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UN reviews security after Pakistani Taliban 'threat'

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The UN says it is reviewing security measures for its aid workers in Pakistan, after a warning of new threats from the Pakistani Taliban.

A US official said the militant group was planning to attack foreigners delivering aid to millions of people affected by the floods.

There have been no attacks since the floods began.

It has now been four weeks since the start of the flooding, described as the region's worst humanitarian crisis.

The UN says more than 17 million people have been affected by the floods, and about 1.2 million homes have been destroyed, leaving five million people homeless.

As floods sweep down from the north, water has breached one embankment in the Kot Almo area in Sindh province, threatening thousands of people in the southern Thatta district to flee from their homes.

About 400,000 people have been told to evacuate the towns of Sujawal, Mir Pur Batoro and Daro.

"Evacuation in those areas is ongoing but we have issued another warning for the remaining people to leave as well," Saleh Farooqi, director general of the National Disaster Management Agency's Sindh office, told the Reuters news agency.

'Plans to attack'

The militant group Tehrik-e Taliban "plans to conduct attacks against foreigners participating in the ongoing flood relief operations in Pakistan", a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the BBC.

The official said the US government also believed "federal and provincial ministers" may be at risk, but gave no further details of the source of the information.

A spokesman for the World Health Organization told the BBC that aid work in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan was already being affected by security concerns.

"Now with this threat it means either we have to downsize the operation - which means less access to the affectees - otherwise we have to take more mitigation measures in order to reduce the security risk, which means more resources," Ahmed Farah Shadoul said.

"This will definitely delay the operation in certain areas."

Earlier, US General Michael Nagata said his forces had seen no threats to their security in the three weeks that they had been operating in Pakistan. He said the fleet of 19 US helicopters had helped save more than 6,000 people.

Tehrik-e Taliban is considered the most radical and violent militant group in Pakistan.

A retired Pakistani general, Talat Masood, told the BBC that the militant group would seek to counter any gains in public support for Western governments helping with relief and aid work.

The US is one of a number of countries to have sent aid and assistance to Pakistan. The US Agency for International Development says that it has so far provided around $150m (£97m) in support to victims of the flood.

However, the head of its development agency, Rajiv Shah, sounded a warning about accountability and corruption.

Long-term aid money would "would require a demonstration of real transparency and accountability and that resources spent in Pakistan get results", he told the Associated Press news agency.

'Nothing left'

Various nations have pledged more than $700m (£552m) for relief efforts in Pakistan.

Workers have begun clearing up as the floods recede in the north and the UN has appealed for more helicopters to reach 800,000 people who are cut off.

Aid agencies are focusing on providing emergency relief such as shelter, food and medical care.

In the southern province of Sindh, people displaced by the flooding have gathered at one of the main railway stations in Karachi.

"We have fled from the floods," one woman told the BBC.

"We have nothing left. We have been here for three or four days, and we are hungry. Nobody is even looking at us. We have had no food the whole day. We are dying of hunger. I have six children."

Another of those waiting at the station, Abdul Ghani Odano, said people were relying on charity to survive.

"This has been going on for eight days," he said. "Some have started begging for food. They lie around here day and night. Sometimes some generous people come and help but no government official has come so far."

Analysis
Jill McGivering BBC News, Islamabad

The sense from Washington is that this threat is both serious and credible. Tehrik-e Taliban is the most radical and violent militant group in Pakistan, based in the tribal region close to the border with Afghanistan. It's been associated with a series of attacks in recent years on the Pakistani state and on foreigners, and is closely allied to al-Qaeda.

In the past six months, the level of militant violence has reduced, but since the flood crisis began, the Pakistani Taliban has warned against accepting international aid. Its leaders seem to view foreign assistance and the presence of international aid workers as unwelcome Western interference in their country.

All this is a further blow to aid workers who are already battling with plenty of logistical challenges.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11095267
 
TTP has promised more attacks on security and government officials.
Such grim announcements and brutal massacres should not come as a
surprise as the past week has demonstrated just how determined the
militants are to step up their game now that the military’s attention
has been diverted towards flood relief. Anyone who thought that the
softest targets in society women, children and residential areas would
be safe, has not understood the reality of the shadowy enemy we are up
against. The militants aim to cause maximum damage, widespread fear
and loss of lives to prove their point; what better way than to target
the most vulnerable? That is why current government has urged the
security forces to implement well-coordinated and effective action
against the terrorists. It is time that the opposition parties and
civil administration of the country take over managing the flood
efforts from the army so that an organised military offensive once
again strikes at the heart of the Taliban insurgency. Without the army
fully engaging in eliminating the terrorists, such attacks are likely
to be witnessed with increasing frequency.
 
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