said media stories about Mehsud's death are meant "to create differences among Taliban ranks." Tariq said the Taliban had provided proof that Mehsud is alive, and that people who say he is dead "should provide proof." US officials had said they were more than 90 percent certain the militant leader had been killed. And in February, Pakistan's interior minister said there was "credible information" Mehsud was dead.

Pakistan's interior minister said he was unable to confirm reports in January 2012 that the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in the North Waziristan tribal region. Rehman Malik told reporters in Islamabad Monday that unless he has "DNA evidence" or confirmation from his own "independent sources," he will not say Mehsud is dead. Unnamed Pakistani intelligence officials said they had intercepted wireless radio conversations of the Taliban fighters discussing whether their chief was killed in the attack. Some of the overheard militants confirmed Mehsud was dead, while at least one criticized them for talking about it on the radio. There was no official confirmation from Pakistan, and the Taliban issued a denial.

The young leader was killed in a suspected US drone strike 01 November 2013. Hakimullah Mehsud was believed to be in his late 20s at the time. He had been reported dead before in attacks. Pakistan's government protested the drone strike that killed Mehsud, saying the United States was sabotaging Pakistani peace talks with the domestic Taliban by killing the group's leader. The drone strike that killed Mehsud in the North Wazirstan tribal area came a day before the government was to send a three-member delegation of clerics to the region with a formal invitation to start peace talks.

"It is clear that the U.S. is against peace and does not want terrorism to subside. Now, we only have one agenda: to stop NATO supplies going through (the northern province of) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,"

Asad Qaiser, the speaker of the provincial assembly, told Reuters. Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan, whose party is ruling in northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, threatened to stop the NATO supply line in the province.

Initially it was reported that Khan Syed [aka Khalid Sajna] had been appointed as new chief of Pakistan Taliban one day after the death of former leader Hakeemullah Mehsud. The consultative body of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) reportedly appointed Sajna the new chief of the outfit in a meeting held at a undisclosed place in the northwestern tribal region of North Waziristan. Sajna, a close aide of former chief Hakeemullah, was said to have gotten 43 out of 60 votes of the consultative body. Sajna has been leading the Taliban chapter of South Waziristan since May 2013 after a US drone strike killed an important leader named Wali-ur-Rehman. Sajna, 36, was reportedly involved in some of the big terrorist attacks in Pakistan, including the attack on a naval base in Karachi and last year's jailbreak in which the Taliban freed around 400 inmates in the country's northwestern district of Bannu. According to reports, Sajna had no formal education, conventional or religious, but he is considered as a battle- hardened and experienced guerrilla battle commander.
But other factions of the Pakistani Taliban alliance were unhappy with the choice and were supporting other candidates. These included Mullah Fazlullah, the ruthless commander from Swat Valley, northwest of Islamabad, whose men shot and wounded schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai in 2012.

After the funeral of Mehsud, the Consultative Body of Pakistan Taliban held two separate meetings at undisclosed locations in two different regions, but could not succeed in reaching consensus over one name. At a meeting held in north western tribal region of North Waziristan, Khalid Sajna was named for the post of new chief. But, a group of Consultative Body that reportedly met at unknown place in Nuristan province of Afghanistan opposed the result and suggested another person.

So a Taliban spokesman told local reporters 03 November 2013 that central shura leader Asmatullah Shaheen Bhittani had been named interim chief. Earlier reports from the area had suggested that another Taliban militant, Said Khan, was also a likely successor to Hakimullah Mehsud. Both men were considered possible permanent replacements for Hakimullah Mehsud. Asmatullah Shaheen, also known as Asmatullah Bhittani, is a leader of TTP in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region of South Waziristan, and he would be in charge of running the daily affairs of TTP, said the report.

By November 07, 2013 Maulana Fazlullah, the fugitive leader of the Taliban in northwestern Pakistan's Swat Valley, replaced Hakimullah Mehsud, who was killed in a suspected U.S. drone strike on November 1. Fazlullah earned the nickname 'Radio Mullah' for his rousing radio speeches in the Swat Valley when the TTP controlled the mountainous region of northwestern Pakistan from 2007 to 2009. He is considered a fiery orator and the most hard-line figure among the top commanders of the Pakistani Taliban movement.

GS.Org

 

[foxbat]

aaaahhhhh
God, is this what an orgasm feels like?

Your first ?

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

Your first ?

share your experience..

 

[foxbat]

share your experience..

My first was so long back that the memory is a little faded. On a different kind of forum, I could have shared more recent ones though

 

[asad71]

Pakistan's most hated man - volleyball player, child killer

(Reuters) - The most hated man in Pakistan is a 36-year-old father of three and volleyball enthusiast nicknamed "Slim".



His real name is Umar Mansoor and the Pakistani Taliban say he masterminded this week's massacre of 132 children and nine staff at a school in Peshawar - the deadliest militant attack in Pakistan's history.



A video posted on Thursday on a website used by the Taliban shows a man with a luxuriant chest-length beard, holding an admonishing finger aloft as he seeks to justify the Dec. 16 attack. The caption identified him as Umar Mansoor.



"If our women and children die as martyrs, your children will not escape," he said. "We will fight against you in such a style that you attack us and we will take revenge on innocents."



The Taliban say the attack, in which gunmen wearing suicide-bomb vests executed children, was retaliation for a military offensive carried out by the Pakistani army. They accuse the military of carrying out extrajudicial killings.



The accusation is not new. Many courts have heard cases where men disappeared from the custody of security services. Some bodies have been found later, hands bound behind the back and shot in the head, or dismembered and stuffed into sacks.



Some security officials say privately the courts are so corrupt and afraid, it is almost impossible to convict militants.



"You risk your life to catch terrorists and the courts always release them," said one official. "If you kill them then they don't come back."



The country is so inured to violence that the discovery of such bodies barely rates a paragraph in a local newspaper. Despite this, the school attack shocked a nation where traditionally, women and children are protected, even in war.



Six Pakistani Taliban interviewed by Reuters confirmed the mastermind was Mansoor. Four of them said he is close to Mullah Fazlullah, the embattled leader of the fractious group who ordered assassins to kill schoolgirl activist Malala Yousafzai.



"He strictly follows the principles of jihad," one said. "He is strict in principles, but very kind to his juniors. He is popular among the juniors because of his bravery and boldness."



Mansoor got a high school education in the capital, Islamabad, two Taliban members said, and later studied in a madrassa, a religious school.



"Umar Mansoor had a tough mind from a very young age, he was always in fights with other boys," said one Taliban member.



Mansoor has two brothers and spent some time working in the city of Karachi as a labourer before joining the Taliban soon after it was formed, in late 2007, said one commander.



His nickname is "nary," a word in the Pashto language meaning "slim", and he is the father of two daughters and a son, said another commanders.



"(Mansoor) likes to play volleyball," said one of the Taliban members. "He is a good volleyball player. Wherever he shifts his office, he puts a volleyball net up."



The Taliban video describes him as the "amir", or leader, of Peshawar and nearby Darra Adam Khel. Mansoor deeply opposes talks with the government, the commanders said.



"He was very strict from the start when he joined," a commander said. "He left many commanders behind if they had a soft corner (of their heart) for the government."