Security forces (SFs) killed five
suspected militants in the Laddah area of South Waziristan after
four paramilitary soldiers were abducted in the area.
Two people were killed and five
injured on the 11th consecutive day of sectarian clashes
in the Kurram Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
(FATA).
January 2
At least 27 militants were killed
in two days of clashes in South Waziristan. The clashes broke
out after pro-Taliban militants abducted four Pakistan soldiers
in South Waziristan on January 1, an official said. "Five militants
were killed yesterday and 22 overnight," he stated.
At least 11 persons, including
seven non-local Taliban militants, were killed and 13 persons
injured during the on-going sectarian clashes in the Kurram Agency
of FATA. The curfew imposed on November 16, 2007 has reportedly
not been relaxed so far, owing to which routine life has been
paralysed in the entire Agency. The main Tull and Parachinar highway
has been closed for the last 48 days due to which edible items
and medicines are not available in Kurram Agency and road links
to the various tribal areas are also disconnected, reports stated.
The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) has given another two days to the government to end the
military operation in the Swat district of the North West Frontier
Province (NWFP) and pull out
all troops from the area, and warned that it will expand its actions
from Waziristan to Kohistan and the settled districts if their
demand is not met. Maulana Omar, a spokesman for the TTP, said
that an earlier deadline for withdrawal of troops had lapsed on
December 15, but they did not resume their activities because
the entire nation was in mourning following the tragic death of
former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. "Now we extend the deadline
for two days and ask the government to withdraw troops and halt
the operation in Swat. Otherwise, we will attack the government
everywhere and it will be an all-out war," he warned.
The Election Commission of Pakistan
delayed the general elections slated for January 8 until February
18. Chief Election Commissioner, Justice (retd) Qazi Muhammad
Farooq, said the elections had been postponed due to the violence
and rioting, and also because the month of Muharram was
commencing.
President Pervez Musharraf said
that investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto would be carried out with the help of the Scotland
Yard. He also directly accused Baitullah Mehsud and Maulana Fazlullah
of killing her.
Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistan
People’s Party co-chairman and husband of the slain former Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto, rejected President Musharraf’s decision
to invite Scotland Yard and demanded a UN probe similar to the
investigation into the death of former Lebanese Prime Minister
Rafik Hariri.
January 3
Hundreds of Pakistani families
have poured across the border into Afghanistan in recent days
as sectarian clashes continued on the 13th day in the
Kurram Agency of the FATA. Six people are reported to have died
and 11 inured in the fresh clashes. Afghan officials said about
900 families (most of them Sunnis) have fled across the border
in the past two weeks to the Khost and Paktia provinces. While
the Khost Governor Arsallah Jamal stated that about 400 to 500
Pakistani families had fled to the province, Abdul Rahman Mangal,
the deputy governor in neighbouring Paktia province, said about
480 families had come to the border districts there, including
about 20 to 30 Afghan families who were living in Pakistan.
Two suspected terrorists were
killed in an exchange of fire with SFs in the Kan-Mehtarzai area
of Muslim Bagh, some 160km north of Quetta, capital of Balochistan
province.
SFs launched a search operation
against militants in the Swat district of the NWFP and arrested
more than 70 suspected militants, including local Taliban Commander
Ikramuddin.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of
the slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and recently appointed
chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, is on the hit-list of
Islamist radicals, according to the Website of the British newspaper
The Sun.
President Pervez Musharraf denied
accusations that the military or intelligence services were involved
in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
January 4
Three persons were killed as sectarian
violence continued in the Kurram Agency of FATA. The clashes were
reported from Jalmai and Meangak areas of Lower Kurram.
January 6
Rival militants attacked offices
of a pro-government militant, killing nine and wounding eight
of his men. The attackers first stormed the office of Maulana
Nazir in Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan, and killed three
of his supporters and injured four others. The militants, reportedly
equipped with rockets and heavy weapons, launched another attack
on the office of Nazir’s close associate, Maulana Khanan, in Shakai
town, killing six people and injuring five others. A spokesman
for Maulana Nazir blamed Baitullah Mehsud’s supporters for the
attack and asked all Mehsud tribesmen to leave the Wazir tribe-dominated
areas to avoid bloodshed.
January 7
Two civilians employed at a coal
mine in the Bolan district of Balochistan were killed and five
persons wounded when one of the men stepped on a landmine as they
were returning home.
A suicide bomber blew himself
up in an explosive-laden vehicle near a military base camp at
Kabal in the Swat district of the NWFP, injuring 10 people, including
eight soldiers. The suicide bomber was driving a single-cabin
pick-up, which exploded at 11.15am in front of the gate of the
Frontier Golf Club, a military base camp. The blast destroyed
the building of a technical institute and partially damaged the
buildings of the Iqra Academy.
January 9-10
At least 50 militants were killed
by troops during clashed that erupted when around 250-300 miscreants
concentrated and attempted to attack Ladha Fort and check post
on the night of January 9 to 10 in the Wanna area of South Waziristan.
January 10
At least 24 people, including
17 policemen, were killed and 80 others injured in a suicide bomb
blast outside the Lahore High Court, minutes before the arrival
of an anti-government lawyers’ procession. The blast ripped through
GPO Chowk in front of the Lahore High Court as the suicide bomber
walked up to the about 60 riot police – who had gathered there
ahead of a protest by lawyers against President Pervez Musharraf’s
government – and blew himself up. About 200 lawyers were inside
the High Court at the time of the blast, and others were marching
from a nearby district court.
Army troops have been deployed
in 22 districts of Punjab to protect people and vital installations
during Muharram in view of the security alarm raised by the suicide
bombing. The Rangers will protect important installations like
airports, railway stations, Pakistan Television and radio offices,
Chief Minister’s Secretariat, Governor’s House and civil secretariat.
The overall law and order would be the responsibility of police
and troops would stand by at designated places and could be called
in for assistance in case of an emergency at one-hour notice,
said Home Secretary Khusrao Pervaiz Khan. All Muharram processions
and meetings in Lahore would be heavily protected, to "deny
space to terrorists", he said.
Security forces fighting the Fazlullah-led
militants in the Swat district of NWFP suspended military action
due to persistent heavy snowfall and rain in the valley. Security
forces, during a search operation in the Fatehpur area of Khwazakhela,
arrested 12 suspected militants and shifted them to an undisclosed
location. Similarly, military officials said four suspected militants
were arrested on Ayub Bridge near Kanju.
The TNSM leader Maulana Fazlullah,
who was accused by President Pervez Musharraf of masterminding
the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said
that he was not involved in her murder. "Benazir Bhutto’s
killing was a part of power politics. We have nothing to do with
her and her family members know the killers well," said Sirajuddin,
a spokesman for Fazlullah, who called The News from an undisclosed
location. Musharraf had blamed Baitullah Mehsud and Maulana Fazlullah
for assassinating Benazir in Rawalpindi on December 27. Baitullah
had already denied the charge against him but Fazlullah, who was
declared dead by some media organisations on January 9 in a military
action in the Manja area of Kabal sub-division, appeared to clarify
his position. Fazlullah also claimed that many suicide bombers
were ready to launch attacks on targeted locations in the country.
January 11
The Pentagon is extremely concerned
about al Qaeda operations
in Pakistan, said US military chief Admiral Michael Mullen. "We
know it is having a significant impact, not just in Afghanistan,
but certainly there are concerns about how much they have turned
inward inside Pakistan. I am extremely concerned about this,"
he told a press conference. He, however, added that the US was
mindful of Pakistan being a sovereign country, saying, "It
is really up to President (Pervez) Musharraf and his advisers
in the military to address that problem directly." The State
Department official Tom Casey said, "I’m unaware of any proposal
from any US official arguing for unilateral military action in
Pakistan."
January 13
Two Uzbek militants were killed
when a group of them attacked the house of a pro-government tribal
elder in South Waziristan. The pre-dawn clash erupted when dozens
of miscreants launched an attack on the house of Khan Khannan
in South Waziristan district, said local administration official
Ayaz Mandokhel. Khannan’s men who were guarding the house, retaliated
and killed two Uzbek militants, he said, adding that the other
militants escaped after the clash.
Unidentified gunmen killed the
brother of TNSM leader Maulana Fazlullah’s spokesman Sirajuddin
at Imam Dheri in the Swat district. Residents said Bakht Bedar
Khan was a leader of the Awami National Party and supported the
government’s peace initiative and distanced himself from Sirajuddin’s
activities.
January 14
At least 23 militants and seven
soldiers were killed in fighting in the Mohmand Agency. Military
spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said, "It was an ambush
on a paramilitary convoy." The convoy was reportedly ambushed
while traveling from Gath to Ghalanai. Security forces later targeted
the Safi sub-division. Tribal sources said no casualties were
reported. "Locals also joined the soldiers against the militants,
destroying two vehicles," Arshad added. Taliban
commander Faqir Hussain was killed in the battle, sources said.
The clash also triggered panic in the locals, with residents claiming
many were fleeing for safer places.The Taliban spokesman Maulana
Omar, however, denied that any militants were killed, claiming
that they had killed seven soldiers and taken 17 of them as prisoners.
"Our activities will continue till an end to the military
operation in Swat and release of Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul
Aziz," he stated.
11 persons, including two children,
were killed and more than 50 persons wounded in a bomb blast in
the industrial Landhi suburbs of Gul Ahmadpur in Karachi. "The
bomb was planted on a motorbike and exploded outside a textile
factory in the Landhi district of Karachi," said senior police
official Mohammed Javed. Muneer Ahmed Sheikh, an official of the
Bomb Disposal Squad, said the explosion had been caused by a homemade
time bomb which contained nails and ball bearings.
Maulana Fazlur Rahman and former
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao are among the politicians
from NWFP who are the likely targets of suicide bombers, sources
in intelligence agencies said.
The Interior Ministry has warned
security agencies that militants of the LeJ and Taliban are plotting
to attack eminent political and religious leaders and religious
places in nine cities during Muharram.
January 15
Hundreds of militants captured
a paramilitary fort in South Waziristan after killing 22 soldiers
and taking several others hostage. 600 to 700 militants reportedly
attacked the fort in Sararogha, manned by the South Waziristan
Scouts, firing rockets and mortars. 38 paramilitary soldiers and
six civilians were in the fort when it came under the assault.
The military said that 40 militants were killed in the gun battle.
The paramilitary Frontier Corps
personnel claimed that two alleged teenage suicide bombers were
killed while a third committed suicide by swallowing poisonous
capsules in the Mohmand Agency of the FATA.
The chief, vice chief and finance
secretary of the banned Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Al-alami (HuMA) were
sentenced to life imprisonment – based on their alleged confessions
– for conspiring to kill President Pervez Musharraf in 2002.
The Interior Ministry said that
political leaders face a looming threat of terrorist attack and
advised them to comply with its security instructions to avoid
unnecessary exposure.
January 16
Four persons, including three
children, were killed in a bomb blast near the Chashma Right Bank
Canal in Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP.
Gerry Ackerman, chairman of the
congressional subcommittee that held a hearing on Pakistan, has
called for a "fundamental reappraisal of US assistance to Pakistan."
He said, "The United States is at a crossroads with Pakistan.
It is clear that despite the deaths of many, many Pakistani soldiers
and police, the fight against terrorism has not gone the way we
would have hoped. It is equally clear that Pakistan is no closer
to genuine democracy and arguably a good bit further away. It’s
time to change course and build a new and different relationship
with Pakistan."
January 17
At least 12 persons were killed
and 25 others wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up in
an imambargah (congregation hall for Shia rituals) in Peshawar.
Police said that the teenage bomber blew himself at the crowded
Mirza Qasim Baig Imambargah in the Mohalla Janghi area at around
6.55pm (PST).
Over three dozen paramilitary
soldiers are reported to have abandoned a fort in South Waziristan
before it was attacked by militants. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
spokesman Maulana Umar claimed that about 60 paramilitary soldiers
had surrendered without putting up resistance. However, official
sources said that the Seplatoi fort in Serwakai sub-division manned
by about 40 personnel of the FC was vacated on January 16-night
after reports were received that the militants were planning to
attack it. The militants took control of the abandoned building,
an unnamed official said.
Two major al Qaeda operatives
in the FATA have reportedly called upon their followers to intensify
the ‘holy war’ against security forces and to seize control of
Islamabad.
President Pervez Musharraf said
that the nuclear assets have been dispersed and placed under a
multi-tiered security safeguard, dismissing reports about threats
to country's nuclear programme. He said the National Command Authority
was looking after the country's nuclear assets with a Strategic
Planning Division fully capable of ensuring the safety of installations.
January 18
Security forces claimed to have
killed about 90 militants in two different encounters in the Ladha
area of South Waziristan.
Army troops recaptured the Siplatoi
fort in South Waziristan, a day after paramilitary soldiers had
abandoned it. Army and paramilitary personnel reportedly moved
into the area in three helicopters and took over the abandoned
Siplatoi fort on the Wana-Jandola road.
The Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) Director Michael V. Hayden said in an interview that former
Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was killed by al Qaeda and allies
of Baitullah Mehsud. Hayden said Benazir Bhutto was assassinated
by fighters allied with Baitullah Mehsud, with support from al
Qaeda’s terrorist network.
January 19
Troops arrested 50 Islamist militants
in an operation in South Waziristan, a day after killing dozens
of militants in the area, the military said. Troops also recovered
10 bodies of the militants from the Chaghmalai area in South Waziristan,
which witnessed a major clash on January 18 in which an estimated
30 militants were killed, chief military spokesman Major General
Athar Abbas said.
Security officials in the NWFP
said that they had arrested a teenager allegedly involved in the
assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto. The 15 year-old
Aitezaz Shah told investigators that he had been part of a five-man
squad deployed that day in Rawalpindi. Aitezaz was arrested on
January 17 in Dera Ismail Khan with another militant identified
as Sher Zaman. The duo have confessed their involvement in the
plot to kill Benazir Bhutto, ARY Television quoted Interior Secretary
Syed Kamal Shah as saying.
Pakistan has decided to hand over
two al Qaeda suspects to the US on the latter’s demand. The accused,
Khan Baba Abdur Rasool and Noor Rab Khan, were arrested in 2005
for having links with al Qaeda.
January 20
Nisar Ahmad Khan, Deputy Director
of the Intelligence Bureau in NWFP, was shot dead by unidentified
men outside his house in the Charsadda district’s Shabqadar area.
January 21
Even as troops continued targeting
militants’ positions in South Waziristan, Baitullah Mehsud, chief
of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, warned of serious repercussions
if the military operations were not stopped. His spokesman Maulana
Umar said: "The government wants to enter the Mehsud area by force.
But it must take into account the consequences of such a harsh
action." He accused the security forces (SFs) of ‘killing innocent
people’ and ‘damaging their homes’ and warned that the government
would have to "pay a heavy price".
The militants in North Waziristan
extended until January 27 a cease-fire that they had announced
on December 17, 2007. The truce had earlier been extended until
January 20. The militants had stopped their activities on December
17 and security forces had removed some makeshift checkpoints
in the area.
The group of suspected Islamist
extremists arrested in Barcelona at the weekend was planning suicide
attacks on Spanish soil allegedly under orders from al Qaeda in
Pakistan. Citing sources close to the investigation, the daily
El Periodico de Catalunya said "the terrorist action averted
on Saturday ... was decided several months ago by the central
al Qaeda network in Pakistan… Those who gave the order are to
be found in Pakistan. They were preparing suicide attacks. Those
that came here were ready to commit suicide."
January 22
Seven SF personnel and at least
37 militants were killed in clashes in North and South Waziristan,
the army said, updating an earlier toll. Five of the soldiers
and all of the militants were killed after the latter attacked
a military fort at Ladah in South Waziristan, which houses paramilitary
troops, and a nearby observation post before dawn, said chief
military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas. In North Waziristan,
two SF personnel were killed and 10 others injured when militants
fired rockets at a military fort in Razmak. After the attack on
the fort, two fighter jets bombed mountainside villages nearby,
killing one civilian.
A spokesman for militants in North
Waziristan, Ahmadullah Ahmadi, asked the military authorities
not to use bases in their area against militants in South Waziristan.
"Taliban will withdraw from peace talks if security forces
use our soil against us," Ahmadi said.
January 23
A man was killed and another injured
after a suicide bomber blew himself up near a police check-post
at the confluence of Khyber Agency and Peshawar.
The army sent reinforcements,
for the first time with tanks, to South Waziristan after clashes
between security forces and militants intensified in the Mehsud
area. Sources said the troops had launched an operation in three
areas — Makin, Spinkai Raghzai and Tiarza — inhabited by Mehsud
tribesmen.
January 24
40 militants and 10 soldiers were
killed and dozens injured as the Pakistan Army, backed by tanks
and gunship helicopters, launched a major offensive against the
militants in South Waziristan. The Inter-Services Public Relations
said in a statement that troops had cleared Spinkai Raghzai, Nawazkot
and the adjoining area of Tiarza and taken over some strongholds
and hideouts of the militants. The troops also arrested 30 militants
who were trying to escape during the clashes.
Suspected militants in the Swat
district of NWFP shot dead the Matta sub-division naib (deputy)
nazim (elected government official) Shakir Khan, his brother
and an aide in an ambush near Kalakot. Two people were injured
in the attack.
Unidentified militants fled with
four weapon-laden army trucks in Dara Adam Khel. Taliban spokesman
Maulana Umar claimed responsibility while talking to BBC Urdu
from an undisclosed location.
The Interior Ministry has warned
the provinces that 13 suicide bombers have entered Islamabad,
Karachi and Lahore from the NWFP and may carry out attacks in
these cities. The ministry revealed in a letter written to the
provinces and security agencies that terrorists have formed a
new group by the name of Al-Quds Army and that 13 of its newly
trained suicide bombers have entered major cities for subversive
activities. The ministry has also warned security agencies and
the provinces that two extremists of Maulana Fazlullah’s TNSM
have entered Sindh and Balochistan.
January 25
Around 34 militants and two soldiers
were killed during a military operation in Darra Adam Khel, a
town in the NWFP, located between Peshawar and Kohat, very close
to the FATA. Gunship helicopters were used to target militant
bunkers in the formerly stable region.
Two soldiers were killed and seven
others wounded when militants attacked with rockets an outpost
on a hill in the Spinkai Raghzai area of South Waziristan.
January 26
Around 20 militants were killed
by the troops during clashes in the Darra Adam Khel and Kohat
areas of NWFP. Gunship helicopters pounded suspected Taliban positions
in the mountains near Darra Adam Khel and Kohat district. Security
officials said the militants had taken position at hilltops overlooking
Darra and Kohat and were using long-range rockets to target civilians
in Kohat city.
January 27
Security forces took positions
on hilltops around the town of Darra Adam Khel and the Friendship
Tunnel as 24 militants and five soldiers were killed in clashes.
The ISPR said SFs had cleared the area and regained control of
the Kohat tunnel and adjoining areas after fierce fighting. The
tunnel connects the southern parts of the NWFP with capital Peshawar
through the Indus Highway.
For the first time, the militants
attacked two check-posts in the so far peaceful Orakzai Agency
of the FATA, killing three security force personnel and injuring
two others.
The SFs pounded the suspected
hideouts of militants allied to Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan.
Military authorities said gunship choppers targeted hideouts in
Makin, Shabi Khel, Srarogha, Ladha and the adjoining mountainous
region. "The troops are now in control of Spinkai Raghzai
and Kotkai, which were the strongholds of the Baitullah Mehsud-led
fighters," said the authorities.
January 28
The Army fired mortar and artillery
shells from military camps in Razmak and Jandola on the militants’
hide-outs in Kaza Panga, Dher Narai, Shaga, Treekh Narai, Wrasta
Bazeena and Shaktoi areas in which officials said five militants
were killed.
Five civilians, including two
women, were killed when artillery shells hit their homes in Kotkai
village. Residents of Torwam also reportedly complained that SFs
were targeting the civilian population. They claimed that dozens
of houses owned by civilians were damaged in the artillery shelling.
Five civilians, including two
women, were killed during military shelling in the Aka Khel area
of Darra Adam Khel in NWFP.
Amid reports of clandestine talks
with the government for durable peace, militants in North Waziristan
extended their one-sided cease-fire till February 10. The announcement
was made by militants’ spokesman in North Waziristan, Ahmadullah
Ahmadi.
Militant ‘commander’ Maulana Faqir
Muhammad was named the ‘political face’ of the Tehrik-i-Taliban
Pakistan for the purpose of holding talks with the government
and negotiate a truce.
The Taliban in Afghanistan have
distanced themselves from Pakistani militants led by Baitullah
Mehsud, saying they don’t support any militant activity in Pakistan.
"We do not support any militant activity and operation in Pakistan,"
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on telephone from an
undisclosed location. The spokesman denied media reports that
the Taliban had expelled Baitullah Mehsud, chief of the Tehrik-i-Taliban
Pakistan. "Baitullah is a Pakistani and we as the Afghan Taliban
have nothing to do with his appointment or his expulsion. We did
not appoint him and we have not expelled him," he said.
January 28
A missile apparently fired by
a pilot-less plane hit a house in a village near Mir Ali in North
Waziristan, killing 15 people - 10 suspected militants, two women
and three minors. Intelligence sources said those killed also
included Arab nationals but their identity was not known. A militant
source said that five men "speaking the language of the holy Quran"
were among the dead, suggesting that Arab militants were among
the victims.
January 29
14 people, including 10 militants,
three Pakistan Army soldiers and a civilian, were killed and several
others injured in heavy fighting and bombing by fighter aircraft
in South Waziristan.
Sources said that fierce clashes
continued between the SFs and militants in parts of the Mehsud-populated
areas of South Waziristan, including Torwam, Tiarza near Shakai,
Ladha, Serwakai, Nawaz Kot and Kotkai. Militants loyal to Baitullah
Mehsud reportedly suffered significant losses when fighter aircraft
targeted their positions in the Torwam area. Around 10 militants
were killed and several others sustained injuries in the bombing.
At least seven militants of the
Jundullah group and two police officials, including a Deputy Superintendent,
were killed in two encounters in the Landhi and Shah Latif Town
areas of Karachi. One of the slain militants was identified as
Qasim Toori, a 27-year-old former policeman, who was wanted for
a June 2004 attack on the then Karachi Corps Commander in which
11 people were killed. Five people were arrested including a man
believed to be from Uzbekistan.
Three Pakistan Army soldiers were
killed and four others wounded when militants attacked the troops
in the Angamal area near Razmak. The troops returned the fire
which led to a heavy shooting, resulting in the killing of three
soldiers and injuries to four others. Military officials said
several militants were also killed in the gun-battle and artillery
shelling from Razmak military camp later, but they were unaware
of the exact losses suffered by the militants. They added that
12 militants were subsequently arrested from Tiarza.
Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud
said in an interview with Al Jazeera that he wanted to destroy
the White House, New York and London. "Very soon, we will be witnessing
jihad’s miracles," he said in his first-ever television interview.
"Our primary aim is to finish Britain [and] the US, and to crush
the pride of the non-Muslims," Baitullah told Admad Zaidan, Al
Jazeera bureau chief in Islamabad, at an undisclosed location.
Baitullah Mehsud accused President Pervez Musharraf of working
for the interests of "the nonbelievers". He said his coalition
would fight back and "teach him a lesson". Mehsud said the Taliban
coalition was carrying out a "defensive jihad". "The army is bombarding
our houses and fighting with us," he said, adding "We have formed
this coalition to guarantee the safety of civilians."
January 30
The bodies of 13 soldiers killed
by militants during the military’s ongoing operation in Darra
Adam Khel in the NWFP have been found, the army said. Three of
the dead were army personnel that the militants had captured,
along with ammunition and food trucks, near the Kohat Tunnel on
January 24. They said militants had abducted the remaining 10
personnel. Three bodies could not be recognised, they added. "They
[soldiers] were apparently killed last week but their bodies were
found today," a police official told Reuters.
Militants retrieved and buried
the bodies of 12 foreigners who had been killed in a missile attack
on a residential compound in the Khushali Toorikhel area of North
Waziristan on January 28-night. Local people said the identity
of the militants killed in the attack remained unknown but according
to unconfirmed reports seven of them were Arabs while the other
five were central Asians.
An explosion in a house in the
outskirts of Peshawar, capital of the NWFP, killed three men who
police said were making bombs when the explosives detonated prematurely.
The blast occurred in the guestroom of a house located in the
Badshah Dak area of Tauheed Colony in Phandu police precincts.
"Initial evidence suggests that they were suicide attackers,"
police officer Farid Shah told AP. Gulbahar Deputy Superintendent
of Police Ijaz Khan said the men were likely involved in an earlier
attack on music shops in the Afridiabad area. He said police had
detained one Ismail, originally from Lakary of Mohmand Agency,
who had rented the house. The dead men included Ismail’s brother-in-law
Saadullah and a cousin identified as Ali Rehman. The third body
could not be identified. An AFP report said the men were 20 to
30 years old. Police seized a hand grenade, 10 kilograms of explosives,
a pistol, three mobile phones, a dairy and religious literature
from the house.
Two Pakistan Army soldiers were
killed and several others sustained serious injuries on when militants
from adjacent South Waziristan fired 40-50 rockets on the Razmak
Military Camp in North Waziristan. The militants fired these rockets
on the military base from their hideouts in Mamu Ghar, Spin Kamar
and Khumata in Makin.
January 31
Senior al Qaeda commander Abu
Laith Al-Libi has been killed in Pakistan, CNN quoted "a knowledgeable
Western official and an unnamed military official" as saying.
The 41-year-old Libyan was active in operational planning and
training, and according to the US official, "not far below the
importance of the top two al Qaeda leaders" – Osama bin Laden
and Ayman Al-Zawahiri. He was placed on the US military’s most
wanted list in 2006, behind Laden, Zawahiri and Taliban leader
Mullah Omar.
February 1
At least six persons, including
five security personnel, were killed and eight others were injured
when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a security
check post at Kajhori near Miranshah of North Waziristan. "It
was a suicide attack on a security check post in which three tribal
policemen and two paramilitary soldiers [died]," military spokesman
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said. Meanwhile, the local administration
sources said that 19 people including nine Frontier Corps soldiers
died in the attack. They said a number of Khasadars (tribal policemen)
and civilians were also killed. Security forces fired artillery
shells at several hilltops after the attack, they added.
February 2
At least six persons, including
two civilians, were killed in a gun battle in Mardan after police
raided a suspected militant hideout at 5am (PST). Mardan police
official said that the gun battle ensued when police raided the
house of one Afsar Ali, wanted by police for attacks on music
shops, in the Palodehri area. Two policemen and two militants,
including Adnan, whose brother Kamran was an aide of Baitullah
Mehsud in the district, were killed in the gun battle. Sources
said while a woman passing by was killed in the crossfire, a civilian
Azam Khan was also killed as militants entered his house. Police
seized three Kalashnikovs, eight hand grenades and two suicide
vests from the house. Sources also said that the police had raided
the area a week ago but the militants, 25 to 40 in number, managed
to escape.
February 4
At least 10 people were killed
and about 10 others sustained injuries when unidentified assailants
carried out an explosion targeting a bus carrying security force
personnel near the headquarters of Pakistan Army in Rawalpindi
in Punjab Province. The explosion occurred at 7.15am (PST) outside
the gate of the army's National Logistics Cell in R.A. Bazar,
a high security area as it is located very close to the General
Headquarters. The blast completely destroyed the bus, several
cars and motorcycles, eyewitnesses said. No group has so far claimed
responsibility for the attack.
600 suicide bombers are present
in Karachi and they are planning a major attack, revealed two
militants Qasim Toori and Danish alias Talha during interrogation
by security agencies. Most of the suicide bombers are reportedly
former students of Islamabad’s Lal Masjid. The militants confessed,
"Around 600 Jundullah militants are present in Karachi. They are
mentally prepared and trained to commit suicide attacks." They
also confessed that they had robbed foreign banks and dispatched
the money to their headquarters in Wana in South Waziristan, from
where their needs for weapons, explosives and other necessities
were being met.
February 5
Political turmoil in Pakistan
has not seriously threatened the military’s control of its nuclear
weapons "but vulnerabilities exist," US intelligence said in a
report. "We judge [that] the ongoing political uncertainty in
Pakistan has not seriously threatened the military’s control of
the nuclear arsenal, but vulnerabilities exist," said the annual
threat assessment, which was delivered to Congress by US intelligence
Chief Mike McConnell. The report said, "We judge that the [Pakistan]
army’s management of nuclear policy issues — to include physical
security — has not been degraded by Pakistan’s political crisis."
The report also warned of threats of terrorist attacks against
the US, as al Qaeda improves its ability to identify, train and
position operatives for such operations. It said an influx of
new western recruits to al Qaeda’s safe havens in FATA had been
detected since 2006.
February 6
Two persons, identified as Arab
Din and Amin Jan, were killed and another, Baz Mohammad, was injured
when a bomb exploded at a storehouse of scrap metal in the Shahkas
area of Khyber Agency in the FATA.
Taliban spokesman Maulvi Umar
declared a unilateral cease-fire from South Waziristan to Swat,
saying no security forces would be targeted. "We will not attack
any security person, be it in Waziristan or in Swat (district),"
he said from an undisclosed location. Umar denied the cease-fire
was the result of "secret negotiations", claiming the Taliban
were responding to a reduction in the military’s attacks on them.
"We will not attack the security forces till [our] next announcement,"
he said, adding, "We see a marked decrease in intensity of attacks
on us." However, the military said that operations against militants
would continue. "This (Taliban ceasefire) is [a] one-sided (announcement).
We received no formal communiqué," military spokesman Major
General Athar Abbas said.
February 7
Three persons were killed and
12 others wounded in a bomb blast at a bus stand in the Dera Murad
Jamali town of Balochistan. The Baloch Republican Army claimed
responsibility for the blast.
Police arrested two more suspects,
Hasnain and Rifaqat, from Rawalpindi for their alleged involvement
in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
February 8
The Scotland Yard (SY) team investigating
former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination ruled out
the possibility of her dying of a gunshot wound and concluded
that she died of a head injury. The executive summary of the SY’s
Metropolitan Police SO15 Counter Terrorism Command stated, "The
only tenable cause for the rapidly fatal head injury in the case
is that it occurred as a result of impact due to the effects of
the bomb blast." It said Benazir’s only apparent injury was "a
major trauma to the right side of the head."
February 9
27 people were killed and over
30 injured in a suicide attack on an election rally at Nakai near
Charsadda town in the NWFP. Senior Awami National Party leader
Afrasiab Khattak, who was addressing the gathering, escaped unhurt.
The Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz Khan said, "I have been
told that most probably it was a suicide attack."
February 11
At least 10 people were killed
and 13 others sustained injuries when a teenaged suicide bomber
blew himself up amidst a gathering of the Awami National Party
(ANP) and tribal Lashkar (force) at Mirali in North Waziristan.
President of the North Waziristan chapter of the ANP, Haji Anwar
Shah, was among the dead.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan
Tariq Azizuddin was abducted along with his bodyguard and driver
in the Jamrud sub-district of Khyber Agency.
Security forces captured Taliban
commander Mullah Mansoor Dadullah along with five other Taliban
militants after a gun-battle in the Gowal Ismailzai village of
Qila Saifullah district (near the Afghan border) in Balochistan.
February 11-12
The Taliban claimed responsibility
for the abduction of Pakistani Ambassador to Afghanistan, Tariq
Azizuddin, and said they would release him in return for the arrested
Taliban commander Mullah Mansoor Dadullah. Azizuddin had gone
missing on his way from Peshawar to the Torkham border crossing
on February 11 when he lost contact with authorities in the Khyber
Agency. Dadullah was arrested in Quetta on the same day. "We have
heard this news on TV channels… However, we have not received
any formal information to this effect," Interior Ministry spokesman
Brig (r) Javed Iqbal Cheema told reporters.
February 12
The deployment of army troops
for maintaining peace in different parts of the country during
the elections began and the government declared over 19,000 polling
stations ‘sensitive’ and imposed a complete ban on carrying and
display of weapons in the vicinity of the stations.
The Pakistan Army said that it
had no plans to withdraw its officers working in the ISI, contrary
to the policy it had adopted for other civilian departments. "Who
will work there if we call them (our people) back from the ISI,"
said ISPR Director-General Major General Athar Abbas.
February 13
A roadside bomb blast hit an election
campaign convoy in Swat, killing two people and injuring three
others. Mufti Hussain Ahmed, an independent candidate contesting
for the NA-30 and PF-86 seats, was among the wounded.
A five-man group was involved
in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto,
but their link with militant commander Baitullah Mehsud has not
been established, said Chaudhry Abdul Majid, the Additional Inspector
General of CID who is heading the government’s investigation into
the assassination. He said of the five, two had been arrested,
the man who fired shots later blew himself up and the fourth,
another suicide bomber who was at the other end of Liaquat Bagh,
escaped. The "handler" is yet be traced.
February 14
A roadside bomb struck a SFs vehicle
in Mamoond in the Bajaur Agency of the FATA, killing three SF
personnel, including Major Farhan, and injuring two others.
February 15
A German man of Pakistani origin
has been arrested in southwestern Germany on suspicion of working
for al Qaeda, the office of the federal prosecutor said. The suspect,
identified as Aleem N., made four trips to the border between
Pakistan and Afghanistan where he handed over at least 4,000 euros
to al Qaeda operatives each time, it said in a statement. The
trips took place between April 2005 and June 2007, and also served
to smuggle radio equipment and binoculars to the organisation,
AFP reported.
February 16
A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden
car into the election office of an independent candidate in Parachinar
city of FATA, killing at least 47 persons, including six children,
and injuring 109 others.
February 17
Four security force personnel
were killed and another sustained injuries when a landmine exploded
in the Pir Koh gas field area of Dera Bugti district in Balochistan.
February 18
19 people were killed and 157
others were injured in countrywide election-related violence,
said caretaker Interior Minister Lt-Gen (retd) Hamid Nawaz. The
minister said that nine died in Punjab, seven in Sindh and three
in NWFP. He did not give any casualty figures for Balochistan,
where four people were reported to have been killed. According
to independent reports, the overall death toll in the country
was 26.
President Pervez Musharraf promised
to work with whatever new government emerges from the parliamentary
elections. According to AP, he told PTV after casting
his vote that, "I will say from my side, whichever political
party will win, whoever will become prime minister and chief ministers,
congratulation to them on my behalf. And I will give them full
cooperation as president."
The Wazir and Daur tribes reached
an "agreement" with the North Waziristan political administration
against "extremism" and "terrorism". "The
political administration of North Waziristan and all sub-tribes
and clans of Wazir and Daur tribes have agreed to jointly struggle
against extremism and terrorism throughout the agency," a
press release from Governor’s House said.
February 19
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)
emerged as the single largest party in the National Assembly followed
closely by the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) in the elections
held on February 18. The PPP led with 87 seats out of 272, followed
by 66 for the PML-N, and 38 for the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid
(PML-Q). Among the smaller parties, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement
won 19 seats and the Pakhtun nationalist Awami National Party
got 10 seats. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a religious coalition
which won 59 seats in 2002, was able to win only three this time.
Other political parties - the PPP-Sherpao, the Balochistan National
Party, the National People’s Party and the PML-F - got one, one,
two, and four seats, respectively. Independent candidates won
27 seats.
Zardari and Nawaz Sharif separately
called for President Pervez Musharraf to quit after his allies
were defeated in the general elections. "Musharraf had said he
would quit when the people tell him to. The people have now given
their verdict," Nawaz told a press conference in Lahore. "We will
now take this demand (of the president’s resignation) with us
to the parliament and see which political forces support us,"
Zardari told BBC.
February 21
Unidentified assailants shot dead
three traffic policemen in Quetta, capital of Balochistan. Bibarg
Baloch, a spokesman of the banned Balochistan Liberation Army,
claimed responsibility for the attack.
The PPP and the PML-N agreed to
form coalition governments, including with the ANP. "We have agreed
on a common agenda. We will work together to form the government
in the centre and in the provinces… We will ensure that you complete
a full five years’ term," Nawaz Sharif told a press conference
in Islamabad after talks with PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.
Zardari said there were "a lot of grounds to cover" between the
two parties, but added: "Inshallah (God willing) we will be meeting
off and on. In principle, we have agreed to stay together." The
PPP and the ANP agreed to work together for the supremacy of parliament,
judicial reforms, provincial autonomy and war on terror, Zardari
and ANP President Asfandyar Wali told reporters after their meeting.
February 22
A remote-controlled bomb exploded
at a wedding party procession, killing 14 people and wounding
13 others, mostly children, in the Matta administrative division
of Swat district. The bomb, which was detonated in the Ronial
Takh Maira area of the region, exploded around 4pm (PST) when
the wedding party was travelling from Kandogai village to Pir
Dar Baba village.
February 23
Three SF personnel were killed
and six others sustained injuries when armed men attacked a check-post
on the outskirts of Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. A police official
claimed that a militant was also killed and several others were
injured in an exchange of fire.
February 24
The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) said that they were ready for peace talks with the new Government,
but only if it rejected President Pervez Musharraf’s "war
on terror" in the country’s tribal belt. A TTP spokesman
quoted Baitullah Mehsud as calling for negotiations with parties
that beat the president’s allies in elections. "The Taliban
movement welcomes the victory of anti-Musharraf political parties...
and announces its willingness to enter into negotiations with
them for bringing peace," Taliban spokesman Maulana Omar
said, quoting a statement by Mehsud. He urged the new administration
to "avoid repeating the mistakes of the Musharraf government."
February 25
A suicide bomber killed eight
people, including the Pakistan Army’s surgeon general, in Rawalpindi
- the highest-ranking military official killed since the country
joined the US-led war on terror. Lieutenant General Mushtaq Baig,
surgeon general and Director-General of the army’s Medical Services,
died after a teenage suicide bomber blew himself up next to a
military convoy on a busy road in Rawalpindi. Five civilians were
also killed, while 25 others were injured, an army statement said.
Five workers of a NGO were killed
while ten others sustained injuries in an attack by a group of
ten militants in Mansehra in the NWFP. The British-run NGO was
actively distributing relief goods, including food items, blankets
and utensils, among the earthquake victims.
Three security force (SF) personnel
were killed and five others injured when a remote control bomb
hit their vehicle in Sangsila area of Dera Bugti district in Balochistan.
Two persons died when their motorcycle
hit a landmine adjacent to the Sindh-Balochistan border in the
jurisdiction of the RD-109 police station near Kashmore in Jacobabad.
February 26
Armed men shot dead two civilians
in the Noshki area of Balochistan. Police sources said Ikram Ahmed
and Khadim Hussain were engaged in repair work in the Noshki district
jail when two armed men riding a motorbike opened fire on them,
killing them on the spot. A spokesman for the Baloch Republican
Army has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Two suspected militants were killed
in an encounter with the police at Dildar Ghari check-post in
the Charsadda district of NWFP. The encounter ensued in the jurisdiction
of Batgram police station when a group of militants started indiscriminate
firing at the police party after the latter asked them to lay
down arms and surrender.
In a suspected sectarian incident,
a Shia leader was shot dead in Peshawar, capital of the NWFP.
Police officials said that Haji Ghulab Hussain was going to his
shop at around 9:15am (PST) when unidentified assailants opened
fire and injured him seriously in the jurisdiction of Khan Raziq
Shaheed police station.
The Interior Ministry said that
security forces had arrested more than 440 militants, including
60 would-be suicide bombers, in the last three months. Interior
Ministry spokesman Brigadier (r) Javed Cheema told reporters,
"Security agencies have arrested 442 terrorists and militants
during the past three months. From 60 of these terrorists, suicide
jackets and other material was confiscated, which shows the law
enforcement agencies are in protective mode and stopped them from
launching suicide attacks." Cheema said that 17 suspects had been
arrested in Punjab, 26 in Sindh, 13 in the NWFP and 122 in Balochistan.
Similarly, 124 alleged militants were arrested in Swat while 140
surrendered to security forces. He said that 45kgs of explosive,
eight detonators with leads, five remote controls with chargers
and 10 hand-grenades had been seized in Punjab. 43 kilograms of
explosives, 44 detonators, two rocket-launchers and 53 hand-grenades
were seized in Sindh. In the NWFP, 50,096 kgs of explosives, 26
hand-grenades, 10 explosive jackets, 16 dynamites, 14 detonators,
four rocket-launchers, 11 missiles, 32 mortar shells and 24 safety
fuses were recovered. The spokesman said that from February 1
to date, 770kgs of explosive had been seized and two explosives-laden
vehicles impounded in Swat. He added that 18 explosive devices,
96 detonators, 75kgs of explosive, 112 hand-grenades, 246 mortar
shells, 56 mines, 19 rocket launchers and four AA guns had also
been seized from the militants.
February 28
At least 10 suspected militants
were killed in a missile strike on a house in South Waziristan.
The dead were believed to be of Pakistani and foreign origins,
residents and officials said. The attack occurred at approximately
2AM (PST) in Kaloosha village, 10 kilometers west of Wana, headquarters
of South Waziristan.
February 29
Forty people were killed and more
than 75 others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber blew himself
up at the funeral prayers of the slain Deputy Superintendent of
Police (Lakki Marwat), Javed Iqbal Khan, in the Mingora city of
Swat district. District Police Officer Waqif Khan said the bomber
was among the people taking part in the funeral. The blast occurred
when the funeral concluded and the people had started to disperse.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Javed Iqbal, who died in a bomb
blast along with three other policemen in the troubled southern
Lakki Marwat district on February 29-morning, belonged to Makan
Bagh in Mingora city.
The banned Sunni group Sipah-e-Sahaba
Pakistan (SSP) reportedly drew several hundred supporters near
its headquarters in Karachi as it denounced the blasphemous caricatures
of the holy Prophet published in some Danish newspapers, and declared
jihad against Denmark and the West if they continued to
insult Islam. It was the fist major public rally by the SSP since
it was banned in 2001. The SSP’s protest took place after Friday
prayers at the SSP headquarters at Masjid-e-Siddique Akbar in
the Nagan Chowrangi area.
The district government of Bannu
has dismissed 35 Frontier Constabulary personnel from service
for laying down their weapons and refusing to fight the Taliban,
The Post reported.
March 1
A civilian and a soldier were
killed and 23 persons, including eight security force personnel,
injured when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car
into a security forces vehicle in the Jardar area of Bajaur Agency
in the FATA.
March 2
Forty-two people were killed and
at least 58 others sustained injuries in a suicide bombing at
a tribal peace jirga (council) near the Zarghunkhel check-post
in Darra Adam Khel in the NWFP. The jirga of Zarghunkhel,
Akhurwal, Sheraki, Bostikhel and Toor Chapper tribes had been
convened to discuss the formation of a Lashkar (army) to
drive militants out of the area. A severed head was reportedly
found at the site and officials believed it was that of the bomber.
Some people identified the teenager as a youth from the Sheraki
area of Darra Adam Khel.
March 3
At least 10 people were killed
and six others injured when dozens of armed men belonging to the
Khyber Agency-based Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI) attacked Shiekhan village
on the outskirts of Peshawar, capital of the NWFP, with rocket
launchers and other sophisticated weapons before bulldozing a
shrine and four houses. "Dozens of armed men of Mangal Bagh-led
militant organisation attacked Shiekhan village at around 11.30
am. The villagers, mostly unarmed and unprepared, resisted the
assault that resulted into a fierce clash between the rival groups,"
said a police official.
Five militants were killed in
a clash with the SFs at the Nakai check-post in the Mohmand Agency
of the FATA. An official said that SFs had stopped a car at the
check-post, about 12 km north of Ghalanai, the Agency’s headquarters,
and told its five occupants that they needed to be frisked, but
the latter refused. The militants subsequently tried to escape
and in the ensuing encounter, SF personnel fired a rocket on the
car, killing the five.
March 4
Eight persons were killed and
24 others sustained injuries when two suicide bombers blew themselves
up in the parking area of the Pakistan Navy War College in Lahore.
The incident occurred at around 1:10 pm (PST) when classes in
the Pakistan Navy War College were in progress. Eyewitnesses and
police officials said five Navy officials and two suicide bombers
died on the spot while one Navy official succumbed to injuries
at a hospital.
Four militants and a villager
were killed in a gun-battle which erupted in the Khankhel area
of Lakki Marwat district of the NWFP after the abduction of a
union council official and his two associates. Two of the militants
were Uzbek nationals while the rest were tribal Wazirs, District
Police Officer Romail Akram said, adding that an Uzbek militant
had been arrested.
March 5
Anwarul Haq, an al Qaeda militant
involved in the killing of an American diplomat, was sentenced
to death in Karachi. One of the accused, however, was acquitted
for lack of evidence. US diplomat David Foy and three others died
when an attacker rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into his
car on March 2, 2006 in Karachi.
March 9
The PPP and the PML-N agreed on
a power-sharing formula to form a coalition government at the
Centre and in Punjab. The parties also decided to re-instate the
judges sacked on November 3 though a resolution in parliament,
within 30 days of the formation of the federal government. According
to the deal, the prime minister and the speaker and deputy speaker
of the National Assembly will be from the PPP, and the federal
cabinet will include ministers from the PML-N. The Punjab chief
minister and the speaker and the deputy speaker of the Punjab
Assembly will be from the PML-N and the provincial cabinet will
include ministers from the PPP.
Caretaker Interior Minister Lt
Gen (r) Hamid Nawaz Khan claimed that around 200 militants have
so far surrendered to the authorities in the Swat district of
NWFP. He told PTV that 422 people had been arrested in
Swat for their involvement in terrorist activities. "Six
tonnes of explosive material has also been recovered from the
area," he added. "Security agencies have averted 20
to 30 possible incidents of terrorism in the Punjab and Sindh
during Muharram and the elections," the minister said.
March 10
The Taliban in Mohmand Agency
of South Waziristan said that they were attacking security forces
in the agency to avenge the killing of five of their men a week
ago.
March 11
At least 30 people were killed
and more than 200 sustained injuries in suicide blasts at the
FIA headquarters and an advertising agency office in Lahore. The
first attack was carried out at the FIA regional headquarters
on Temple Road, severely damaging the eight-storey establishment
and adjacent buildings. The building also housed the offices of
a special US-trained unit created to counter terrorism. The suicide
bombers on a pick-up rammed through the gate of the building,
running over a policeman before blowing up the vehicle. The second
attack was carried out on Bungalow No 83/F in Model Town – the
office of an advertising agency. Two children and a gardener died
in the bombing and about 12 people were injured.
11 people, including two women,
were killed and over a dozen injured in fighting between the security
forces and tribal militants in the Nawagai sub-division of Bajaur
Agency. The fighting erupted after militants attacked the paramilitary
FC personnel, who were fetching water from a nearby stream.
Four women and two children were
killed when artillery shells fired from the Afghan side of the
border hit a number of houses in the Tangri area of North Waziristan.
Local people said that the area came under fire after a security
camp in Afghanistan’s Khost province adjacent to North Waziristan
had been attacked by some people.
March 12
Policemen Mustafa and Suleman
were killed and two others were wounded when the roadside bomb
they were defusing exploded in the Charbagh area in the Swat district
of NWFP.
Two people, suspected to be Taliban
facilitators, were killed when the bomb they were making exploded
in the Kabal sub-division of Swat district.
March 14
Dutch police have arrested a Pakistani
man who they say is linked to a jihadi network which was
largely dismantled after raids in Barcelona during January 2008.
The 26-year-old suspect was detained in the south-western Dutch
town of Breda, the public prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The detainee was "suspected of belonging to a global jihadist
network which prepares attacks in western Europe", the statement
said.
March 15
A powerful bomb blast occurred
at the Italian restaurant Luna Caprese in Islamabad, killing a
Turkish woman, Inder Baskar, who worked for a Turkish relief agency,
and wounding about 15 others, including some US diplomats.
At least five persons, including
four tribesmen and one Taliban, were killed and another seven
wounded, including five Taliban militants, as two rival groups
exchanged fire during a local jirga in the Mir Ali subdivision
of North Waziristan.
March 16
At least 20 people were killed
as several missiles hit a house in South Waziristan. Seven missiles
landed on the house of Noorullah in Toog village, located four
kilometres south of Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan.
Local journalist Sailab Mehsud said 20 people were killed and
five others wounded in the missile attack. He said all those who
died were Arabs and Turkmen, who had gathered at the house when
the attack occurred.
Police in Islamabad arrested 232
suspects in connection with the March 15 bombing of an Italian
restaurant. "Those who were arrested include students of
various madrassas of Islamabad," an unnamed official said.
Three Saudi militants have been
handed over by Pakistan, the Saudi interior ministry said. The
three "were in Pakistan. Further investigation will tell if they
were in other areas," ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki
told AFP in a reference to Afghanistan.
March 17
Two policemen, Toor Gul and Aanayatur
Rehman, were killed and five others sustained injuries when a
suicide bomber blew himself in the police barracks in Mingora
in the Swat district. District Police Officer Waqif Khan said
that a young man posing as a recruit and holding a police uniform
entered the barracks at Mingora Police Line and subsequently approached
the wireless room and blew himself up.
March 20
A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden
car into a military vehicle in front of the brigade headquarters
at Zari Noor in South Waziristan, killing five soldiers and injuring
11 others. A man claiming to be a spokesman for the pro-government
militant commander Maulana Nazir claimed responsibility for the
attack. It is for the first time that Maulana Nazir’s group has
claimed responsibility for a suicide attack.
At least three nomads are feared
to have been killed after some rockets fired from the Afghan territory,
hit a makeshift house near the Angoor Adda in South Waziristan.
March 21
Four persons were killed and 28
others injured after clashes erupted between Shia and Sunni Muslims
during a Nauroz (Persian New Year festival) procession
in the Hangu district of NWFP.
March 22
The PPP nominated Yousaf Raza
Gillani, its vice chairman, for Prime Minister’s post in consultation
with coalition partners.
March 23
Two persons were killed and 50
others injured when six bomb blasts ripped through two parking
lots, and destroyed 40 oil tankers in the Bacha Mina area near
the Torkham Border crossing in Khyber Agency. Each oil tanker
carried around 45,000 litres of fuel, sources said.
March 24
The National Assembly elected
PPP Vice Chairman Yousaf Raza Gillani as the country’s new prime
minister, with the highest number of votes in Pakistan’s parliamentary
history. Gillani won with a majority of 264 votes in the 342-seat
Lower House, compared to his competitor, the PML-Q’s Chaudhry
Pervaiz Elahi, securing only 42 votes. Three Members of the National
Assembly - Maulana Asmatullah of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Ideological,
Faqir Jadem Mangrio and Ghulam Dastgir Rajar of the PML-Functional
- chose to abstain from the voting process.
March 25
Unidentified gunmen killed three
people, including a woman, in the Matta sub-division of Swat district
in the NWFP.
March 26
Seven people, including two women,
were killed and two others sustained injuries when gunmen ambushed
a Government ambulance in the Lower Kurram region. The ambulance
was going to Peshawar from Parachinar when it came under attack
at the Chappari check-post.
March 27
Two officers of the Intelligence
Bureau believed to be involved in anti-Al Qaeda operations were
shot dead on a busy street near Regal Chowk in Karachi. Tahir
Naveed, a police officer, stated that it was apparently a case
of targeted killing.
Taliban spokesman Maulana Umar
warned tribal elders against meeting US officials, while welcoming
ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan’s "refusal" to meet top
US officials. "If tribal people do not stop meeting US officials,
we will view them as American agents," the spokesman said
in telephone calls to local reporters from an undisclosed location.
Key tribal elders from Khyber Agency in the FATA had met US Deputy
Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of
State for South Asia and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher
in Landikotal on March 26.
March 30
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) said that it was ready for talks with the Government, provided
that Islamabad reverses its pro-American policies. TTP leaders
told a rally in the Inayat Kalay Bazaar of Bajaur Agency in the
FATA that they welcomed Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani’s announcement
that the Government would negotiate with the Taliban and end the
Frontier Crimes Regulations. TTP leaders, including Maulana Faqir
Muhammad, Maulana Sher Bahadar, Muhammad Ismail, and party spokesman
Maulana Omar, also demanded the implementation of Sharia law and
the jirga system according to tribal traditions. They also
said jihad against America would continue in Afghanistan.
However, they added that they were ready to end their activities
and improve law and order in Pakistan if the Government showed
flexibility.
Al Qaeda is training western-looking
operatives in the tribal areas of Pakistan, making it easier for
them to get past security at US airports, according to CIA Director
Michael Hayden. Talking on NBC’s news programme ‘Meet the Press’,
Hayden said the most likely point of origin from where terrorists
would launch another attack against the US was the sanctuary in
tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan. He also said that
the agency believed Osama bin Laden was in the border region,
between Pakistan and Afghanistan, but he was "not operationally
involved." He "is more of an iconic figure" for
the global terrorist movement, Hayden stated, adding that killing
or capturing him and deputy commander Ayman Al Zawahiri remained
a "high priority for the CIA."
March 31
A man and a woman were stoned
to death by militants in the Khwezai-Baezai area of Mohmand Agency
after a ‘qazi court’ (Islamic court) found them guilty of adultery.
This is the first incident of Rajam (stoning to death) carried
out in FATA. Earlier, couples found guilty of adultery by militants
or tribesmen were executed by firing squads.
At least two people were killed
and 10 others sustained serious injuries in the Swat district.
The Deputy Superintendent of Police in the Matta sub-division,
Haroon Babar, said that militants ambushed a convoy of about 35
elders at the Malikabad area when they were on their way to the
Venai checkpoint.
Authorities should only use force
as a last resort against militants near the Afghan border, newly
elected NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti said. Addressing
the provincial assembly, he said the use of force in the past
made it harder to bring peace to the province. He said his Government
would, instead, promote dialogue at all levels. "We’ll make every
effort to restore peace in the province. We’ll form traditional
jirgas for peace," he stated. The Awami National Party’s Hoti
was elected as Chief Minister unopposed on March 31.
April 6
Sectarian violence broke out between
Shia and Sunni sects in three villages of Kurram Agency in the
FATA after a bomb exploded at Khurmana Pul, killing three people
and injuring 22 others. A 16-member jirga (council) consisting
of elders of the two sects intervened and brokered a truce between
the warring groups in the villages of Khwar Kalay, Balish Khel
and Sangeena, in the presence of political administration officials.
Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar
Ali Magsi has said that reconciliation efforts have begun in the
province and the new Government will take steps to make them successful.
He informed the media in provincial capital Quetta that stopping
military operation and restoring peace and normality in the province
would be the new Government’s priority. He said the Government’s
first task should be to initiate dialogue with dissidents because
the use of force over the past five years had not yielded any
positive result.
April 7
The Balochistan Assembly in its
inaugural session unanimously adopted a resolution calling for
an immediate end to military operations in the province. The resolution
also called for the release of Balochistan National Party (Mengal
faction) chief Akhtar Mengal and all detained political activists,
and the rehabilitation of Balochistan’s internally displaced people.
The House also passed a resolution unanimously calling for an
UN-led investigation into former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s
assassination. A resolution moved by 12 legislators demanded a
judicial inquiry into the murder of former Balochistan governor
Nawab Akbar Bugti and former Member of Provincial Assembly Balaach
Marri. Another related resolution called for an UN-supervised
probe into their murders, and demanded that Bugti’s body be handed
over to his family. The fourth resolution demanded the abolition
of the police and restoration of the Levies Force.
The new coalition Government will
not negotiate with "terrorists", Foreign Minister Shah
Mehmood Qureshi said. "We will not negotiate with terrorists,
but we will engage [them in dialogue] and we believe in political
engagement," Qureshi told Dawn News television in
an interview.
The British Home Secretary Jacqui
Smith said in Islamabad that there were connections between terrorist
groups operating in the UK and Pakistan. Threats to the UK had
connections in Pakistan, she said, adding that threats to Pakistan
had been traced back to the UK.
April 7
All the religious outfits which
were banned by General Pervez Musharraf during his military rule
would approach the Supreme Court of Pakistan and seek restoration,
said Hafiz Saeed, chief of the proscribed LeT. "The ban was a
step that the retired General took only to please America and
now it is abundantly clear that people have rejected his policies,"
Saeed told The News. He criticised President Musharraf's
Kashmir policy and alleged that the 'U-turn' taken by the Musharraf
Government on Kashmir had badly damaged the cause of the Kashmiris'
‘freedom struggle’.
April 8
The NWFP Government launched a
fresh peace process for the violence-hit Swat district by constituting
a ministerial committee to initiate dialogue with different groups
of militants. Provincial Information Minister Sardar Hussain Babak
said that the provincial cabinet in its first meeting had decided
to reactivate the jirga system to resolve the issue of
militancy through peaceful means.
April 9
Armed supporters of the TNSM leader
Maulana Fazlullah reappeared in the Matta sub-division of Swat
district and were seen marching on the roads. According to locals,
commanders Iqbal Hussain and Ikramuddin led the armed militants
— numbering between 40 and 45.
The proscribed BLA has rejected
the Government’s offer for talks, saying it was not ready even
to consider it. Talking to Dawn by a satellite phone, the
BLA spokesman Beebarg Baloch said: "We regard the Government’s
offer for talks as its defeat because previously it was not ready
even to recognise the existence of the BLA." He said that three
pillars of what he called genocide of the Baloch nation - establishment,
the army and the Musharraf-led system - were intact and the Government
could not hoodwink the Baloch people. He said that two former
governors of Balochistan, a chief minister, a provincial minister
and a federal minister were on the hit-list of the BLA.
April 11
JeM and LeT, the Pakistan-based
terrorist groups, are among the 44 outfits designated as ‘Foreign
Terrorist Organisations’ (FTO) by the US. Besides these two, other
groups active in India — the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami
and Pakistan-based HuM — are also in the FTO list issued by the
office of the coordinator for counter terrorism of the US Department
of State. "FTO designations play a critical role in our fight
against terrorism and are effective means of curtailing support
for terrorist activities and pressurising groups to get out of
the terrorism business," a State Department statement said. Other
groups of the South Asia include LTTE and LeJ.
April 12
Eight people were killed and 10
others injured in fresh violence between rival groups of the Kurram
Agency, raising the death toll of the past eight days in the area
to 35. Five tribesmen — Qadir Gul, Hamid Hussain, Rafique, Taib
Khan and Abdul Hanan — were killed, and 10 injured, during a clash
in the Marro Khel area of Lower Kurram Agency. Similarly, three
people were shot dead by armed rival groups in the areas of Balishkhel,
Sadda, Karman, Para Chamkani, Pewar and Teri Mengal.
Three dead bodies of security
force personnel, who were reported ‘lost’ during a military operation
earlier this year in South Waziristan, were found.
April 14
The death toll in the ongoing
sectarian violence rose to 48 as seven more persons were killed
and 16 others sustained injuries in Parachinar, the headquarters
of Kurram Agency. Five people were killed when a mortar shell
hit a trench in Parachamkani and one each was killed in the Balashkhel
and Sadda areas.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan
has urged the Government to honour its pledge regarding holding
negotiations with the Taliban to pave way for durable peace in
the FATA.
The National Assembly asked the
Government to approach the United Nations to get former Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination investigated by an international
commission, on the pattern of a probe into the 2005 killing of
former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafiq Hariri.
The FBI Director Robert S Mueller
told a meeting in London last week that al Qaeda would not "go
quietly into the night," having established "new sanctuaries"
in "ungoverned spaces, Tribal Areas, and the Frontier province
of Pakistan." Addressing a meeting at Chatham House, Mueller
said al Qaeda is resilient and its network is now diffused. He
said a top tier is the core al Qaeda organisation, which has "established
new sanctuaries in Pakistan", which means that it can "reconstitute
its leadership, recruit new operatives, and regenerate its capability
to attack."
April 15
Traders and industrialists said
they had been receiving threatening letters from Lashkar-e-Islam
in the Khyber Agency, causing the suspension of night shifts in
scores of factories in industrial estates in Hayatabad.
A cease-fire was enforced in the
Balishkhel, Sadda, Khwar Killay and Sangeena areas of the Kurram
Agency in FATA after 11 days of sectarian violence, which left
over 50 people dead and more than 100 wounded. Officials said
the two factions had agreed to a cease-fire and vacate hilltops
in the troubled areas of the Kurram Agency bordering Afghanistan.
A two-day ‘Ghazi Islam Conference’
organized by the TTP began in the Mohmand Agency of FATA at the
mausoleum of Haji Sahib Turangzai. Local ulema (religious
scholars), Taliban leaders and delegations from the Tank and Swat
districts of the NWFP, and the North and South Waziristan, Kurram
Agency, Orakzai Agency and Bajaur Agency participated in the conference.
However, the media has been prevented from reporting their names.
April 16
At least 20 persons were killed
as fighting erupted between Lashkar-e-Islam activists and Kooki
Khel tribesmen of the Khyber Agency in FATA.
The Government’s claims of holding
talks with Baloch insurgents are a "pack of lies" and the new
Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi and Chief Minister
Nawab Aslam Raisani are "fooling themselves" by offering talks,
the BLA said, and also issued a hit-list to kill two former governors
and a former chief minister of Balochistan.
April 17
The Lashkar-e-Islam chief, Mangal
Bagh, has said that his outfit is fighting against terrorism,
crime and gambling and has 180000 volunteers in the Khyber Agency
of FATA. Mangal Bagh also claimed that his outfit had no contacts
with al Qaeda and any other organisation.
Harabyar Marri, son of Baloch
nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, has been released
from a London jail on bail. Harabyar had been arrested in December
2007 and detained in London on terrorism charges, the channel
said.
The United States Government Accountability
Office said that terrorists are still operating freely in Pakistan
along its Afghanistan border.
April 18
Militants of Bajaur Agency in
the FATA offered shelter to Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammad
Omar, should they ask for it. Militant commander Maulana Faqir
Mohammad also offered a general amnesty to all their opponents,
except alleged US spies and those involved in adultery, and announced
the formation of various committees for settling people's conflicts.
April 19
Local Taliban in South Waziristan
Agency publicly ‘executed’ three people who had allegedly killed
a teenager, Intezar Mehsud. The deceased, identified as Janan
Mehsud, Farooq Wazir and an Afghan national, had allegedly murdered
the boy who belonged to the Bandkhel tribe, after robbing him
of PKR 60,000.
April 20
Three security force personnel
were killed and a civilian was injured in the Hub area of Balochistan.
Ahmad Shah alias Mullah Ismail,
a Taliban commander blamed for the deadliest attack on US troops
since they entered Afghanistan in 2001, was killed in a shootout
with security forces in Pakistan, US and Pakistani officials said.
Police killed Ahmad Shah at a roadblock near Peshawar, an unnamed
senior Pakistani intelligence official said.
The abductors of missing Pakistan
envoy Tariq Azizuddin have demanded the release of 12 prisoners,
including the men suspected of plotting Benazir Bhutto’s assassination,
in exchange for his freedom. The kidnappers demanded the release
of Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz, the TSNM chief Maulana
Sufi, five Afghan Taliban militants and the three men arrested
on charges of allegedly plotting Benazir Bhutto’s assassination
— Aitzaz Shah, Hussnain and Rafaqat.
The Lashkar-e-Islam chief Mangal
Bagh claimed that he was repeatedly asked by Taliban militants
in Waziristan and elsewhere in the FATA to make his armed group
part of the TTP but he rejected the demand, as he didn’t want
to do anything that could harm the country.
April 21
The Balochistan Government withdrew
all cases, including those of sedition, against detained former
Balochistan Chief Minister Sardar Akhtar Mengal, but Mengal’s
Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) rejected the move, terming
it a "cosmetic measure taken by a powerless provincial government."
The NWFP Government has released
Maulana Sufi Muhammad, chief of the banned militant organisation
TNSM, under a peace deal to restore normalcy to Swat and its adjoining
areas. "Sufi Muhammad and the jirga have given assurances
that he and his companions will remain peaceful," NWFP Information
Minister Sardar Hussain Babek told AFP.
Militants have warned the Government
that they would resume fighting if it does not stop the military
operations in Swat, South Waziristan and other Tribal Areas. Taliban
spokesman Maulana Omar told reporters on the phone that they [Taliban]
had nothing to do with the abduction of Tariq Azizuddin, Pakistan’s
Ambassador to Afghanistan. He also said the Government had violated
the "ceasefire".
There is "strong evidence"
that al Qaeda operatives are present in the Tribal Areas along
the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, said British Foreign Secretary
David Miliband.
April 22
The Pro Vice-Chancellor of the
Balochistan University, Dr. Safdar Kiyani, was shot dead by insurgents
in Quetta, capital of Balochistan. According to sources, two people
on a motorbike opened fire on Dr. Kiyani when he came out of his
house in the Green Town area on Sariab road for an evening walk.
The BLA has claimed responsibility for the murder. "He had been
working for intelligence agencies and we had already warned him,"
the BLA spokesman Beebargh Baloch told reporters from an unspecified
location.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, widely considered
to be number two in the al Qaeda, criticised Muslims for failing
to support Islamist insurgencies in Iraq and elsewhere in a new
audiotape posted on the Internet. In several parts of the audio
message, al-Zawahiri claimed that Taliban took over 95 per cent
of Afghanistan and was sweeping Pakistan as well. "The Crusaders
and their agents in Pakistan and Afghanistan are starting to fall,"
al-Zawahiri said.
More agreements between the NWFP
Government and militants are in the pipeline, NWFP Law Minister
Arshad Abdullah said. He said that the release of Maulana Sufi
Muhammad, chief of the banned TNSM, was a step towards bringing
peace to the Malakand division.
April 23
The leader of Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP), Baitullah Mehsud, has ordered his militants to
"immediately cease their activities" in the FATA and
NWFP. "Baitullah Mehsud has issued directives to all his
comrades that in order to restore peace in the region, they should
cease their activities forthwith both in the tribal region as
well as the settled districts of the NWFP," said a pamphlet
released on April 23. "He has warned that his directives
should be complied with and those violating them will be publicly
punished," it said. A spokesman for Baitullah confirmed the
contents of the pamphlet circulated in South Waziristan in FATA
and the adjoining districts of Tank and Dera Ismail Khan in the
NWFP. A 15-point draft agreement, to be signed between the Mehsud
tribe of South Waziristan and the local political administration,
calls for an end to militancy, exchange of prisoners, withdrawal
of the military and resolution of issues in accordance with local
customs and the Frontier Crimes Regulation.
April 25
At least three people were killed
and 26 injured when a car bomb exploded near Mardan City Police
Station in the NWFP. The TTP claimed responsibility for the attack.
"This attack was carried out by our mujahideen to avenge the earlier
killing of one of our commanders by police in Mardan," TTP spokesman
Maulana Omar told Reuters by telephone.
April 26
Three Taliban militants and four
suspected criminals were killed and several others, including
women and children, injured in a clash in the Dadukhel area of
the Mohmand Agency in FATA.
April 28
Baitullah Mehsud, chief of the
TTP, has temporarily suspended talks with the Government over
the army’s refusal to withdraw from the FATA, his spokesman announced.
The cease-fire announced by Mehsud last week would continue, spokesman
Maulana Umar added.
The Islamabad High Court division
bench granted bail to former Lal Masjid chief cleric Maulana Abdul
Aziz in four cases involving the abduction of Chinese nationals
and policemen, the murder of a Rangers trooper and terrorism against
the state.
A report by the European Police
Office is reported to have stated that Pakistan’s tribal areas
is the "command and control centre" for al Qaeda’s "remaining
core leadership" planning attacks in the EU.
If the Government does not remove
all military check-posts from the Mohmand Agency in FATA within
three days, the Taliban will not accept any peace agreement with
the Government, militants’ spokesman Asad warned.
April 29
Militants killed three policemen
and injured three others in Kohat. The officers were reportedly
following the militants who had earlier stolen a taxi. "The
attackers then opened fire and the policemen did not have a chance
to retaliate… It appears to be a terrorist attack," the NWFP
police chief Malik Naveed told AFP.
April 30
The local Taliban retook control
of Darra Adam Khel in NWFP after talks between the administration
and tribal elders to guarantee safety of the Indus Highway were
deadlocked.
The NWFP Government has reportedly
received a list of demands from the local Taliban to end the ongoing
tension and restore peace in the Swat Valley of NWFP. Sources
said that the Taliban have demanded the imposition of Shariah
(Islamic law) in Malakand division, an end of all cases against
the Taliban and amnesty for the local Taliban of the region. The
Government is considering the demands to bring peace to the region,
they added.
Maulana Fazlullah said that he
is ready for talks with the Government. In a speech broadcast
on his illegal FM radio station, he said that the Government must
show sincerity in its efforts for peace to ensure successful negotiations.
This was the first transmission by Fazlullah’s radio station since
it was shut down by troops during the military operation in 2007.
Al Qaeda's continued public calls
to overthrow President Pervez Musharraf has remained a 'threat
to Pakistan', said the US State Department's Country Report on
Terrorism 2007 that has also declared attacks on Benazir Bhutto
as the 'deadliest' of the previous year. The report said that
despite having a huge presence of approximately 80,000 to 100,000
troops in the FATA, the Government's authority in the area continued
to be challenged. It said military operations though disrupted
militant activities no senior al Qaeda leader was either captured
or killed in 2007.
May 1
The local Taliban have started
sending their militants to Afghanistan to fight the United States-led
NATO forces after announcing a cease-fire in Pakistan. An unnamed
Taliban leader told BBC that the local Taliban leadership
had started sending militants into Afghanistan after announcing
a truce in Pakistan following an agreement with the new Government.
He said that many Pakistani Taliban had crossed into Afghanistan
in groups over the last few days to attack the US and NATO forces.
NWFP Chief Minister, Ameer Haider
Khan Hoti, will reportedly unveil a $4 billion peace plan that
envisages a 30 per cent reduction in militancy within three years,
retrieval of the areas lost to militants and improvement in the
writ of the state. The plan, put together by a task force of the
Awami National Party, envisions a peace jirga (council)
comprising provincial ministers and legislators. The Government
has set up a peace committee for Malakand to restore peace in
Swat but the plan proposes a larger jirga with its terms
of reference outlined.
May 2
Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza
Gilani has said that the military operations in Balochistan have
been stopped. Addressing the Balochistan cabinet in the provincial
capital Quetta, the Prime Minister also asked the federal and
provincial Governments to withdraw all cases registered against
former Chief Minister Sardar Akhtar Mengal so that he could be
released. The Prime Minister also reportedly ordered the provincial
Governments to use all available resources to trace the ‘missing
people’ of Balochistan and other provinces.
The head of the US armed forces
warned that militants hiding in the FATA of Pakistan pose a direct
threat to the United States and other Western nations. Al Qaeda
and the Taliban are using the area to regroup and "I believe
they are preparing to launch attacks against the US and Western
interests," said Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff
Admiral Mike Mullen.
May 4
The federal Government has decided
to withdraw the Frontier Corps (FC) from Gwadar and Quetta and
hand over the responsibility of managing the law and order to
police in the two cities. However, officials said that FC troops
would remain stationed in troubled areas like Dera Bugti and Kohlu
to protect sensitive installations, including the Sui gas plant
and the pipeline network supplying natural gas all over the country.
Al Qaeda based in Pakistan were
behind last week’s assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid
Karzai, Afghanistan’s intelligence chief said.
The Taliban blamed the Government’s
"inflexibility" for the lack of progress in negotiations. Talks
between the Government and the TTP had stalled early this week
after Baitullah Mehsud accused the Government of refusing to withdraw
troops from the FATA and Swat in the NWFP.
May 5
An army official was injured when
the Baitullah Mehsud-led Taliban militants launched their first
attack on the army after peace talks in South Waziristan failed.
The TTP has banned musical alerts
on mobile phones in the FATA. Geo News quoted a TTP spokesman
as saying that TTP deputy chief Maulana Faqir Muhammad had banned
playing music in vehicles as well as on cellular phones. He said
that violators would be punished according to the Shariah (Islamic
law).
The United States said that it
wanted Pakistan to live up to its commitment of urgently bringing
security under control in the FATA, allegedly used as a safe haven
by al Qaeda and Taliban militants. Deputy Secretary of State John
Negroponte said Islamabad recognised that bringing the mountainous
and unpoliced FATA under control was an urgent priority for Pakistan’s
own sake.
May 6
A pro-government elder of the
Bugti tribe and his nephew were killed and three other people
were injured in a bomb blast in Dera Allahyar in Balochistan.
The Baloch Republican Army claimed responsibility of the attack.
A suicide bomber blew himself
up at a checkpoint in Bannu in the NWFP, killing a police constable
and two civilians and injuring 12 persons, including four army
soldiers and four policemen.
Suspected militants shot dead
two policemen outside a bank in the Matta Bazaar of Swat district
in the NWFP.
May 7
Two policemen and a civilian were
shot dead in Quetta, capital of Balochistan, triggering a reaction
by local businessmen, who shut down their businesses in protest
against the killings. The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed
responsibility for the attack.
An Afghan governor warned that
radical groups in Pakistan were receiving funding from Arab nations
for the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies. "They can finance Taliban
activities for another 10 years," Laghman province Governor Lutfallah
Mashal said at a meeting of the European Union officials, journalists
and Afghan experts in Brussels.
May 8
Six militants were killed near
the Wennai bridge in the Matta sub-division of Swat district in
the NWFP.
Troops blocked the main road leading
to the South Waziristan in a confrontation with al Qaeda-linked
militants who operate in the region. The blockade of the road
leading to South Waziristan on the Afghan border came after militants
loyal to Baitullah Mehsud, chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan,
set up check-posts on the road to exert control over the region.
May 9
The political administration in
Bajaur Agency launched a crackdown on the Salarzai tribe and arrested
over 50 people under the collective responsibility clause of the
Frontier Crimes Regulation. The administration also impounded
10 vehicles. The crackdown was launched after militants attacked
a convoy of the Bajaur Scouts going to Latai Post from Khar and
took 20 paramilitary soldiers hostage and snatched two vehicles
and weapons from them on May 8. Sources said the militants later
set the soldiers free but did not return the vehicles and weapons.
The Awami National Party-led Government
in the NWFP and militants in the Swat district reached a cease-fire
agreement. The truce was achieved after three hours of talks between
a Government committee and a team of militants representing Maulana
Fazlullah.
The Government freed the Balochistan
National Party chief and former Chief Minister, Sardar Akhtar
Mengal, after holding him in custody for one-and-a-half years
over charges of abducting agents of an intelligence agency.
May 10
Unidentified assailants shot dead
three Shia community members in the Dera Ismail Khan area of NWFP
in an incident of suspected sectarian violence.
May 11
The TTP announced that the unilateral
cease-fire announced in April 2008 has virtually ended and therefore
the militants have resumed attacks on troops in some parts of
the country. It also said that the Taliban had no intention to
establish a Government within the Government or run a parallel
judicial system. However, the spokesman made clear that the Taliban
would take action against sins, injustices and malpractices if
brought into their notice by the citizens. The Taliban didn't
want to fight with army or police but the militants had to retaliate
when they were attacked, he said. The spokesman said that the
Taliban were fast spreading in other parts of the country in general
and in the tribal areas as well as in most parts of the NWFP in
particular, saying that all the Taliban were united under their
leader, Baitullah Mehsud.
May 13
A policeman was killed and two
others sustained injuries in an attack by the insurgents in Quetta.
The BLA claimed responsibility for the killing. It also reportedly
warned the people of Balochistan to quit working for law-enforcement
agencies or "the BLA will kill them".
The NWFP Government and the Tehreek-e-Taliban
agreed to the implementation of Shari Nizam-e-Adl Regulations
1999 in the Malakand division within one month. The Taliban’s
demand for the implementation of Shariah (Islamic law) has been
settled, the NWFP unit president of the Awami National Party,
Afrasiab Khattak, informed the media after the second round of
talks with Taliban representatives from Swat. He also said the
two sides decided to extend the cease-fire agreement until the
third round of the dialogue.
May 14
At least 12 militants, including
some foreigners, were killed in a suspected United States missile
strike on two houses in the Damadola area of Bajaur Agency in
the FATA. Two missiles, apparently fired by a US drone aircraft,
demolished a house and a compound used by suspected al Qaeda militants,
an unnamed official said. Taliban spokesman Maulana Omar said
that ‘commander’ Maulana Obaidullah’s house had been targeted.
However, military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said that
there was no army in the area and he had no knowledge of any missile
strike.
The Pakistan Army exchanged prisoners
with the local Taliban in South and North Waziristan, as the military
began to readjust its positions in the Mehsud areas to facilitate
the return of displaced families. "Twelve security personnel
— five army jawans and seven Frontier Corps personnel — were swapped
for over 30 Taliban prisoners," military spokesman Major
General Athar Abbas said. He also said the army had started readjusting
troop positions close to the populated areas to facilitate the
return of displaced families. He stated that the troop readjustment
was in no way a withdrawal from the area.
May 16
Militants released Pakistan’s
Ambassador to Afghanistan, Tariq Azizuddin, after holding him
in captivity for 97 days. His release came after protracted negotiations
between the Government and militant leader Baitullah Mehsud, with
tribal leaders acting as mediators.
May 18
Thirteen persons, including five
soldiers, were killed and 23 others, including 11 soldiers, sustained
injuries in a suicide attack at the Punjab Regiment Centre (PRC)
market in the Cantonment area of Mardan in NWFP. Security officials
said the bomber was around 22 years old and detonated the bomb
when stopped from entering a bakery at the PRC market. The Tehrik-i-Taliban
in Darra Adamkhel claimed responsibility for the attack. The PRC
is reportedly a base for troops involved in operations against
militants in the tribal region.
Brahmdagh Khan Bugti, a leader
of the insurgents, has rejected the Government’s offer for talks,
saying that the Government’s claims of providing relief to Balochistan
were designed to secure an "honourable retreat for the defeated
forces". Talking to the channel from an undisclosed location,
the grandson of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti
claimed that 10,000 Bugti tribesmen were living a miserable life
in Afghanistan because of the military operations in Balochistan.
May 19
Three civilians were killed and
two others sustained injuries when an improvised explosive device
exploded outside a mosque in the Dabar area of Khar, headquarters
of Bajaur Agency in the FATA.
May 21
The Taliban militants operating
under the command of Maulana Fazlullah in the Swat district signed
a 16-point peace agreement with ANP-led NWFP Government and agreed
to disbanding the militia, while denouncing and renouncing suicide
attacks and stopping attacks on the security forces and Government
installations.
Four relatives of two parliamentarians
from the FATA were killed in an ambush in the Jamrud sub-division
of Khyber Agency in the FATA.
A single bench of the Balochistan
High Court headed by Chief Justice Amanullah Khan Yasinzai has
acquitted the BNP-M Chief Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal and General-Secretary
Habib Jalib in treason cases and ordered officials concerned to
quash the First Information Reports and exonerate them of the
charges.
The federal cabinet said that
it would not engage in talks with extremists and terrorists and
decided to pay compensation to the people affected by military
operations and militancy in the FATA, especially South Waziristan.
Presided over by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani, a cabinet
meeting declared that peace talks were being held only with ‘peaceful
tribesmen’ and there would be no deal with militant and extremist
outfits who challenged the Government’s writ.
May 22
A top American general endorsed
a US intelligence assessment that the next 9/11-type attack on
the US soil would come from al Qaeda bases in the FATA in Pakistan
but urged the United States to increase its security assistance
to the country to help it deal with the threat. General David
Petraeus, a top US military commander nominated to lead the Central
Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that "Clearly,
Al Qaeda’s senior leadership has been strengthened in the Fata,
even as though their main effort still is assessed to be in Iraq
by them, as well as by us. But the organisation of an attack,
if you will, would likely come from the Fata."
May 23
Mir Shahzain Bugti, the grandson
of Nawab Akbar Bugti, was released in Bolan district after the
Balochistan Government withdrew all cases against him. He was
released as part of the provincial Government’s efforts to release
all political and tribal prisoners in order to reconcile with
the alienated Baloch political parties and tribesmen. Shahzain
disappeared in May 2007 and it was announced in June that he had
been detained.
A Pentagon report said that the
growth of al Qaeda safe havens in Pakistan's tribal areas is "troubling"
and warned it may take Pakistan several years to turn around the
situation. The report to Congress by the US Department of Defense
said Pakistan increased its troop levels in the border areas by
30,000 in 2007, and made "significant and costly" efforts to eliminate
safe havens.
May 24
Two policemen were killed and
two others wounded in a roadside bomb blast in Peshawar, capital
of the NWFP.
Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud
vowed to continue fighting the NATO and US-led forces in Afghanistan
regardless of negotiations for a peace deal with the Pakistan
Government. Mehsud told a group of journalists that he wanted
to stop fighting the Pakistan Army, but made no commitment about
halting attacks in Afghanistan. "Islam does not recognise
frontiers. Jihad in Afghanistan will continue," Mehsud
said.
May 25
An al Qaeda figure killed in a
United States air strike in Bajaur Agency on May 14 is believed
to have been an Algerian allegedly involved in training militants
and plotting attacks against the West, officials told Los Angeles
Times on May 23. They said the Algerian, known by the nickname
Abu Sulayman Jazairi, apparently died in the aerial strike that
killed 14 people and destroyed a compound near the Damadola village.
May 26
Six persons were killed and five
others sustained injuries in incidents of sectarian violence at
Dera Ismail Khan. Witnesses said four people from the Shia community
were killed when they were attacked while going to a court. The
motorbike borne assailants also fired on a police team going to
a checkpoint, killing constable Qismatullah. Further, some people
opened fire on a member of the banned Sunni group Sipah-e-Sahaba
Pakistan (SSP), Abdur Rasheed, on the University Road, killing
him on the spot.
May 27
Eight persons were killed and
13 others sustained injuries in the Orakzai Agency when militants
of the Lashkar-e-Islam and Ansar-ul-Islam, the two rival groups
of Khyber Agency clashed.
Eight militants were killed and
four others sustained injuries when a vehicle loaded with ammunition
blew up in the Salarzai sub-division of Bajaur Agency in FATA.
Two senior Taliban leaders, Mullah
Obaidullah Akhund and Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, have reportedly
been released by the Pakistan Government in a prisoner swap with
the Taliban. The duo was released along with hundreds of other
militants to secure the release of Pakistani Ambassador to Afghanistan
Tariq Azizuddin and 35 Army officials.
The United States Treasury said
it had decided to freeze the assets of four leaders of the Pakistan-based
LeT, including its chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed.
A top Afghan intelligence official
said that his agency received information several months ago that
al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was hiding in northern Pakistan,
bordering Afghanistan. The unnamed official told AFP that
bin Laden was said to be in a mountainous region in Chitral, a
Pakistani region facing Afghanistan’s eastern province of Kunar.
May 28
The Taliban announced a complete
cessation of hostilities after holding talks for six days with
a peace committee of elders from Darra Adamkhel. A spokesman for
‘commander’ Tariq said the Government had assured them that the
military would stop operations in Darra Adamkhel and, in return,
the Taliban would stop their activities on the stretch of Indus
Highway passing through Darra Adamkhel. He said: "Now we
are completely satisfied and trust the man provided by the Government
as a guarantor, and announce immediate cease fire. Formal talks
for finalising modalities of the peace deal would commence from
Thursday."
The Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (also known
as Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)) denied it had links with al Qaeda, as
Washington imposed financial sanctions on its chief and three
other leaders. Jama’at-ud-Da’awa spokesman Muhammad Yahya Mujahid
denied that Saeed was still involved in the LeT and claimed the
US statement was "based (on) enmity with Islam, lack of knowledge
and ignorance." "America cannot prove in any court in
the world Hafiz Muhammad Saeed’s links with incidents of terrorism,"
Mujahid said in a statement. According to him, "The recent
step by America is a result of Indian propaganda and an effort
to pressure Pakistan’s government."
Baitullah Mehsud, chief of the
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, is spending approximately PKR 3 billion
on militancy annually, the NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani said.
"He [Mehsud] is spending between Rs 2.5 - 3 billion yearly on
procuring weapons, equipment, vehicles, treating wounded militants
and keeping families of killed militants fed," said the Governor.
May 30
Six youths were shot dead and
four others sustained injuries in an ambush by the insurgents
on the Samungli Road in Quetta, capital of Balochistan. A spokesman
for the BLA claimed responsibility for the attack saying that
those killed were spying for the Military Intelligence and the
Inter-Services Intelligence.
Two women were killed and another
woman and a constable were wounded in a landmine explosion in
the Kohlu district of Balochistan.
The chief organiser of the Baloch
Republican Party (BRP), Nawabzada Bramdagh Bugti, has refused
to hold talks with the Government within the framework of the
federation. He extended "100 percent support" to all the militant
groups operating in Balochistan, saying the only way forward for
the Baloch was to stop ‘begging’ for provincial autonomy and jobs
from the central Government. The BRP, formally a faction of the
Jamhoori Watan Party, was launched recently with a new flag and
manifesto.
Welcoming the NWFP Government’s
offer for talks, a spokesman for the local Taliban announced a
cease-fire in the Mardan district. The spokesman, identifying
himself as Maulana Abdullah, addressed journalists at the Mardan
Press Club on phone. He said the Taliban had carried out a number
of terrorist activities, including bomb blasts, rocket attacks
and suicide bombing in protest against the military operation
against them.
May 31
A bomb exploded in a vehicle owned
by the Taliban in the Mamad Ghat area of the Mohmand Agency, killing
at least three militants and a bystander while injuring three
more militants.
The BNP refused to participate
in the Government-sponsored talks aimed to establish peace in
the Balochistan province, saying that Islamabad should first halt
the ongoing military operation.
June 1
Unidentified gunmen shot dead
a senior pro-government tribal militant commander, Haji Hanan,
and his bodyguard, Rafiullah, near the Frontier Region Darazenda
of Dera Ismail Khan in NWFP.
The Taliban in Swat set up their
own court in the Piochar village of Matta sub-division in NWFP.
Three cases were reportedly heard in the court headed by a Qazi.
June 2
A suspected suicide bomber blew
up his car outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad, killing at
least eight persons and injuring 30 others. The Danish Foreign
minister said a Pakistani cleaner employed at the embassy and
a Danish citizen of Pakistani origin had died and three other
local employees were hurt, but the embassy’s four Danish staffers
were unharmed. There was no claim of responsibility for the blast,
but officials said it was likely linked to anger over blasphemous
caricatures, which were recently reprinted by Danish newspapers.
June 3
Five Afghan children were killed
and an equal number of them sustained injuries in an explosion
in a house on the Sariab Road in Quetta. The explosion occurred
in the house of an Afghan scrap dealer when the children were
reportedly attempting to dismantle a mortar shell.
Four persons were killed and seven
others wounded in a landmine explosion at a roadside in the Spin
Tara area of Kurram Agency. Political administration officials
said a truck carrying passengers to central Kurram Agency drove
over a landmine. The dead included two Afghan nationals, a nine-year
old boy and an 11-year-old girl.
June 4
Three civilians were killed and
three others sustained injuries in a bomb blast at a video shop
in a business centre at Kohat in the NWFP. There was no immediate
claim of responsibility. Meanwhile, the All Combined Bazaar Association
has given a 24-hour ultimatum to the CD shop owners in the district
to wind up their businesses to avoid action by the association.
Two militants affiliated with
‘commander’ Maulana Faqir Mohammad were killed and two others
sustained injuries when troops of the paramilitary FC allegedly
fired at them near Nawagai in the Bajaur Agency of FATA The TTP,
led by Baitullah Mehsud, threatened to avenge the killing of their
cadres. The two slain militants were identified as Ziaur Rahman
and Nauman, while the two others who sustained injuries were identified
as Daud and Parvez Khan. TTP spokesman Maulana Omar claimed the
four militants were en route to Kamar Nagra area near Nawagai
where, they had convened an important meeting of militants to
review the deteriorating law and order situation in the town.
"As we had mentioned earlier, some people in the government for
their vested interests wanted bloodshed and violence to continue
in the tribal regions and today's incident was an ample example
of their anti-peace conspiracy," said the TTP spokesman.
Al Qaeda has said it was behind
the suicide attack on Denmark's embassy in Pakistan on June 2
which it mounted in revenge for the publication of caricatures
of the Prophet Mohammad.
The NWFP Prison Minister Mian
Nisar Gul Kakakhel said the Government had released a majority
of the detained militants in Swat.
Following successful talks with
militants, the Government started withdrawal of the Army troops
from the Darra Adamkhel town, sources said. The militants had
announced a cease-fire on May 27 after the Government reportedly
accepted all their demands, including the removal of all roadside
checkpoints, withdrawal of security force personnel, the release
of militants held during military operation and payment of compensation
to the affected people.
June 5
Police in Rawalpindi foiled a
major terror plot, seizing explosives-packed vehicles and arresting
four suspected terrorists. Police sources said that the police
had seized 1000-kilograms of explosives along with bullets, ball
bearings, metal scraps and broken pieces of mirror, adding, religious
literature was also seized from the suspected terrorists. They
said that the terrorists had been captured after a massive sweep
of the city was launched on intelligence reports that three explosives-packed
vehicles had entered the city to target sensitive locations. According
to the sources, preliminary investigations have revealed that
the suspected terrorists confessed that they were planning to
target the President’s Camp Office and offices of several law-enforcement
agencies.
A judge in Spain filed terrorism
charges against nine Pakistanis and two Indians suspected of planning
suicide attacks in Barcelona and elsewhere in Europe. Ten persons
were arrested in Barcelona in January 2008 during raids in which
police also recovered bomb-making equipment. It was not immediately
disclosed where the 11th person was arrested. All were charged
with belonging to a terrorist group, and eight were additionally
accused of possessing explosives. The charges were based on the
declarations of a witness who is a former member of the cell,
which is suspected of planning suicide attacks on the Barcelona
metro and other European cities. Three of those arrested, Pakistanis
Mohamed Shoaib, M. Khalib and Imran Cheema, had been tasked with
carrying out the suicide bombings, and had recently arrived in
Barcelona, the judge said. Three others, Hafeez Ahmed, Qadeer
Malik and Sahib Iqbal, were allegedly explosives experts.
June 6
Four people were killed in two
explosions in Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP. The first bomb exploded
in the University Road area without causing any damage. As police
and civilians gathered at the scene, another bomb exploded killing
four people, including two policemen, and wounding another nine,
police official Mohsin Shah told Reuters. Five people including
four policemen were killed in the remote-controlled bomb attack.
DI Khan District Police Officer Abdul Ghuffar said that the first
bomb had been planted on a bicycle and the attack targeted police.
He said 15 people had been injured in the blast, nine of who were
policemen. He said the area had been cordoned of after the incident.
Dutch police arrested a 26-year-old
Pakistani man wanted in Spain on terrorism charges, according
to the Netherlands’ prosecution service. "Aqueelur Rehman
Abbasi was arrested on Friday in his prison cell in Vught where
he was being held by the immigration and naturalisation services,
at the request of Spanish authorities," said prosecution
spokesman Frank Wattimena.
Leader of the House in the Senate
Raza Rabbani tendered an apology on behalf of the ruling coalition
for military operations carried out in Balochistan in different
tenures. Rabbani said the government would not allow demographic
change in the provinces, and said the proposal denying the right
to vote in Balochistan to those who settled in the province from
elsewhere was being considered. The PML-Q Mushahid Hussain said,
"We as a nation should apologise to the Baloch."
The Pakistani government is not holding peace
talks with terrorists but only with peace-loving elements as part
of a multipronged strategy to fight extremism, said Foreign Minister
Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Afghanistan.
June 8
Four children were killed in an
explosion triggered by suspected militants at Chitral in the NWFP.
The TTP issued pamphlets to local
journalists at Hangu in NWFP that cautioned the Pakistan Government
to stick to their peace agreement. The pamphlet, signed by ‘Commander’
Nazir of the TTP stated that if the Government violated the treaty,
then Taliban could open new fronts against the Government. The
pamphlet warned the Government against fighting America’s war
on terror in Pakistan, as its ramifications could be dangerous.
It also said that the Government should not consider them weak,
as the TTP was an organised power that could not be thwarted easily.
June 9
Four Policemen were killed and
a SHO was injured when around 20 militants opened fire on a Police
mobile unit on a routine patrol near the Mattani bypass in Peshawar.
Militants also set ablaze the vehicle and stole the Policemen’s
weapons.
Pakistan Government scrapped its
peace deal with the Taliban as militants have reneged on their
promise to stop violence, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Interior
Affairs Rehman Malik said.
A 50-member jirga (council) in
Kurram Agency agreed to a month-long cease-fire between rival
groups engaged in armed clashes in Pewar and Teri-Mengal areas.
Three persons were killed in the
Balyameen area of the Lower Kurram Agency when unidentified militants
opened fire on a vehicle. The vehicle was travelling to Balyameen
from Anzari when gunmen opened fire, killing Sajid Hussain and
his driver Ahmed Gul on the spot while another unidentified man
died soon after.
June 10
At least 11 paramilitary soldiers
and 10 militants were killed in an air strike by the US-led forces
on a Frontier Corps security post in the Sheikh Baba area along
the Afghan border in Mohmand tribal region. 15 people, including
six paramilitary soldiers, were reportedly injured in the attack.
Officials of the Mohmand Rifles have said that 40 of their men
are missing. A spokesman of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Maulvi
Umar said that eight Taliban had been killed and nine others wounded
in clashes. He also claimed that the Taliban have captured seven
soldiers of the Afghan National Army and shot down a Nato helicopter,
killing its crew.
Any future terror attack against
US interests would most likely be carried out by militants based
in Pakistan’s restive tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, US Joint
Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen said. The top
military official told a press in Washington that tribal groups
with ties to al Qaeda in the FATA represent the worst security
threat to the US.
June 11
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
condemned the air strike by the US-led forces on a Frontier Corps
security post in the Sheikh Baba area along the Afghan border
in Mohmand tribal region on June 10 and said his government would
ensure the sovereignty of the country. At
least 11 paramilitary soldiers and 10 militants were killed in
the air strike.
June 13
Militants shot dead five tribesmen,
including a pro-government tribal elder, Malik Zahideen, near
Miranshah in North Waziristan of FATA.
Nawab Khair Baksh Marri has said
he would be willing to represent only the BLA, and not other Baloch
forces, in talks with the Government.
The NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad
Ghani has said that the Government will continue its dialogue
with militants in the FATA despite ‘enormous’ international pressure.
A broad security plan is on the
cards to protect the Peshawar city from attacks by local Taliban.
They said around 3,000 security force personnel would be deployed
to guard Peshawar, and that 26 security posts would be set up
to monitor militants. An unnamed senior police official said that
Police had told the Government that it could not control militancy
on its own and needed the assistance of the Frontier Constabulary,
the Frontier Corps and the Army.
June 15
Four persons were killed and another
was injured when a car drove over a landmine near Seenzala in
the NWFP. So far no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai,
threatened to send Afghan troops across the border to fight Taliban
militants in Pakistan. Accusing Pakistan of sheltering most of
the fighters involved in recent incidents in the Garmser District
of Helmand Province, he told a News Conference that Afghanistan
had the right to self-defence, and because militants cross over
from Pakistan "to come and kill Afghans and kill coalition troops,
it exactly gives us the right to do the same".
June 16
A bomb exploded inside a Shia
mosque killing at least four people and injuring two others in
the Dera Ismail Khan district of NWFP. Police said that the explosion
was triggered inside Imambargah Hazrat Ali in Mohallah Roshan
Chirgah when worshippers were coming out of the mosque after offering
evening prayers.
Police released Qari Saifullah
Akhtar, a key suspect in a suicide bombing that killed around
150 people at a homecoming rally for former premier Benazir Bhutto
at Karachi in 2007.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf
Raza Gilani, talking to Yasin Malik, chairman of the JKLF, at
Parliament House, said that Pakistan would continue to extend
moral, diplomatic and political support for the Kashmiri freedom
struggle, and it wanted a just and peaceful resolution of the
problem in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people.
Gilani said that sustainable peace in South Asia could not be
achieved without the settlement of the Kashmir dispute.
June 17
Unidentified assailants killed
four persons when they opened fire on a vehicle in the Hangu Bazaar
of NWFP following an abduction attempt.
The Taliban have warned women
and school-going girls in a town near Kohat in the NWFP to wear
burqas (veil) when going out and to avoid visiting markets
without a male escort.
The Swat police allowed a ‘safe
exit’ to a potential suicide bomber on June 16 following negotiations
to protect nearby civilians.
The Swat-based Taliban have suspended
contact with the NWFP Government to protest against the slow progress
on a peace agreement they entered into less than a month ago,
said Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan, adding, that "some elements
were interfering in the peace process," as a result of which Taliban
had decided to temporarily freeze contact with the provincial
Government.
June 18
Three persons were killed and
eight others injured in a mortar attack and firing incident in
village Shalozan of Kurram Agency in the FATA.
President Pervez Musharraf has
said that he will not step down from his position and would continue
to play his constitutional role as the President "to strengthen
democracy in the country". Musharraf said that there was, however,
a provision for impeaching the President in the constitution and
the parliament had a right to make use of it.
June 19
Militants belonging to a Sunni
group ambushed a food convoy killing four persons and subsequently
set ablaze three trucks loaded with goods at Kurram agency in
the FATA. Meanwhile, security forces, backed by helicopter gun-ships,
retaliated killing five militants in region.
Four Pakistani soldiers were killed
and three others injured in a clash with a jihadi group
near the LoC.
June 20
Taliban have warned transporters
in Karachi against supplying oil to coalition forces in Afghanistan,
in leaflets distributed and displayed in Shireen Jinnah Colony
on Mauripur Road.
NWFP Senior Minister Bashir Ahmed
Bilour told the provincial assembly that there are no Taliban
in Peshawar and the provincial Government will not hold talks
with local Taliban in other settled areas.
June 21
Five people were killed and nine
others injured in an exchange of fire between two religious groups,
the Ansarul Islam and Lashkar-e-Islam, in the Teerah Valley of
Khyber Agency in FATA.
June 22
At least 15 militants were dead
and dozens injured in a clash between the Lashkar-i-Islam and
Ansarul Islam in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency in the FATA.
June 23
12 persons were killed in the
continuing clashes between the Lashkar-i-Islam and Ansarul Islam
in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency in the FATA.
Gunmen shot dead eight members
from a Shia tribe in the Kurram Agency in the FATA.
Militants loyal to the Taliban
commander Baitullah Mehsud captured Jandola town in South Waziristan
after a battle with pro-government tribesmen, in which six persons,
including four tribesmen and two militants, were killed. Meanwhile,
a Taliban spokesman said nine people, including seven tribesmen,
had been killed and the Taliban had abducted 10 pro-government
fighters.
June 24
Taliban militants began withdrawing
from Jandola in FATA, a government and a security official said.
Three terror suspects confessed
to plotting suicide attacks at sensitive government buildings
and to having links with militant leader Baitullah Mehsud.
The banned SSP has once again
rolled up its sleeves and started getting active across Pakistan,
and especially in Karachi, but with a new name Ahle Sunnat wa
Aljamaat Pakistan (ASWJP) which roughly translates into The Sunni
Party.
Parliamentarians warned the Government
that the country might lose one of its provinces if it did not
consider the situation in NWFP seriously. Speaking on a point
of order, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said it was a matter
of months until the NWFP was no longer part of the country. He
also criticised Malik’s statements, saying the government would
further aggravate the situation through the use of force. He also
questioned why the government’s policies in NWFP and Balochistan
did not match.
June 25
Taliban killed 22 members of a
pro-government "peace committee" at Jandola of Tank in the NWFP.
Taliban spokesman Maulvi Umar claimed responsibility for the killings.
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza
Gilani has approved a military operation to clear the Tribal Areas
of militants.
June 26
The suspected militants gunned
down local PPP leader Abdul Akbar Khan, his wife, and two sons
in Matta tehsil (administrative division).
Suspected militants killed a prominent
tribal elder, his son and mother-in-law in Matta tehsil.
June 28
Eight persons were killed and
five others injured as clashes between two groups in the Tirah
area of Khyber Agency in the FATA. The report said that the groups
were using mortar guns, small missiles, rockets and other heavy
arms in the fight.
Local Taliban in the Bajaur Agency
of FATA publicly executed two Afghans after accusing them of spying
for the United States forces suspected of launching a missile
strike on the region in May. One of the men was stabbed to death
and then beheaded, while the second was shot with an assault rifle.
"They were spies. Whoever spies for the Americans will meet the
same fate," Wali Rehman, a Taliban leader said. He also said that
the two persons have provided names of some more spies and he
would kill all those involved in the attack.
Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud
suspended peace talks with the Government, when troops launched
an offensive against militants in the Khyber Agency of FATA.
June 29
Soldiers backed by armoured vehicles
retook control of Bara town in the Khyber Agency of the FATA and
prepared to advance to other areas in the district, including
the Tirah Valley.
The TTP Taliban announced that
they had ended all peace agreements with the Government.
A shura (executive council) of
the TTP endorsed Baitullah Mehsud’s announcement about suspending
all peace agreements and negotiations with the Government in FATA
and the NWFP.
Foreign elements hailing from
Central Asian Republics (CAR) are disturbing peace in the FATA,
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said.
June 30
Seven tribesmen were killed and
nine others sustained injuries in a blast at the base camp of
a banned outfit in the Bar Qambarkhel area of Bara sub-division
in Khyber Agency.
The Ministry of Interior said
that the operation launched in the Khyber Agency of FATA would
continue till its objectives were achieved. It also announced
a ban on three groups operating in the region for their involvement
in criminal activities. "Lashkar-i-lslam of Mangal Bagh, Ansar-ul-lslam
of Mahboob-ul-Haque and the Haji Namdar group have been banned
under the Anti-Terrorist Act and a notification to this effect
has been issued," sources at the interior ministry said.
Two groups of local Taliban in
Waziristan have joined hands to fight against the NATO troops
in Afghanistan. The Mulla Nazir group of South Waziristan and
Hafiz Gul Bahadur group of North Waziristan agreed to jointly
fight the NATO troops in Afghanistan. They nominated Hafiz Gul
Bahadur as the joint ameer (chief) and Mufti Abu Haroon as spokesman
for the Taliban militants.
The TTP of Swat refused an invitation
to attend peace negotiations that had been extended to them by
the NWFP Government.
July 2
America’s top military official
said that he has all the authority he needed for targeting senior
al Qaeda and Taliban leaders in Pakistan’s tribal areas. "I’m
comfortable, as the military leader, that I have all the authorities
I need," said Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs
of Staff, when asked if he had the authority to target key terrorist
leaders hiding in the FATA.
July 3
Five people were killed and several
others injured in fresh clashes between LI and AI in the Tirah
Valley of Khyber Agency. According to locals, clashes have continued
for 13 day and both groups have occupied strategic positions in
the mountains of Tirah Valley and are attacking each other with
heavy ordinance. They said that over 80 people had been killed
on both sides since the start of the clashes and the political
administration had not been able to stop the fighting.
July 4
South Korean police said that
two Pakistanis were among nine people arrested for trying to smuggle
tonnes of chemicals for heroin production to Afghanistan’s Taliban.
US Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff has said al Qaeda is regrouping in the border
areas of Pakistan.
The offensive in Khyber Agency
will continue until the writ of the government is restored in
the region, said NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani said.
The Government suspended its security
operation against suspected militants and criminals in the Khyber
Agency for 36 hours to allow Afridi tribesmen to meet Mangal Bagh
and conduct peace talks.
July 5
SFs suspended a crackdown against
militants for 36 hours in the Khyber Agency to allow local elders
to negotiate with them. Operation Sirat-e-Mustaqeem (Righteous
Path) was launched on June 28.
Two more persons were killed in
clashes between cadres of Lashkar-e-Islam and Ansar-ul-Islam,
taking the toll in recent fighting between the groups to 91.
July 6
20 persons, including 15 policemen,
were killed and more than 40 persons wounded in a suicide attack
near the Melody Market area of capital Islamabad. The suicide
bomber targeted policemen deployed at a rally observing the first
year anniversary of an army raid on the Lal Masjid (Red mosque)
in Islamabad.
A report indicated that the TTP
has established Sharia courts in the Bajaur Agency of the FATA
and a large number of people are using them to get disputes resolved,
instead of waiting for action by the tribal administration.
The three organisations that were
running parallel governments in the Khyber Agency have been disbanded,
bringing normalcy to the area, Adviser to the Prime Minister on
Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik, said.
July 7
The local Taliban and tribal elders
decided at a meeting to expel Uzbek militants and their local
collaborators from the areas of Ahmadzai Wazir tribe in South
Waziristan.
The NWFP Government and the TTP
agreed to keep their agreement intact and carry forward the dialogue
process for lasting peace in the Swat district.
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza
Gilani revealed that the Lashkar-e-Islam chief Mangal Bagh, who
was involved in terrorist activities in the Khyber Agency, had
assured the contesting candidates in the February 18, 2008 elections
of success if they took oath of facilitating suicide bombing inside
parliament.
July 8
Unidentified militants killed five security force
personnel and injured three others while attacking their vehicle
in the Bara sub-division of Khyber Agency in the FATA. There were
unconfirmed reports about the death of a militant in retaliatory
fire, whose body was taken away by the militants.
Unidentified armed men shot dead
a religious leader in the Charbagh division of Swat district in
the NWFP on July 7-night, police sources said on July 8. Charbagh
Darul Uloom Administrator Maulvi Masood was killed in an ambush,
the officials said.
The Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP) threatened
to carry out suicide attacks in major cities of the country. The
threat from the militants came after a US unidentified aerial
vehicle (UAV) hit yet another town of Bajaur Agency on July 8.
"This latest US attack in Khar (Bajaur Agency) by US Predator
proved that Pakistan is continuously supporting the US air strikes
on its territory. We will avenge the killing of our innocent people
by the Pakistani security forces and will launch suicide attacks
in important cities of the country," Maulvi Omar, a TTP spokesman,
warned. He said a woman sustained injures and two cattle were
killed when a US UAV reportedly fired "Hellfire" missile
on a house owned by one local tribesman Subhan Khan in Khar, headquarters
of the Bajaur Agency.
July 9
The political administration and Lashkar-i-Islam
(LI) signed an agreement making it binding on the banned group
to accept the Government’s writ in the Bara subdivision of Khyber
Agency in the FATA. The agreement signed by officials of the political
administration and six elders of the Afridi tribe prohibits the
movement of supporters of the group in Bara town and display of
weapons. The group’s chief Mangal Bagh and his men will not attack
security forces and Government installations. Haji Shaukat Khan,
a member of the jirga (council) which negotiated the agreement,
told Dawn that security forces would stop the operation in the
area and return to the barracks. He said all the people detained
during the operation would be released on July 9.
A 400-strong force of Taliban
militants laid siege to a police station in Hangu in the NWFP
after the arrest of seven of their associates by security agencies.
According to officials, 35 policemen were present in the Doaba
station when militants encircled it. Heavily-armed Taliban militants
were reportedly seen patrolling the Doaba bazaar and taking positions
to counter any operation by the security forces.
A landmine exploded at the Sateen Camp area in
Kurram Agency in the FATA, killing a man and injuring another.
There has been an increase in
mortar and rocket attacks from militants in Pakistan at United
States and Afghan border outposts in Afghanistan, said the top
NATO commander. US General David D McKiernan, who took command
of the 40-nation NATO-led mission in early June 2008, said "there
definitely has been an increase (in cross-border attacks) since
I’ve been here in the last 30 days." McKiernan said the number
of attacks had increased because militant groups had been free
to operate in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas and cross the Afghanistan-Pakistan
border unimpeded.
The Federal Information and Broadcasting
Minister Sherry Rehman is currently a prime target for terrorists
and the Interior Ministry has advised her to restrict her public
movements in light of the threat to her life, Daily Times reported.
The Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin
Dadfar Spanta told the UN Security Council that a key factor behind
the worsening security in his country was "the de facto truce"
in neighbouring Pakistan’s tribal areas. "One of the main
factors contributing to the deterioration of the security situation
in the country is the de facto truce in the tribal areas beyond
the border," he said during a council debate on violence-wracked
Afghanistan. "Terrorist sanctuaries and an elaborate system
of financing, recruiting, arming and systematic training of suicide
bombers are at work outside our borders, to keep the terrorist
threat alive," Spanta said.
July 10
At least seven people were killed and 12 others
were wounded in three separate landmine explosions in different
parts of Kurram Agency in the FATA. According to the Assistant
Political Agent of Lower Kurram, three people were killed and
six others injured when a vehicle carrying vegetables struck a
landmine in Arawali village. Four people were killed and five
others wounded when a tractor trolley struck a landmine in the
Kach area, he added. Similarly, one person sustained injuries
when he passed over a landmine in the Magnek village.
Clashes between the two rival
groups, the Mangal Bagh-led Lashkar-e-Islam and the Mehboob-led
Ansarul Islam, in the remote Tirah Valley of the Khyber Agency
in the FATA continued. There were reports that at least three
persons were killed and nine others injured in the fresh clash
between the two groups. Two of the killed were Lashkar activists,
who allegedly attacked the Ansar's base in the Malikdin Khel area
of the valley, while six of the group's men sustained bullet injuries.
The body of a doctor killed by
suspected militants was found in the Dosli sub-division of North
Waziristan. Identified as Dr Farrukh Aftab, a resident of Islamabad,
officials said that the man had been shot four times in the chest.
A note pinned to his body read: "He [Dr Farrukh Aftab] was
opposing Islam and jihad, and he was a supporter of European countries.
He was working for NGOs." It is yet unknown whether the man
was seized while visiting the region, or abducted from Islamabad
and brought to Waziristan.
A trustee of the Hussainian Iranian
Imambargah in Kharadar in Karachi was shot dead. 25-year old Agha
Mansoor Ahmed was attacked while he was sitting with some friends
at his restaurant on the MA Jinnah Road. "According to the initial
investigation, this is a case of a sectarian killing," said Saddar
Town Superintendent of Police, Ameer Sheikh.
Militants fired three rockets
at the house of a Bajaur Levies trooper, Sahibzada, in the Salarzai
sub-division of Bajaur Agency in FATA, killing his 15-year-old
daughter Salma Jan and injuring his other two children, daughter
Sana and son Samar Gul.
The Inter-Services Public Relations
(ISPR) Director-General Major General Athar Abbas accused Indian
forces of violating a 2003 cease-fire in Kashmir. General Abbas
said the Indian Army fired mortars and small arms without any
provocation in the Battal sector of Kashmir. "The Indian
Army opened fire at 2 pm today without any provocation, and our
forces deployed there also returned the fire… The Indian Army
is to be blamed for the breach of ceasefire," Abbas claimed.
Pakistan’s forces returned the fire, he said.
More foreign fighters, including
al Qaeda militants, are operating in Pakistan’s tribal areas than
in the past, the top US military officer said during a visit to
Kabul. Admiral Mike Mullen said militants are flowing into Afghanistan
more freely this year compared with 2007 because Pakistan’s Government
and military are not putting enough pressure on the insurgents.
"There are clearly more foreign fighters in the FATA (Pakistan’s
Federally Administered Tribal Areas) than have been there in the
past," he added.
July 11
The United Nations has agreed to establish an
independent commission to investigate the assassination of former
Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi
said.
July 12
At least 17 people – including 13 Frontier Constabulary
(FC) personnel – were killed in a clash between the Taliban militants
and SFs in the Hangu district of NWFP. The fighting erupted after
Taliban militants ambushed an FC convoy in the Drori Banda area
of Hangu. The dead also included three civilians and a local militant,
residents and Taliban sources said.
Seven people, including two women,
were killed and four others injured in clashes between the Lashkar-e-Islam
(LI) and Ansar-ul-Islam in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency.
The militants groups exchanged heavy fire, although a Jirga
(council) of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam led by Shujaul Malik
was due on July 12 in the valley to defuse the tension in the
area.
July 13
Six persons were killed and 10 others sustained
injuries in fresh clashes between the two warring groups of the
Mangal Bagh-led Lashkar-e-Islam and the Mahoob-led Ansar-ul-Islam
in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency. Activists of the two groups
clashed in the Bar Shalobar area and exchanged gunfire, resulting
in the death of six persons.
Militants beheaded a man in North
Waziristan alleging that he was spying for the US. Locals found
the beheaded body of Muhammad Ghani, a resident of Bannu, at Kharqamar,
45 kilometers west of Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan.
Eyewitnesses said a note found near the body read: "He was a US
spy and anyone found involved in spying for Americans will meet
the same fate."
Four persons were injured when
a suicide bomber blew himself up soon after the concluding session
of the Shuhada-e-Islam Conference in Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP.
Eyewitnesses and the police said the participants of the Shuhada-e-Islam
Conference of the Shias, held in Kotly Imam Hussain, were returning
to their homes when a suicide bomber, aged about 16, blew himself
up.
July 14
Militants blew up a Frontier Constabulary
(FC) fort in the Shinawarai area of Hangu district in the NWFP
on July 14-night after looting arms and ammunition. Witnesses
said that about 250 militants had besieged the fort, 30kms from
Hangu town, and asked the FC personnel to vacate it or face action.
After the personnel decided to leave the fort, they were given
‘safe passage’ by the militants.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan
announced suspension of talks with the NWFP Government due to
delay in non-implementation of the May 21 peace accord. Talking
to The News, spokesman for the Taliban in Swat, Muslim
Khan, said the Government was not sincere in keeping its commitments
made during the talks in the past. "The Government failed to honour
its promises made during the last two months of talks and now
it will be meaningless to continue the process of dialogue," he
said. He also said that it would be waste of time to continue
negotiations without the dismantling of roadside checkpoints,
withdrawal of all cases against Taliban, withdrawal of Army from
Swat and compensation to the victims of the military operations.
July 15
A trooper, Khalil Ahmed, was killed
when suspected insurgents fired a rocket at a check-post in Dera
Bugti in Balochistan.
Security agencies arrested a top
al Qaeda operative late on July 14 along with his two accomplices
in Punjab’s southern city of Multan, Daily Times reported.
Tanzanian national Muhammad Al Misri, Anwar Muawiya and Muhammad
Shahid were arrested from a shutdown ‘Neel Wali Factory’ located
on the Abdali Road. Al Misri is closely linked with al Qaeda’s
top hierarchy and is also suspected to be behind the series of
suicide attacks in Pakistan following the crackdown on the Lal
Masjid (Red mosque). Anwar, a resident of Abbotabad, belongs to
the banned Sunni group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), the sources said,
adding Shahid, another LeJ activist, is a local of Multan.
July 16
Seven persons were killed and
five others injured in clashes between the Lashkar-e-Islam and
the Ansar-ul-Islam militant groups in the Tirah Valley of Khyber
Agency.
A police constable was killed
and 12 persons, including five paramilitary soldiers, were injured
when a bomb planted on a bicycle exploded in Mastung in Balochistan.
Sources said that the bicycle had been parked near a Frontier
Corps vehicle outside the town’s main mosque.
The Pakistan Army, the Frontier
Constabulary (FC) and the Frontier Police launched an operation
in the Naryab and Zargari areas of Doaba Town in Hangu district
in NWFP, attacking hideouts of militants with gunship helicopters
and artillery fire. There were unconfirmed reports that heavy
shelling killed one person in Tora Warai while four others sustained
injuries in Naryab.
The NATO-led troops in Afghanistan
used attack helicopters and artillery to fire into Pakistan after
coming under rocket attacks from the Pakistani side of the border,
the alliance force said. The counter-attack on July 15 was launched
from Afghanistan’s Paktika province, which adjoins Pakistan’s
North Waziristan.
July 17
Security forces attacked militants
around Hangu district in the NWFP, clearing several Taliban strongholds.
"We have cleared Shamana Fort and Zarguri and Naryab areas north
of Hangu," said military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas.
In the crackdown launched late on July 16, "the security forces,
backed by tanks and gunship helicopters, also secured Naryab Dam",
local officials said. The spokesman said there were some casualties
on the militants’ side, adding that the exact numbers were not
available. Taliban spokesman Mullah Shaheen confirmed the clashes,
conceding that four militants had been injured.
The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud has asked the NWFP Government to
either resign within five days or "prepare itself to face the
consequences." "The NWFP Government is not sincere about restoring
peace, rather it is responsible for lawlessness in the tribal
areas, Hangu and Swat," TTP spokesman Maulvi Umar quoted Baitullah
as saying. Umar stated that the Taliban reserved the right to
take action against the provincial Government if it did not resign
in five days. He said the NWFP Government was a powerless entity
and Taliban would not hold talks with a weak Government.
July 18
Despite a cease-fire brokered
by two senior Afghan Taliban commanders on July 17, fighting between
two rival militant groups continued on July 18 in which more than
50 militants were killed and dozens injured in the Mohmand Agency
of FATA.
Ten militants were killed and
five soldiers were wounded as clashes between militants and the
army continued in a search-and-cordon operation launched around
the Zarguri town of Hangu district in the NWFP. "We have reports
of 10 militant casualties and five injured soldiers," Major General
Athar Abbas told Daily Times. He said that Zarguri had
been cleared of militants and the operation would continue until
all affected areas had been cleared. The Taliban confirmed that
they had lost five militants, but claimed that they had also inflicted
heavy losses to the Government.
Suspected militants three persons
in the Karwan Manza area of South Waziristan on suspicion of them
spying for the US. A note, written in Pashto, was also found near
the bodies, accusing the dead of spying for the United States.
It warned that other "US spies" would face the same fate.
Unidentified militants shot dead
a madrassa (seminary) head in the Mir Ali subdivision of
North Waziristan. The attackers shot at Maulana Abdullah while
he was standing in front of his seminary before escaping.
July 19
A security force personnel was
killed while 10 militants were shot dead in retaliatory fire during
a clash in the Och area of Sui in Balochistan. A team of the Frontier
Constabulary (FC) was patrolling the area when unidentified militants
attacked their vehicle, killing one FC trooper. The FC personnel
returned fire, killing 10 militants.
Nine persons were killed and 10
injured in clashes between the Lashkar-e-Islam and Ansar-ul-Islam
in the remote Tirah area of Khyber Agency. Sources said the clashes
occurred in the Daki, Sangar and Inqilab Morcha areas.
Four members of a rival militant
group, taken hostage by the Taliban, were executed by their captors
in the Mohmand Agency of the FATA. The commander of the rival
group, Shah Khalid, and his deputy Qari Ubaidullah, are among
the dead. The Taliban said that 118 other captives belonging to
the Shah group would be penalised ‘in accordance with the Sharia
law’. Sources said that both the commanders were shot dead by
Taliban at 10am following a verdict of the local Shura (executive
council) held at an unspecified location.
Two persons were killed and one
injured in a landmine explosion near the Och gas fields in Balochistan.
Gunship helicopters pounded militant
hideouts in the Zargari town of Hangu district in NWFP. Hangu
District Co-ordination Officer Shahab Ali told reporters that
the security forces were "combing the area" to drive
militants out of the town and its suburbs. Interior Secretary
Syed Kamal Shah said the situation in Hangu district was under
control after the military operation.
July 20
Approximately 43 persons, including
33 militants, nine Frontier Corps (FC) soldiers and a Pakistan
Petroleum Limited engineer, were killed and many injured during
clashes between the security forces and militants in the Toba
Sandrani area of Dera Bugti district in Balochistan. The clashes
that started on July 19 continued the next day also in the Uch,
Shah Zain and other areas. The FC personnel have also reportedly
arrested over two dozen armed men and recovered ammunition from
their possession.
July 21
Six more persons, including two
security officials, were killed in Sui on the third day of clashes
in the Toba Sandrwani and Uch areas of Balochistan. The military
operation is reportedly continuing in the province and armoured
Personnel Carriers, helicopters and heavy weapons were being used.
Security forces have also destroyed two camps of the insurgents
while borders of Jaffarabad, Naseerabad and Sui have been completely
sealed off.
Two militants were killed and
several others sustained injuries as security forces and the local
Taliban militants traded fire near Sarbanda and Shawar valley
of Matta division in the Swat district of NWFP. According to military
sources, Taliban militants attacked a bunker of the security forces
with mortars and heavy guns at 4pm (PST). In retaliation, the
troops targeted the militants’ hideouts with heavy artillery and
consequently, two militants were confirmed dead and several others
feared dead or wounded. However, the Taliban spokesman Muslim
Khan claimed that only two children were injured as an artillery
shell hit a house in the area and not a single militant was killed.
Taliban militants shot dead two
Afghan men in North Waziristan after accusing them of spying for
the United States forces in Afghanistan. A note left on the bodies
in the border village of Lowara Mandi indicated that the two men
were spying for the US forces, an official said, AFP reported.
"All those spying for the US will suffer the same fate,"
it said. A source identified the slain Afghans as Muhammad Anwar
and his son Gul Nawaz Khan.
Malak Shahjehan Khan, a prominent
pro-government tribal leader and chief of the Mamond tribe, was
killed and three other people were injured in an ambush near Shandi
More, about one kilometer from Khar, headquarters of the Bajaur
Agency in FATA. Malak Shahjehan and tribal leader Malak Mohammad
Ayaz were reportedly going to Peshawar to attend a meeting with
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.
After the fifth round of the India-Pakistan
composite dialogue on peace and security, Jammu and Kashmir and
other Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), Foreign Secretary Shiv
Shankar Menon told reporters in New Delhi that "the composite
dialogue process was under stress". Menon said the ongoing investigations
into the recent Kabul embassy blast had revealed the hand of "elements
in Pakistan." Speaking to the media after meeting his Pakistani
counterpart Salman Bashir, Menon said the dialogue process had
come "under strain" because in the "recent past
several events have vitiated ties" and some of the leaders
in Pakistan had reverted to the "old polemics." He described
the cease-fire as "under stress" but both sides agreed
that it must be "maintained and continued." Interacting
with the media later in the evening, Bashir said his Indian counterpart
had not given any evidence and described the charge of Pakistani
hand in the Kabul embassy blast as "baseless" and "made
first elsewhere" (he later said it was made by National Security
Adviser M. K. Narayanan).
Mustafa Ahmad Abu Yazeed alias
Sheikh Saeed, al Qaeda commander in Afghanistan and a close aide
of Osama bin Laden, is reported to have said that a Saudi member
of al Qaeda carried out the suicide attack on Danish embassy in
Islamabad on June 2. In an interview to Geo News, Saeed
said there was no Muslim present at the Danish embassy at the
time of the attack.
July 22
Three militants were killed and
four SF personnel were injured in a clash in the Nodhan Bugti
village of Jaffarabad district in Balochistan.
Unidentified gunmen killed a senior
security officer of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman
Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi. Ejaz Durrani, a spokesman for Zardari,
said unidentified gunmen opened fire on Khalid Shahenshah’s vehicle
outside his home in the Khayaban-e-Bukhari area.
A Taliban spokesman has warned
that if the NWFP Government does not stop the military operation
in Hangu, Swat and other areas, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) will launch severe attacks. The threat was issued at the
expiry of a five-day ultimatum issued by TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud
to the provincial Government to resign.
July 23
Six SF personnel were killed in
an encounter with the insurgents in the Uch area of Dera Bugti
district in Balochistan. A Balochistan Frontier Corps (FC) spokesman
Lt Col Shahid Mahmood said the SFs pursued the insurgents who
opened fire at the FC party into the mountains located some 16
kilometers away from the Uch power plant where they discovered
two temporary hideouts of the insurgents. At least 50 insurgents,
equipped with heavy weapons, were holed up there. In response
to the SFs bid to arrest them, they opened fire, which killed
six soldiers and injured nine others.
The Army wound up its week-long
operation in the Hangu district of the NWFP after flushing out
militants and taking control of the area, said the military spokesman.
The Director-General of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR),
Major General Athar Abbas, said: "Security forces have achieved
the desired objectives and operation was halted on Wednesday evening."
He stated that the Government’s writ had been re-established,
possession of all police stations and check points had been retaken
and the area was now under the control of the security forces.
Security agencies have been put
on high alert based on the information that the Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud has prepared a hit list
of around 300 high-profile figures, including political leaders,
Daily Times reported. Sources close to an intelligence
agency said that it was assumed that the leadership of the Pakistan
People’s Party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Awami National Party,
anti-Taliban Shia, Sunni clerics, personnel from the intelligence
and law enforcement agencies, officials from the interior and
provincial ministries and journalists could be targeted by the
TTP. Their families were also believed to be at risk.
July 24
A grand jirga (a large
congress), representing the Taliban, and Kohat’s regional coordination
officer, who represented the authorities, signed a cease-fire
agreement and decided to resolve through talks all disputes arising
out of the military operation in Hangu district of NWFP. The jirga
held a meeting with Orakzai Agency’s political agent Kamran
Zeb and informed him that Taliban would be allowed to stay in
the tribal area on condition that they would stop meddling in
the affairs of state and refrain from imposing their own laws
and punishments. Member of National Assembly, Pir Haider Ali Shah,
said concerns of both sides would be discussed at various levels
from time to time and disputes would be resolved for restoration
of normality in the region.
July 25
Up to 40 commanders of al Qaeda
were arrested during military operations in Hangu and Bara, while
17 security force personnel had been killed, said Adviser to Prime
Minister on Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik. He said that suicide
attacks had come to "zero level" in the Punjab and Sindh provinces,
adding that such attacks were down by 80 percent in the NWFP.
Rehman also said the Government had employed the "three-Ds" (dialogue,
development and deterrence) and "three-Ps" (prevent, protect and
pursue) policy to contain terrorism in the country. He stated
that the Government would prefer negotiations to sort out problems
in the FATA, but warned that stern action would be taken if the
peace deals between the NWFP Government and the tribal militants
failed.
July 26
Twelve militants and three Frontier
Constabulary (FC) men were killed in a clash near Loti Gas Field
in the Dera Bugti district of Balochistan. FC Inspector General
Maj Gen Saleem Nawaz said that the militants fired long-range
weapons on the FC troops deployed in Toba Nokhani. The troops
returned fire killing 12 militants. He said that three FC men
who were wounded later succumbed to the injuries.
The Government placed the country’s
external intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI), and the Intelligence Bureau (IB), under civilian control.
According to a memorandum issued by the Cabinet Division under
Rule 3(3) of the Rules of Business, 1973, Prime Minister Yousuf
Raza Gilani has approved conferring control of the two agencies’
administrative, financial and operational functions to the Interior
Division with immediate effect.
July 27
The Government reversed its decision
taken a day earlier to place the country’s external intelligence
agency - the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) - under the administrative,
financial and operational control of the Interior Division. The
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led Government ‘clarified’ the earlier
notification, saying the ISI would continue to operate at the
prime minister’s discretion. Under the new notification, the ISI
will continue to perform its functions under the prime minister.
It said: "The said notification only re-emphasises more co-ordination
between the Ministry of Interior and the ISI in relation to the
war on terror and internal security." However, the Government
stood by its decision to place the IB under the Interior Division.
Maulana Fazlullah warned of a
series of suicide bombings if the Government re-launched military
operations against his supporters. Addressing a press conference
in the Kabal division of Swat district, the Taliban leader claimed
that he had prepared a brigade of suicide bombers who would be
unleashed in case of a military operation.
Hafiz Gul Bahadur was unanimously
reappointed the Taliban chief in North Waziristan. A decision
to this effect was made at a meeting of the local Taliban, which
was held at Razmak, 75 kilometers south of Miranshah. Over 800
Taliban militants attended the meeting, which was presided over
by Bahadur, who hails from the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe.
July 28
A missile apparently fired from
a Predator drone killed at least six persons in a compound in
South Waziristan near the Afghan border. An unnamed security official
said the strike might have killed a senior al Qaeda trainer known
for his expertise in explosives and chemicals. "Our report suggests
that the missile strike might have killed Abu Khabab Al Misri,
an Egyptian. But it remains unconfirmed," the official said. A
resident of Wana said two missiles struck a seminary and an adjoining
compound in the Zyara Leetha area of Azam Warsak early in the
morning, killing six people and wounding a woman and her two children.
55-year-old Midhat Mursi As-Sayid Umar alias Abu Khabab was considered
to be an expert in conventional explosives and some western media
reports said he headed a project named Al Zabadi, or ‘curdled
milk’, for making chemical and biological weapons. The US had
offered a $5 million reward on information leading to his capture.
Three officials of an intelligence
agency were shot dead by the Taliban militants in Matta in the
Swat district of NWFP. The slain men were identified as Sher Abbas
Khattak, Malikdad and Riaz Ahmed. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP), Swat chapter spokesman, Muslim Khan, claimed responsibility
for the killings and said, "The Taliban wanted to capture the
officials alive, but the sleuths were killed while offering resistance."
The Government has declared eight
districts in the NWFP as "high security zones" with emphasis on
beefing up security in these zones to avert any possible attack
from the Taliban. "We have received credible reports that after
pulling out of the peace accord, the local Taliban are planning
to launch attacks in these districts," said a senior official.
These eight districts are Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat, Bannu, Dera
Ismail Khan, Nowshera, Abbottabad and Tank.
The Afghan intelligence agency
accused the Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan’s external intelligence
agency, of training thousands of militants to attack Indian road
projects in Afghanistan. "Pakistan’s ISI (agents) are determined
to hamper the activities of Indian companies in various parts
of Afghanistan," the National Directorate of Security said in
a statement. "The spy agency have some 3,000 terrorists, most
of them foreigners, under sabotage training to attack Indian construction
projects inside Afghanistan," it said.
July 29
Eleven militants and two SF personnel,
including a Pakistan Army captain, were killed during day-long
clashes between the SFs and the Maulana Fazlullah-led militants
in the Swat Valley of NWFP. The militants also abducted 25 SF
personnel after taking over a security post in the Dewlai area
which, the officials claimed, was recaptured later in the day.
July 30
48 militants, including a commander,
and five soldiers were killed and an unspecified number of people
were injured as fierce clashes continued in the Swat Valley of
the NWFP for the second consecutive day. The fighting erupted
on July 29 after the militants attacked a security post in their
stronghold in the Matta sub-division and took about 25 SF personnel
hostage. After the overnight targeting of various militants’ positions,
the SFs, backed by gunship helicopters, carried out an operation
and shelled suspected militant positions in several parts of the
valley, including Peuchar, Namal, Ronial, Sarbanda and Chuprial
that left 48 persons dead and as many injured. The Taliban militants
also claimed killing 25 SF personnel, but the claim could not
be confirmed independently. A military spokesman said in the daylong
clashes with the militants, one officer, a junior officer and
three soldiers were killed.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) threatened to mount attacks across Pakistan because of the
renewed military action in Swat. "We will start operations in
the entire country, in the entire province... because we consider
this an action against all Taliban… We will soon take a decision
on starting operations".
A senior Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) official visited Pakistan earlier in July 2008 and
confronted Pakistani officials with evidence of ties between the
country’s intelligence service and militants in the Federally
Administered Tribal Areas, The New York Times reported.
Citing defence and intelligence sources, New York Times said
that the trip by CIA Deputy Director Stephen Kappes demonstrated
a harder line being taken against Pakistani ties to those responsible
for the surge of violence in Afghanistan, including militant Jalauddin
Haqqani.
Pakistan’s peace talks with extremists
have resulted in a 40 percent rise in militant activity in Afghanistan,
where there are more foreigners on the battlefield, NATO said.
It is up to the international community to put pressure on Pakistan
to root out the "cause" of the unrest, with NATO’s military force
not able to pursue militants over the border, spokesman Captain
Mike Finney told reporters. "There is also evidence that the activities
increased by some 40 per cent since... tribal areas became unregulated
following the negotiations between the Pakistan government and
Baitullah Mehsud," he said.
July 31
Fresh fighting erupted between
SFs and Taliban militants in the Swat valley of the NWFP, leaving
13 civilians and approximately 20 militants dead. Residents said
shells hit a house in the Deolai area, killing five children and
their parents, including two women. Officials said it was not
clear if the munitions were fired by security forces or militants.
In separate incidents, five civilians were killed in shelling,
they said, adding that a total of 25 people were also wounded
in the fighting. A senior security official said that 45 militants
had been killed in fighting over the past two days. The overall
death toll reached 63 that included five troops, he said.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said US concerns about collusion between members of Pakistan’s
intelligence agency and terrorists are being taken seriously and
"will be resolved", according to a report in The Washington
Times. Gilani told the newspaper that he had seen no evidence
to support allegations that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)
is compromised. Asked whether he was confident that the ISI contained
no pockets of Taliban sympathy, Gilani said, "I’m pretty sure
about it." He however added, "We still have to look into [the
accusations]. ... It will be resolved."
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) dismissed as baseless a statement made by Adviser to the
Prime Minister on Interior, Rehman Malik, in which he had said
that TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud had connections with India. The
TTP said Malik’s statement was absolutely unfounded and that it
was an attempt to malign the Taliban. Talking to the media from
an undisclosed location, TTP spokesman Maulvi Umer said Malik’s
statement alleging that the Taliban had links with India and were
getting financial assistance from the country was deplorable and
silly and was not based on facts.
August 1: An unnamed security
official told AFP that troops continued to target suspected
militant positions in the Swat valley of the NWFP. According to
Geo News, approximately 103 people, including 58 Taliban
militants, 30 civilians and more than 12 SF personnel, have been
killed in the ongoing operation thus far. Army spokesman Major
General Athar Abbas told PTV that the repeated peace pact
violations had forced them to take action.
Pakistan rejected a report that
the United States had accused its main intelligence agency - the
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) - of helping to plan a bombing
at India’s embassy in Kabul on July 7, 2008. Citing unnamed officials,
The New York Times said intercepted communications had
provided clear evidence that the ISI was involved in the suicide
attack on the Indian mission, which killed around 41 persons.
"It’s rubbish. We totally deny it," Foreign Office spokesman
Mohammad Sadiq said. "This is a baseless allegation that
the New York Times keeps on recycling using anonymous sources.
These stories always die afterwards because there is no proof,"
Sadiq said in Colombo in Sri Lanka.
August 2
Eight police personnel were killed
and five others wounded when a remote-controlled bomb exploded
near their vehicle in the Kabal town of Swat district in the NWFP.
Officials said the police party was returning to base after a
search operation in Kabal when the bomb planted by militants exploded.
Following the attack, security forces reportedly surrounded the
Hazara village and arrested six suspects.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf
Raza Gilani assured his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, that
Islamabad would independently investigate the terrorist attack
on the Indian embassy in Kabul which killed 60 people, including
four Indians. Gilani said he would interact with Afghanistan President
Hamid Karzai to "get to the root" of the case. Gilani
also reportedly told Dr. Singh that Islamabad considered the cease-fire
along the Line of Control (LoC) the most important confidence
building measure in the effort towards improvement of relations.
August 3
At least 30 militants and a security
official were killed on the fifth day of the ongoing military
operations in the Swat district of the NWFP. An ISPR statement
said however that a trooper and 15 militants were killed. Officials
said the militants were killed in the Sech Banr area of the Matta
sub-division. Locals said that four SF personnel were killed in
a rocket attack on a security post in Matta’s Kala Kot area.
Al Qaeda confirmed in a web statement
the death of a senior commander known as an explosives expert,
who is believed to have been killed in a US air strike in Pakistan
last week. The statement said Abu Khabab Al-Masri and three other
commanders were killed. It did not give details on when or how
they were killed, but Pakistani authorities have said they believe
Al-Masri died in an American air strike on July 28 on a compound
near the Afghan border. Al-Masri, an Egyptian militant whose real
name is Midhat Mursi, had a $5 million bounty on his head from
the United States. He is accused of training militants to use
poisons and explosives, and is believed to have trained suicide
bombers who killed 17 American sailors on the USS Cole in Yemen
in 2000. He is also believed to have helped run al Qaeda’s Darunta
training camp in eastern Afghanistan, until the camp was abandoned
amid the 2001 US invasion of the country.
Afghanistan accepted Pakistan’s
offer to resume talks which the former had boycotted after accusing
its neighbour of being behind a series of terrorist attacks. Afghan
President Hamid Karzai and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani reportedly
held discussions on the sidelines of the South Asian Association
for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) Summit in Colombo.
Karachi holds great significance
for the Taliban movement, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman
Maulvi Umar said. In an interview with BBC Urdu, Umar said
that Taliban aim to establish themselves in the port capital to
"end vulgarity in the city". He further said that foreign enemies
were "setting their sight at Karachi", as it has become country’s
economic lifeline. Taliban’s presence in Karachi will make it
safe and bring peace to the city, he claimed. Umar also said the
Taliban were present everywhere in the country and were the real
heirs of Pakistan.
August 5: Highly-motivated ‘boys
and girls’ are eager to mount suicide attacks all over the country,
including Karachi, targeting high-profile Government functionaries,
according to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Addressing a
press conference in Anayat Kalley in the Bajaur Agency of the
FATA, the TTP deputy chief Maulana Faqir Mohammad and spokesman
Maulvi Omar said that a ‘Fidayeen Squad’, comprising 10- to 20-year-old
boys and girls, was ready to carry out the attacks if the Government
did not immediately stop the operation in Swat in the NWFP and
did not reverse its decision to launch military operation in other
tribal areas.
US authorities have formally acknowledged
arresting Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist, five years
after her mysterious disappearance in Karachi. Michael J. Garcia,
the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York,
Mark J. Mershon, Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York
Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Raymond W.
Kelly, Police Commissioner of the City of New York, announced
the arrest of Aafia Siddiqui on charges related to her attempted
murder and assault of United States officers and employees in
Afghanistan.
August 6
Commander Ali Bakht, a close aide
of Maulana Fazlullah, and 13 other militants were killed in the
Swat district of the NWFP. Major Farooq of the Army Media Centre
in Swat informed Dawn that nine top militants, including
Ali Bakht and Fazal Wadood, had been killed during an operation
in the Deolai area of Kabal sub-division early in the morning.
Two security force (SF) personnel and an unspecified number of
militants were injured in an exchange of fire. A militant, identified
as Fazal Rahim, was arrested. The SFs also blew up the houses
of Ali Bakht and local commander Fazalur Rehman during the operation.
Five civilians were killed and
four others sustained injuries when a remote-controlled device
exploded in the crowded Liaquat Bazaar in Sibi in Balochistan.
Sources said the explosion occurred minutes after a vehicle of
the security forces passed by the incident site. "It was a remote-controlled
bomb fixed to a bike in the main bazaar of Sibi," local police
officer Muhammad Hussain said.
Four persons were killed when
clashes resumed between the Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) and the Ansar-ul-Islam
(AI) after two weeks of lull in the remote Tirah valley of the
Khyber Agency in the FATA. "Four fighters of LI were killed and
several injured in the attack," sources said, adding the group
was also forced to vacate a post in Sandapal area. A leader of
the AI, Qari Ezatullah, claimed that five men of the rival group
were killed and 12 ‘seized’ while three important posts were also
captured in the fighting.
Afghanistan’s intelligence agency
alleged that a member of Pakistan’s consulate in the country’s
south helped a Taliban commander in his attempts to weaken the
Government. The National Directorate of Security (NDS) said in
a statement that a diplomat at the consulate in Kandahar gave
"orders and money" to Mullah Rahmatullah, a Taliban militant in
the region. Rahmatullah was arrested by Afghan intelligence agents
on August 5 in Kandahar city, and the information linking the
official with the militants was gleaned during the questioning,
the NDS said in a statement, which did not name the diplomat.
August 7
Hundreds of Taliban militants
attacked a security check-post near the Afghan border late on
August 6, sparking fierce clashes in which up to 10 soldiers and
25 militants were killed, officials said on August 7. The security
forces (SFs) had deployed a large force at Loyesam, 12 kilometers
from Khar, headquarters of the Bajaur Agency in FATA, in a bid
to reclaim important nearby Taliban strongholds. A Frontier Corps
officer told AFP that 300-400 militants armed with AK-47 assault
rifles, rocket launchers and grenades, participated in the attack.
Five troops were killed and several
others injured when three roadside bombs hit a convoy of the SFs
near Rashakai area, some 8kms from Khar in Bajaur.
Taliban militants beheaded a young
man allegedly for "spying" and shot dead three others as SFs arrested
five suspected militants in the Swat district of the NWFP during
an operation.
After three days of dialogue,
the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led ruling coalition announced
that it had decided to impeach President Pervez Musharraf, warning
that any move by him to fight back by dissolving Parliament would
be rejected by the nation. A joint declaration drafted by the
PPP and its main ally, the Pakistan Muslim League (N), and accepted
by other partners in the coalition, listed the reasons for the
move.
August 8
More than 70 Taliban militants
were killed and 60 others sustained injuries in a gun-battle between
militants and the SFs in the Bajaur Agency of the FATA. Seven
paramilitary troops also died in clashes near the Afghan border,
as helicopter gun-ships and mortars targeted militants’ hideouts
in the Rashakai and Tank Khata areas. "Intense firing again started
at 8am at Loisam, Omari and Nawagai areas where a large number
of armed Taliban are attacking security forces," an unnamed security
official told AFP.
Militants beheaded two men and
shot dead another in Bajaur Agency after accusing them of spying
on them. The bodies of three men were found dumped by a road at
Kayrala village, with notes saying, "These people were spying
on Taliban," said a local Government official. Witnesses said
that two had their heads severed and the third was killed by a
gunshot.
At least 10 people were killed
and 17 others sustained injuries as clashes between the Lashkar-e-Islam
and its rival Ansar-ul-Islam continued for the second day in the
Bilyamen area of Lower Kurram in the FATA.
August 9
Militants shot dead eight policemen
near Swat in the NWFP. "A group of ten armed militants attacked
a police checkpost in Buner and shot dead eight police officials
deployed there," police official Sardar Hameed told AFP.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Muslim Khan claimed responsibility
for the killings. "Our men attacked the checkpost and shot dead
police officials… We will continue targeting all those police
officials who are taking part in the ongoing military operation
against us," he told reporters in Mingora, the main town in Swat.
Paramilitary troops retreated
from the Loyesam area of Bajaur Agency in the FATA, three days
after an attempt to recapture the Taliban stronghold near the
Afghan border. Loyesam lies on the strategically important road
leading towards Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. About 200 Frontier
Corps (FC) troops were deployed on August 6 to set up check-posts
near the Afghan border, prompting "tough resistance" from the
militants. A press statement from the FC headquarters in Peshawar
said six soldiers were killed and 15 injured after the paramilitary
troops broke a Taliban siege and reached Khar, the agency headquarters.
Anyone voting for President Pervez
Musharraf in the forthcoming impeachment motion would be the next
target for the Swat-based Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). TTP
spokesman Muslim Khan said that Musharraf was responsible for
the present spate of violence in the FATA and NWFP. Khan alleged
that the president was intent upon "destroying Islam and Pashtuns
at the behest of his American masters".
August 10
At least seven persons were killed
and more than 20 injured in fighting between the militants and
SFs in the Bajaur Agency, as Taliban occupied a 15-kilometre stretch
of land from agency headquarters Khar to the Jaar area. Fighter
aircraft and helicopter gun-ships targeted militant hideouts in
the agency after paramilitary troops withdrew from the Taliban
stronghold of Loyesam following three days of fierce clashes.
Two helicopters and two fighter jets targeted Taliban hideouts
in Loyesam, Bando, Rashakai, Tang, Jaar, Haji Lawang, Yousafabad
and Charmang areas until 4pm (PST). Approximately 40 houses were
destroyed during the bombing. Taliban militants reportedly attacked
the bombers with anti-aircraft guns in the Carela and Tang Khata
areas.
Islamic extremists who trained
at terrorist camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan may be plotting
attacks in Germany, the head of the German federal crime office
said. Joerg Ziercke, head of the Bundeskriminalamt — Germany’s
FBI equivalent — told the daily Tagesspiegel that some
50 aspiring militants from Germany had been trained in camps run
by al Qaeda, the Taliban or the Islamic Jihad Union. "In light
of statements from al Qaeda and (the Islamic Jihad Union), we
are certain that a decision has been made to conduct attacks in
Germany," Ziercke was quoted as saying in the interview.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)
Co-chairman Asif Zardari has accused President Pervez Musharraf
of misappropriating millions of dollars of United States aid given
to Pakistan for supporting the war on terror. Zardari made the
charge in an interview published in The Sunday Times. "Our
grand old Musharraf has not been passing on all the $1 billion
a year that the Americans have been giving for the armed forces,"
he claimed. "The army has been getting $250m-$300m reimbursement
for what they do, but where’s the rest? They claim it’s been going
in budget support but that’s not the answer. We’re talking about
$700m a year missing. The rest has been taken by Musharraf for
some scheme or other and we’ve got to find it," Zardari said.
August 11
Security forces killed approximately
50 Taliban militants in fresh clashes in the Bajaur Agency of
the FATA, taking the death toll to nearly 160 in five days of
fighting. "Helicopter gun-ships pounded positions of the militants
in Bajaur and killed about 50 of them," an unnamed security official
told Reuters. "Some of the bombs dropped by jets on suspected
militants’ hideouts in Tauheedabad and Damadola villages also
hit many houses killing six civilians and wounding 12 others,"
the security official told AFP. Civilian casualties were
also reported in the Charmang area of Bajaur and the Manja area
of Khar. According to The News, at least 13 members of
a family, including women and children, were killed as a result
of bombing at an unnamed village in the Bajaur Agency.
Pakistan’s external intelligence
agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), is helping the
Taliban to pursue an insurgency in Afghanistan that has seen a
50 per cent increase in attacks in some areas in 2008, the NATO
commander said. The number of foreign fighters, including Europeans,
is also increasing in Afghanistan while NATO’s International Security
Assistance Force still lacks the soldiers it needs, US General
David D. McKiernan said in a weekend interview. "There certainly
is a level of ISI complicity in the militant areas in Pakistan
and organisations such as the Taliban," the general said. According
to him, "I can’t say to what level of leadership that goes to
but there are indications of complicity on the part of ISI...
to the extent that they are facilitating these militant groups
that come out of the tribal areas in Pakistan."
Members of the Punjab Assembly
passed a resolution against President Pervez Musharraf asking
him to get a vote of confidence. 321 members of the total 369
are reported to have voted in favour of the resolution while only
25 opposed it. Twenty-three members abstained.
August 12
A senior al Qaeda operative and
17 other militants were killed and several others sustained injuries
when low-flying helicopters bombed their positions in the Bajaur
Agency. Sources said Abu Saeed al-Masri alias Mustafa Mohammad
Ahmad was killed in the air strike. The Egyptian-born Abu Saeed
was reported to be a senior member of the Majlis-i-Shura and financial
chief of al Qaeda. They said that Cobra helicopters precisely
targeted militants’ positions in Shahnari, Haji Lawang, Ragha
Dagg and Takht areas where security forces had been using air
power since August 8. The helicopters attacked militants’ hideouts
in Shahnari, killing 13 Taliban militants. They also hit four
vehicles in Takht, killing five militants and injuring three others.
Six Pakistan Air Force (PAF) personnel
and seven civilians were killed and 14 persons were wounded when
a car bomb exploded near a bridge on the main Peshawar-Kohat Road
in the southern part of Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. The explosion
occurred when a van carrying PAF personnel was going from the
Badbher PAF base to Peshawar. According to BBC, Taliban
spokesman Maulvi Omar claimed responsibility for the attack and
said it was in response to military operations against militants
in the Bajaur Agency. "It is an open war between us and them,"
he told The Associated Press.
The Jaish-e-Islami threatened
to carry out bombings across Pakistan if the Government did not
stop operations in Swat and the Tribal Areas.
August 13
Pakistan Air Force fighter aircraft
and military gunship helicopters continued targeting suspected
hideouts of militants in the Bajaur Agency, killing 21 more people,
including three civilians, and injuring several others. Official
and tribal sources said that fighter aircraft and the Pakistan
Army Cobra gunship choppers heavily bombarded suspected militant
positions and hideouts in various parts of Bajaur Agency, including
Pashat, Naraza and Mulla Said Banda in Salarzai sub-division and
Inam Khwaro and Damadola in the Mamond sub-division. The officials
claimed 12 militants were killed in the air strikes. In Jar Kalley
of Utmankhel sub-division, a group of militants sitting on the
roadside to target the troops through IEDs were targeted by gunship
choppers that killed six militants. In Pashat village, three tribesmen,
including an elder, were killed when his house came under attack
from a warplane.
12 militants, including three
Turkmen, some Arabs and Waziri tribal fighters, were killed and
several others injured when an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fired
four Hellfire missiles on Shnawana village in South Waziristan
(SW), along the border with Afghanistan on August 12-night.
A suicide blast in Lahore killed
at least nine persons and injured more than 35, targeting policemen
standing guard on the eve of the Independence Day. The attack
took place at the busy Dubai Chowk in the Allama Iqbal Town area
at about 11:34pm, as citizens poured into the streets before midnight
to celebrate the 61st anniversary of Pakistan’s independence,
which falls on August 14. Among the dead were two policemen and
a woman.
Villagers killed six members of
a militant group in the Dara Shalbandi area of Buner district.
Witnesses said that the villagers had surrounded the six militants
and asked them to surrender. But the militants demanded safe passage
and one of them hurled a grenade on the villagers to break the
siege. The villagers subsequently opened fire, killing the militants
four of whom were identified as Azeem Khan, Usman Ghani, Behran
and Rahman Said.
The Sindh Assembly adopted unanimously
a resolution calling upon President Pervez Musharraf to take a
vote of confidence from his electoral college or resign immediately.
"In case he fails to get the vote of confidence the assembly
urges parliament to give notice of impeachment in accordance with
Article 47 of the Constitution," the resolution reads. Members
belonging to the opposition - comprising Pakistan Muslim League-F,
PML-Q and the National People’s Party - and ruling coalition partner
Muttahida Qaumi Movement were absent from the house.
August 14
Amid reports of the killing of
prominent militant Taliban commander Maulana Faqir Mohammad in
Bajaur Agency, the SFs intensified the ongoing military operation
against the militants in the area, killing 33 more Taliban militants.
Military officials in Bajaur said two vehicles carrying important
Taliban commanders, including their regional chief Maulana Faqir
Mohammad and his close associates, were targeted in Damadola.
11 militants were reportedly killed in this attack. Taliban spokesman
Maulvi Omar confirmed the air attack on a double-cabin pick-up
truck of Maulana Faqir, saying the vehicle was badly damaged.
However, he said Faqir Mohammad remained unscathed in the attack,
as he had just alighted from the vehicle.
Four gunship helicopters continued
targeting militants’ suspected hideouts in their strongholds in
Seway, Mamond, Mulla Said Banda, and Utmankhel sub-division. According
to military officials, 22 suspected militants were killed and
several others injured when gunship choppers targeted a Madrassa
(seminary) run by chief of the Bajaur Agency unit of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi
(TNSM) and Taliban commander Maulana Mohammad Munir at Seway in
Mamond sub-division.
People in Bajaur said 10 people
were killed when artillery shells hit two houses in the Kass and
Sheenkotai areas of Mamond sub-division late on August 13-night,
Dawn reported. Four houses were damaged in Kass, 30kms
northeast of Khar, headquarters of Bajaur Agency.
At least six pro-government Bugti
tribesmen, including a former commander of Nawab Bugti, were killed
and three others were injured when a landmine exploded in the
Loti area of Dera Bugti district of Balochistan. Wadera Fazil
Shabani Bugti, a renegade commander of Nawab Akbar Bugti, was
going to Sui after attending an Independence Day function in Loti
gas field along with eight other tribesmen when the blast occurred.
Three persons, including a woman
and her nephew, were killed in crossfire between the security
forces and militants in the Kabal sub-division of Swat district
in the NWFP. Sources said that Taliban militants also killed a
man, Umer Ali, on the charge of spreading propaganda against the
Taliban in the Kabal Bazaar.
August 15
At least 35 persons were killed
when helicopter gun-ships attacked militants in several areas
of the Bajaur Agency. Sources said the militants’ headquarters
at Savei in the Mamond sub-division was heavily bombed, killing
11 people. The building housed a so-called ‘Sharia court,’ a private
jail and a store of weapons and ammunition. In another attack,
the office of the local Taliban in a seminary was hit. The Taliban
had installed an FM radio station at the seminary run by Maulvi
Muneer. Witnesses said that militants attacked helicopters with
anti-aircraft guns in Saddiqabad near Khar. At least five of the
assailants were killed when the helicopters retaliated. In Mamond,
at least 10 militants were killed and 12 others wounded.
August 16
The SFs hit two vehicles in the
Salarzai area of Bajaur Agency, killing 14 militants. Three children
were killed when a mortar shell missed its target and hit a house
in the Cheengai village in Damadola. Meanwhile, gunship choppers
targeted hideouts and locations of the militants in the Loisam
and Mamond areas. The SFs in Khar, headquarters of Bajaur Agency,
also fired artillery and mortar shells on suspected locations
of the Taliban. Sources said two militants were killed when a
mortar shell hit a roadside post manned by the armed Taliban at
Lagharay in Mamond sub-division. Similarly, two unidentified bodies
were recovered from the main road in Utmankhel.
Seven suspected militants were
killed when artillery shells were fired on their position on Khaza
Ghar mountains in Mamond. Militants had reportedly taken refuge
in caves and bunkers in the mountain and were using the route
for crossing into the adjoining Dir district from the Bajaur Agency.
Nine militants and a civilian
were killed and several other people injured when SFs, backed
by artillery and helicopter gun-ships, attacked Taliban’s positions
in the Koza Bandai, Damghar and Dheri areas of Swat district in
the NWFP. The SFs also targeted militants in Deolai, Kabal Khas,
Kala Kalley and other areas of the Kabal sub-division.
August 17
Five persons, including a woman
and a police constable, were killed and 20 others injured as violence
continued in parts of the Swat district of the NWFP. Sources said
six cattle heads also perished and a number of houses were destroyed
in artillery shelling and firing while militants set ablaze a
girls’ middle school, a boys’ primary school, a health centre
and a barber shop in different localities of the valley.
Four militants were killed when
three Pakistan Army gunship helicopters targeted Taliban militants
in the Bajaur Agency. Military sources said two militants riding
a motorcycle in Inayat Killay Bypass Road were targeted by the
military chopper and killed on the spot. In the same area, local
tribal sources said military choppers hit a petrol pump and razed
it to the ground. Military authorities suspected that militants
operating in the adjoining Mamond and Inayat Killay were getting
fuel from the petrol pump. Similarly, military sources said two
militants were killed when a chopper fired on Haji Lawang bridge
in the Utmankhel sub-division.
People in Pakistan occupied Kashmir
(PoK) held protests to press authorities to purge the area of
militants, fearing that the activities of the militants could
disturb the prevailing cease-fire along the Line of Control (LoC).
Residents of the Neelam Valley in PoK shut shops and staged a
demonstration to protest against the presence of militants who
carry out attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. It was the second such
protest in Neelam Valley in one-and-half months, BBC Urdu Service
reported.
The United States said that it
was not considering any proposal to grant political asylum to
President Pervez Musharraf. "That’s not an issue on the table,"
said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when asked if the Bush
administration was considering any proposal to grant political
asylum to Musharraf.
August 18
President Pervez Musharraf on
August 18 announced his resignation ahead of a threatened impeachment
by the ruling coalition. In a farewell address to the nation,
General (retired) Musharraf said he was going not because he was
scared of a possible impeachment but because he wanted to spare
the country the instability and uncertainty the proceedings would
bring. "This is not the time for individual bravado. This is the
time for serious reflection. Whether I win or lose, the nation
will lose in every way. It will be a blow to the dignity of the
nation and to the office of the President… Therefore, after consultations
with all my advisers and friends, for the sake of the country,
I announce my decision to step down from the office of President,"
he said.
Seven persons, including two children,
were killed and nine others sustained injuries when gunship helicopters
attacked suspected militant positions in the Jar, Mulla Kali,
Haji Lawang, Banda, Salarzai and Damadola areas of Bajaur Agency.
The helicopters reportedly hit the house of one Pinda Khan in
Nawagai near the Afghan border, killing the two children. Local
people said that five other people were killed in the attack.
They also said that a local militant commander had also been killed,
but it was not confirmed by independent sources.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) said they were willing to hold negotiations with the Government
and halt militant activities if military operations were stopped
in the NWFP and the FATA. TTP spokesman Maulvi Umar told reporters
that the Taliban welcomed General (retired) Pervez Musharraf’s
resignation from the office of president, and were ready to resolve
issues by holding talks with the Government. According to Umar,
TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud contacted the TTP Shura (executive
council) members after Musharraf's resignation and all of them
assured to stop militant activities and hold peace talks with
the Government provided "the government guaranteed that it would
stop pro-US policies adopted by the former military dictator."
August 19
32 persons, including seven policemen,
were killed and 55 others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself
up near the emergency ward of the District Headquarters Hospital
in Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP. The attack was carried out when
a large number of people had gathered there to protest against
the murder of the local Shia leader Basit Ali earlier in the day.
Attacked by a gunman near the Faqirni Gate, he was brought to
the hospital where he died. Police said the 20 year-old suicide
bomber blew himself up in the presence of police personnel who
were trying to control the crowd. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack. TTP spokesman
Maulvi Omar told Dawn they had targeted police and other Government
officials and "did not intend to attack any specific religious
sect (the Shia)." He said suicide attacks would continue
till the military operations in Bajaur and Swat were stopped.
25 militants and five soldiers
were killed in clashes following a Taliban attack on a scouts’
camp in the Bajaur Agency. Three civilians were killed in air
strikes, sources said. Assistant Political Agent Mohammad Jamil
said that militants attacked the Bajaur Scouts camp in Nawagai
area at about 11pm on August 18 and the heavy exchange of fire
continued till 4am the next day. He said 15 militants and five
soldiers were killed while three soldiers sustained injuries.
However, local people said that 25 militants had been killed.
Suspected insurgents shot dead
five Government officials nearly two weeks after they were abducted
in Balochistan, police said on August 19, Daily Times reported.
"The officials were all shot dead. Their bodies were found
dumped in a mountainous area" in the town of Chatthar.
Aabid Khan, Sultan Muhammad and
Hammad Munshi, all three Britons of Pakistani origin, were sentenced
by a British court to serve varying prison terms for possessing
or preparing documents promoting terrorism.
The Chinese Government detained
35 Pakistanis visiting China that they suspect of planning to
attack proceedings of the Olympic Games, Daily Times reported.
China has asked the Pakistani Government for details of the arrested
in a letter that alleged 35 suspected Pakistani militants had
arrived in China to attack proceedings at the Games.
August 20
Pakistan Air Force fighter aircraft
and Army gunship helicopters continued bombing suspected militant
hideouts in the Bajaur Agency, killing three more persons and
destroying a number of houses.
In addition, 14 militants were
killed when the security forces repulsed a Taliban attack.
SFs fired artillery and mortar
shells from the Bajaur Scouts headquarters in Khar towards suspected
Taliban positions in Nawagai, Mamond and Salarzai. Artillery and
mortar shelling was also directed at Inayet Kali. However, there
were no details about the losses suffered by the militants.
The Frontier Corps (FC) killed
about 15 Taliban militants in the Kurram Agency. The FC was directed
to launch the operation after all efforts for a cease-fire between
the warring factions in the Agency failed, said a press release
issued by the Interior Ministry in Islamabad. The statement said
a jirga (council) from Hangu was dispatched to Kurram Agency
to establish a truce between the warring factions. However, both
sides violated the cease-fire and the FC was directed to establish
the writ of the Government. The press release said that on August
19-night, between 300 to 400 Taliban militants attacked an FC
post at Matak. The troops repelled the attack, inflicting heavy
casualties on the militants.
12 persons, most of them alleged
foreign fighters, were killed and five others sustained injuries
when a US Predator fired two Hellfire missiles on a house in the
Zari Noor village of South Waziristan. Military Spokesman Major
General Athar Abbas confirmed the incident but said he would not
confirm whether it was a missile or rocket attack. He said he
had heard that 8-12 people had been killed in the explosions.
The military spokesman, however, denied reports that a US Predator
had fired Hellfire missiles on the Pakistani territory.
An Afghan national was killed
for his alleged ‘spying’ for American forces while a kidnapped
non-commissioned officer of security forces was set free in the
Mohmand Agency. The Afghan national, identified as Abdul Qayyum,
was shot dead by Taliban militants in the border village Kodakhel
on the charges that he was spying for the US and its allied forces
in Afghanistan. A note found with his body said that those spying
for American forces would meet the same fate. Further, the militants
also freed a security forces officer, identified as Khalilur Rehman,
who was kidnapped from the area in January 2008.
Four Taliban militants were killed
and another was injured in a clash between tribesmen and militants
in Khyber Agency’s Bara sub-division. The clash, in which heavy
weapons were used, erupted when the tribesmen tried to stop a
car carrying Taliban militants in the Malik Dinkhel area. The
militants opened fire at the tribesmen, who retaliated with rocket
fire and killed four militants and injured another.
August 21
Two suicide bombers blew themselves
up at the gates of the Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) in the
high security cantonment town of Wah, around 30 kilometers from
capital Islamabad, killing at least 70 persons in what was described
as the deadliest attack on a military installation in the country’s
history. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility
for the attack. The POF at Wah is a cluster of about 20 industrial
units producing artillery, tank and anti-aircraft ammunition for
the Pakistani armed forces. It employs around 25,000 to 30,000
workers.
Sixteen more people, including
10 militants and six civilians, were killed in mortar and artillery
shelling by the security forces in the Bajaur Agency.
The paramilitary Bajaur Scouts
shelled militant locations in their strongholds - Mamond and Salarzai
subdivisions - inflicting heavy losses on the Taliban. Two militants
were killed at Safarey village when a house they were staying
in was hit by an artillery shell. Sources from the militant stronghold
in Mamond said that forces from the Bajaur Scouts headquarters
in Khar continuously fired mortar and artillery shells on Mulla
Said Banda, Safarey, Katkay, Bandaray and adjoining small villages
reportedly inhabited by the militants. Several houses were damaged
in the overnight shelling.
The paramilitary forces fired
artillery shells at militant hideouts in various parts of Salarzai,
killing five militants.
Four persons - two women and two
children - were killed in Mulla Said Banda in artillery shelling,
causing damage to several houses.
Five persons, including three
Taliban militants and two children, died in artillery firing on
Kach village of Salarzai.
The deputy chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP), Maulana Faqir Mohammad, offered to stop fighting
if the security forces halted bombing and mortar and artillery
shelling on residential areas of the tribal region.
August 22
A civilian was killed and eight
others sustained injuries when SFs targeted the hideouts of suspected
Taliban militants in the Haji Lawang area of Bajaur Agency. Locals
said that some houses were destroyed and others damaged in heavy
shelling by the security forces on the 17th day of
military operations.
Official sources in Wana, headquarters
of South Waziristan, said militants loyal to Maulvi Nazir fired
rockets at the Tiarzah Fort injuring a paramilitary soldier. Seven
militants were reportedly wounded when security forces retaliated,
local administration officials said. The attack on the fort came
hours after NATO forces – in an operation co-ordinated with Pakistani
forces – "fired multiple artillery rounds into Pakistan," the
International Security Assistance Force statement said.
August 23
Five members of a family were
killed and six wounded when a mortar shell hit a residential compound
near Khar in the Bajaur Agency. Local people said the shell fired
by security forces landed in the house of one Qasim Jan at about
2:30 pm. The attack triggered fear among people and tribesmen
again started vacating their houses. Some families had recently
returned to their homes. Officials said that over 200,000 people
had been displaced because of the conflict in Bajaur. The International
Committee of the Red Cross has said that about 14,000 displaced
people have moved from the agency to Afghanistan’s Kunar province.
The Taliban militants killed two
tribesmen for allegedly spying for the United States in North
Waziristan. "They were working as ‘spies’ for America,"
a letter found with the two bullet-ridden bodies read. Residents
said the bodies were found early on August 23 near a roadside
in Dosali sub-division, 40 kilometers south of Miranshah.
August 24
Militants belonging to the pro-government
Taliban commander Maulvi Nazeer clashed with the SFs in South
Waziristan (SW) and five militants were killed and two sustained
injuries. Three SF personnel were also injured in these clashes
even as the fighting spread to Dray Nishtar, Sholam, Dana and
Patay and the two sides used mortars guns, rocket-launchers and
other heavy weapons.
Reports said the SFs fired artillery
shells at the militants’ positions in Dana, 10 kilometers west
of Wana, the headquarters of SW. They were retaliating against
the militants, who in the early hours of August 24 attacked a
post of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in Zam Cheena, 25 kilometers
west of Wana, with rocket-launchers and other sophisticated weapons
and caused injuries to three soldiers.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) announced a cease-fire in Bajaur Agency "after a request
from tribal elders" and said they would initiate a dialogue with
the Government. "We have directed our militants to stop attacks
against the government and security forces in Bajaur from today,"
Maulvi Omar, TTP spokesman told AFP. He said, "The jirga
(elders’ council) insisted that Taliban should stop fighting
in the interest of the people of Bajaur." The jirga has "assured"
the Taliban that troops will also suspend shelling and bombing
raids in the area, he added. "We are ready for talks with the
Government and the truce is an important development towards dialogue,"
Omar stated.
August 25
Gunship helicopters killed five
militants while shelling militant hideouts in the Bajaur Agency
near the Afghan border. "Helicopters gunships shelled militant
hideouts in several villages in Bajaur Agency, which left five
militants killed and 10 injured," an unnamed security official
said.
The local Taliban led by pro-government
militant commander Maulvi Nazir announced a unilateral cease-fire
after fierce clashes with security forces in South Waziristan.
Militant sources said a Jirga (council) of Ahmadzai Wazir
tribal elders held an emergency meeting with Political Agent Syed
Shahab Ali Shah and informed him of the frequent violation of
Pakistan's airspace by the US spy planes and carrying out air
strikes in the Agency, killing innocent tribesmen in the name
of al Qaeda. The Jirga assured the Political Agent of their
co-operation in maintaining law and order in the area and convinced
the official that in future Ahmadzai Wazir tribesmen would refrain
from attacking the security forces.
August 27
Troops killed at least 50 militants,
including some foreign fighters, in the Bajaur Agency. SFs targeted
militants holed up in a health centre, killing 30 of them and
wounding many more, military spokesman Major Murad Khan told AP.
In another clash, helicopter gun-ships
and aircraft targeted militant hideouts in the Loyesam, Charmang
and Ghonday areas of agency headquarters Khar, and Rahgan, Aupusht
and Dherai area of Salarzai sub-division, killing eight militants
and injuring 12 others.
23 Taliban militants and two soldiers
were killed, while 20 militants and seven soldiers were injured
after clashes broke out in different areas of South Waziristan.
Sources said that the Taliban attacked a check-post in Tiarza,
three kilometers off Wana on August 26-night. The security forces
(SFs) countered the attack, killing 11 militants and injuring
20 others. Fierce fighting between the two sides reportedly continued
throughout August 27. Two soldiers were killed and seven others
sustained injuries when the Taliban attacked three army vehicles
near Wana bazaar in the evening. Fighting was intensified in different
areas after the attack on the army convoy. Sources added that
12 more militants were killed in the clashes. Further, a woman
and a man were killed after a mortar shell hit their house.
Ahmadullah Ahmadi, a spokesman
for the militant group of Hafiz Gul Bahadar and Maulvi Nazir,
said that the Taliban had declared a unilateral cease-fire till
August 30 in the tribal area. He said that they would not violate
the truce without provocation.
August 28
The SFs killed 23 militants and
injured more than a dozen in the Bara Bandai and Koza Bandai areas
of Kabal sub-division in the Swat district of NWFP, while seven
civilians died in shelling and incidents of violence.
Ten persons, including seven police
officials and three civilians, were killed and 16 others injured
when a powerful car bomb ripped through a prisoners van of the
Bannu police on the Kurram Tangi Bridge on the Bannu-Kohat Road
in Bannu in the NWFP. Police officials said the police van was
en route to the Bannu Central Prison on the Bannu-Kohat Road from
where it was supposed to carry prisoners to court.
SFs killed five militants in fresh
attacks on suspected locations in the Salarzai sub-division of
Bajaur Agency in the FATA. The SFs targeted locations in the Derakai,
Raghagan, Ghakhay and Chawatra localities of Salarzai, killing
the five militants. Sources said tribesmen killed a militant and
captured five others in the Pashat area.
Prime Minister’s Adviser on Interior
Affairs Rehman Malik has announced that names of all political
leaders of Balochistan have been removed from the Exit Control
List (ECL) and 35 checkpoints of the Frontier Corps in the province
are being abolished, Dawn reported. Addressing a press conference,
along with Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani and provincial ministers
at the end of a two-day visit to provincial capital Quetta, he
said the steps were being taken as part of the Government’s reconciliation
process. "The name of Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri’s son Nawabzada
Gazin Marri has been removed from the ECL and a new passport has
been issued to him," the adviser said.
August 29
At least 25 militants, including
two Taliban commanders, were killed in an air strike on militant
hideouts in the Swat valley of the NWFP. A private jail and an
ammunition depot of militants were among the air strike targets.
A military spokesman in Swat told AFP that "a core of militants"
had perished in the operation. "Their command and communications
structure has also been destroyed. This was their key area where
they had set up ammunition depots, which were also demolished…
This strike was carried out after intelligence that top Taliban
cleric Mullah Fazlullah was hiding there," the security official
said, but he was unable to confirm if the main target was among
the dead.
Five persons were killed and 44
others, including 35 SF personnel, were wounded when an explosives-laden
vehicle blew up after its driver was shot dead by the paramilitary
Frontier Corps FC soldiers in the Darra Adamkhel town of NWFP.
According to official sources, the vehicle being driven by a would-be
suicide bomber was on its way to hit the Orakzai Scouts check-post
near Pakistan-Japan Friendship Tunnel at Darra Adamkhel.
Three suspected militants were
killed and seven others sustained injuries when SFs backed by
artillery and helicopter gun-ships targeted the Malkana, Chothra,
Ghakhi and Berakai areas in Bajaur Agency with mortar and canon
shells.
August 30
40 militants were killed in an
air strike targeting a militants’ stronghold in Swat in the NWFP.
Fighter jets are reported to have bombed hideouts in the Peochar
valley, a stronghold of top Taliban cleric Mullah Fazlullah. Army
spokesman Major Nasir Ali said the dead included two senior commanders
loyal to Fazlullah. Local officials said Fazlullah escaped the
attack but his group suffered ‘massive damage’. Ali said the group’s
‘core militants’ were killed and its communication network destroyed
in the operation.
At least five militants were killed
and four others were injured in a missile strike on a house in
South Waziristan. The missile, which targeted the house of Noor
Khan Wazir, is said to have been fired from an aircraft. Reports
indicated that at least two foreigners were among the dead.
A house came under attack in South
Waziristan and four persons, including two Canadians of Arab origin,
were killed.
The military operation in the
FATA will be suspended on August 31 in view of the holy month
of Ramazan, said Interior Adviser Rehman Malik. But he said the
military would respond ‘with full force’ if it were attacked.
"It is not a ceasefire… If they fire a single bullet we will
respond with 10 bullets," he said while talking to reporters
in Lahore.
August 31
Six people were killed and eight
others sustained injuries in a missile attack on a residential
compound in Ghundi village of North Waziristan. It was not clear
if the missile had been fired from a US drone, but some local
people reported seeing an unmanned aircraft flying over the area.
According to AFP, most of the dead were foreign militants,
including Arabs and Uzbeks. This was the fourth missile attack
in the tribal region during August.
September 1
At least nine persons were killed
and 52 others injured as the operation against militants in Darra
Adamkhel in the NWFP continued for the fourth consecutive day.
Eight persons were killed when
mortar shells hit a house in the Inayet Kali area of Bajaur despite
a cease-fire announced by the Government on August 31-night. Security
forces (SFs) reportedly launched the attack after receiving information
that militants had regrouped near the Bajaur Scouts camp. Local
people said that several shells hit the house of one Hanifullah,
killing eight people, including women and children. Political
authorities, however, said that only two people had been killed.
A tribal lashkar (army) formed
to end militancy in Kurram Agency re-took Char Dewal and Jalmai
villages, strongholds of the Taliban, while six militants were
killed and 26 injured in fresh clashes.
The army claimed that it had routed
Taliban militants in Bajaur, killing 560 Pakistani and foreign
fighters and foiling a push to make Bajaur into a militant fortress.
Major General Athar Abbas, the chief of ISPR, told a western news
agency that 20 SF personnel had died and 30 were missing.
Adviser to the Prime Minister
on Interior, Rehman Malik, has said that the TTP was a new face
of al Qaeda.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)
has directed all the commercial banks to freeze the bank accounts
of the banned TTP.
September 2
15 persons were killed and about
35 others sustained injuries when air force jets and helicopters
targeted militants’ hideouts in the Gut and Peuchar areas of Swat
valley in the NWFP.
A tribal lashkar (army) is reported
to have shot dead six Taliban militants in fresh clashes in various
parts of the Kurram Agency in the FATA.
Six shops in Matta bazaar owned
by the ruling Awami National Party leader Afzal Khan Lala were
also blown up.
The Prime Minister’s Adviser on
Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik, said that military operations
in the tribal region and troubled areas of the NWFP had been suspended
in reverence for Ramazan.
The Taliban claimed they had kidnapped
two Chinese telecommunications engineers and two Pakistanis and
that abductions would continue until the Government stopped attacking
militants.
September 3
The SFs claimed to have killed
about 30 militants and wounded 35 others in a ground assault backed
by gunship helicopters in the militants-infested Koza Bandai area
of Swat Valley in the NWFP. There were also reports about five
civilian casualties, including four women, besides injuries to
scores of others. Two SF personnel were reportedly killed and
four others sustained injuries.
SFs launched a ground assault
in Koza Bandai, the native village of the Swat Taliban spokesman
Muslim Khan, at dawn to clear the area of the militants. A Mingora-based
military spokesman, Major Nasir Ali, told The News that 25 to
30 militants were killed and 30 to 35 were injured in the attack
that was backed by gunship helicopters.
At least 20 people, most of them
women and children, were killed in an assault by US-led coalition
forces on a village near the Afghan border.
Paramilitary forces killed 20
militants in Darra Adamkhel.
17 militants and nine civilians
were killed when security forces, backed by helicopter gunships
and artillery, targeted militants’ hideouts in the Koza Bandai
area of Swat in the NWFP.
At least four militants were killed
and several others injured in attacks by security forces (SFs)
on their hideouts in Bajaur Agency.
Unidentified gunmen fired shots
at Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani’s motorcade in a high
security zone on the Islamabad Highway. The Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack.
Around 50 recruits of the Police
Training College (PTC) at Hangu in the NWFP were abducted while
on their way to the college from provincial capital Peshawar via
Khyber Agency.
Taliban would not kill two Chinese
engineers and two Pakistanis they have been holding, but they
would not release them unless unspecified demands were met, the
militants.
Afghan intelligence claimed, it
had arrested a Pakistan national who said he was paid by his country’s
intelligence agency to help abduct a Japanese aid worker who was
later shot dead.
September 4
Six people, including two suspected
Arab nationals and four Dawar tribal militants, were killed and
four others injured in yet another missile strike by a US Predator
on Achar Khel village near Miranshah in North Waziristan.
A German man of Pakistani origin
suspected of raising money and recruiting fighters for al Qaeda
has been charged with membership in the terrorist group, federal
prosecutors said in Berlin.
September 5
Ten persons, including four militants,
were killed and several others injured when local people clashed
with the Taliban militants in the Mandal Dag area of Matta sub-division
in Swat.
Four children were among six civilians
killed in a suspected missile attack from an unmanned United States
spy plane on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in North Waziristan.
Two civilians were killed and
as many injured as the security forces continued their operation
against the militants in the Kabal sub-division.
Pakistan stopped supplies to the
United States and NATO forces in Afghanistan through its western
Torkham border, citing security concerns. The coalition forces
also get supplies through the Chaman border in Balochistan, but
the bulk of the supplies goes through Torkham – a shorter route
for Kabul where the US and NATO forces are based.
September 6
At least 30 persons, including
seven policemen, were killed and more than 70 injured when a suicide
bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a security checkpoint
in the outskirts of Peshawar.
24 people were killed in the Matta
sub-division of Swat in the NWFP as villagers battled Taliban
militants on September 5 and 6 after foiling a kidnap attempt
by the Taliban.
The death toll in the suicide
bombing in provincial capital Peshawar has increased to 39.
Asif Ali Zardari, husband of Benazir
Bhutto, who took over as leader of the Pakistan People’s Party
(PPP) after her assassination in December 2007, was elected Pakistan’s
President.
September 7
Five more persons were killed
and 14 others sustained injuries as violence continued in the
Swat Valley in NWFP.
The Maulana Fazlullah-led militants
in Swat said they would not release the kidnapped Chinese engineers
till the release of the arrested Taliban militants.
September 8
Suspected US drones hit the house
and seminary of former Taliban commander Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqqani
in the Dandi Derpakhel area of North Waziristan killing 23 persons,
including three Arab and two Azerbaijani nationals among them.
At least 10 militants were killed
and 14 civilians injured while several houses were destroyed in
shelling by the security forces on Koza Bandai area of Kabal sub-division
in the Swat valley in North West Frontier Province.
A woman and two children died
on the same day when a mortar shell hit their house in Shago area
of Khar.
Police arrested 10 suspected Uzbek-Afghan
nationals at Chaman sub-division in Balochistan. They entered
Pakistani territory without legal documents and tried to proceed
to Quetta and other parts of the country.
Security personnel arrested a
teenage boy they claimed was a suicide bomber near a church in
the Cantonment area at Nowshera in North West Frontier Province.
A truck carrying huge quantity
of explosive material was hijacked along with two riders from
Taxila.
Pakistan reopened supply lines
to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces in Afghanistan,
after the road through the Khyber Pass was blocked, days after
a raid by the US commandos on a Pakistani village.
September 9
Unidentified militants shot dead
four members of one family in Qamber-Shahdadkot district in Sindh.
They were identified as Ali Haider Magsi, his two wives Arbab
Khatoon and Nawab Khatoon, and his grandson Nizamuddin Magsi.
September 10
30 Taliban militants were killed
when the troops backed by tanks and heavy artillery attacked the
militants in the Rashakai area of Bajaur Agency in FATA said a
Frontier Constabulary statement.
At least 25 worshippers were killed
and 50 others injured in a grenade-and-gun attack inside a mosque
in the Maskanai area of lower Dir in NWFP.
11 militants were killed by the
security forces in the Kooza Bandai area of the NWFP, local residents
and a military spokesman said.
The missile strike in North Waziristan
in the FATA was carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency,
claimed two unnamed US officials. Unnamed Pakistani intelligence
officials told Associated Press that the four foreigners killed
in the strike were Abu Qasim, Abu Musa, Abu Hamza and Abu Haris.
However, a Pakistani army spokesman, Maj Murad Khan, said that
the military had no information about the identity of the men
killed in the ‘explosions’.
Militants in North Waziristan
have threatened to target girls’ schools and government offices
unless madrassas destroyed in military operations were reconstructed.
The US military will revise its
strategy for Afghanistan to include militant ‘safe havens’ in
Pakistan in its area of concern, the Chairman of the US Joint
Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said.
The US Defence Secretary Robert
Gates said the Pakistan military and government are focused on
the instability in the border region and it is critical to continue
to work with the new Pakistan government.
A cease-fire between two sects
in the Kurram Agency in FATA was holding, as security forces took
positions on both side of the divide.
The sovereignty and territorial
integrity of the country would be defended at all costs and "no
external force is allowed to conduct operations inside Pakistan",
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Kayani said.
A Washington Post report said
that missile attacks by the US drones in Pakistan have tripled
in 2008 after ‘frustrated’ US and Pakistani officials decided
to change tactics in the war on terror. Pakistani officials have
reported 11 such strikes in FATA this year, the report said, compared
with three in 2007.
The US National Intelligence Council
(NIC) warned the Bush administration in August that a decision
to launch ground attacks inside Pakistan could further destabilise
the Pakistani government and the military. Security analysts believe
if US commando raids continue beyond a few months they could provoke
large-scale defections from the Pakistani Army serving in FATA.
September 11
At least 100 militants, most of
them foreigners, were killed and around 25 others injured in the
continued military offensive in the Bajaur Agency of FATA.
Eight militants were killed when
the security forces (SFs) attacked their hideouts in the Swat
valley of NWFP. Six of the militants died when helicopter gun
ships fired missiles in the Ningolai Kabal area, hitting the house
of local militant commander Khurshid Shah, military spokesman
Nadeem Anwar said.
Taliban militants shot dead three
pro-government tribesmen accusing the victims of spying against
them, officials said.
Six SF personnel were killed in
an improvised explosive device (IED) blast near a check-post of
the Frontier Corps (FC) at Akhurwal area of the semi-tribal region
in the Darra Adamkhel town, claimed militants.
Five people, including four militants,
were killed and seven others injured in clashes between rival
tribes in the Kurram Agency of FATA.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) killed two of the 30 police recruits kidnapped near Hangu
in NWFP a week ago.
Militants killed a police constable
and his daughter in the Matta Tehsil (administrative division),
adding, the militants opened fire and killed Constable Dost Mohammad
Khan and his nine-year old daughter when they were returning home
in the Kooza Bamkhela area of Swat district.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) Swat said that no shariah law of the NWFP government would
be acceptable unless Sufi Muhammad, chief of the banned Tehreek
Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi, approved it.
An anti-terrorism court (ATC)
granted bail to three Taliban militants whose release was one
of the local Taliban’s key demands from the government since they
were arrested in July.
The Washington Times in its editorial
accused Pakistan of harbouring al Qaeda and placating radical
domestic groups.
New York Times quoting senior
American officials reports that the US President George W. Bush
secretly approved orders in July for the first time allowing American
Special Operations forces to carry out ground assaults inside
Pakistan without prior approval of the Pakistani Government.
The British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown said that he would ask Pakistan to allow US and North Atlantic
Treaty Organisation (NATO) troops in Afghanistan to take a new
approach in the hunt for Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked militants.
Aaj TV quoted Inter-Services Public
Relations spokesman Major General Athar Abbas as saying that the
Pakistan Army would retaliate against foreign raids on Pakistani
territory.
The NATO would not take part in
a proposed US strategy to conduct raids into Pakistan from Afghanistan
against Taliban and Al Qaeda militants, a spokesman James Appathurai.
September 12
At least 85 heavily armed terrorists
were killed in an air and land offensive in Bajaur Agency in the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), a Frontier Corps’
(FC) statement said.
A missile from a suspected United
States drone killed 14 people when it hit a house in the outskirts
of Miranshah in North Waziristan tribal area in the Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). It was the fourth such strike
in a week.
At least 14 terrorists including
two key ‘commanders’ were killed and five others were injured
during the military operation in the Swat district in North West
Frontier Province (NWFP).
The United States and Pakistani
officials told the Washington Post that new rules of engagement
authorising US ground attacks inside Pakistan, signed by President
George W. Bush in July 2008, were not agreed to by that country’s
civilian government or its military.
Los Angeles Times quoting US military
and intelligence officials reports the US is deploying Predator
aircraft equipped with sophisticated new surveillance systems
to counter terrorism in Pakistan.
September 13
At least 60 militants were killed
and 25 injured during clashes with security forces (SFs) in Bajaur
Agency in FATA. Six terrorists were killed and five others injured
when a helicopter gunship attacked the vehicle carrying them to
Mohmand Agency. However, a military spokesman, Major Murad Khan,
told the Associate Press, "We killed 72 militants, while eight
of our soldiers have died in Bajaur since Wednesday."
Seven suspected militants were
killed and several other people injured as military operation
in the Koza, Bara and Ser Bandai areas of Swat in NWFP continued.
Two security force (SF) personnel also sustained injuries, a statement
issued by the Swat media centre said, adding, the SFs backed by
artillery and helicopters gunship pounded militant hideouts in
the Koza Bandai and Kotlai areas of Kabal Tehsil (administrative
unit).
Four people, including three militants,
were killed and six others wounded in clashes between warring
tribes in the Kurram Agency in FATA.
A two-day cease-fire was announced
after talks between a peace committee and terrorists in Swat.
The second round of talks between the peace committee and terrorists
will be held today.
September 14
At least 30 terrorists were killed
and several others injured during military action in the Bajaur
Agency of FATA.
About 100 heavily armed terrorists
occupied a municipal building in the Regi Lalma area on the outskirts
of Peshawar in the NWFP, but fled on the arrival of paramilitary
troops without putting up a fight.
Taliban in Swat are likely to
release 38 abducted security force (SF) personnel in the next
48 hours.
US military strikes at Taliban
and al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan are risky but necessary and
were long overdue.
Acting President Dr Fehmida Mirza
said Pakistan would resolve the problem of militancy on its own,
adding that the government was committed to safeguard the sovereignty
and geographical frontiers of the country.
Police said that no terrorist
organization occupied a government building in the Regi Lalma
area of Peshawar and law-enforcement agencies attended site as
a "result of a misunderstanding".
September 15
Helicopter gun ships and fighter
jets killed 24 Taliban militants in raids on their hideouts in
Bajaur Agency in FATA.
Two United States (US) military
helicopters turned back to Afghanistan from the border after shots
were fired from the ground, but there were conflicting accounts
of the incident.
Foreign attacks on Pakistan’s
Tribal Areas are an incursion and all-out efforts would be made
to stop such invasions, said Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar.
Troops have been deployed in trenches
vacated by warring tribes in the Kurram Agency in FATA, political
authorities said.
The law enforcement agencies claimed
to have detained three suspected terrorists and recovered 1,000
kilogrammes of explosives in a raid on a Baloch settlement in
the outskirts of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
September 16
Ten Taliban militants were killed
and several others injured when Pakistan Army helicopter gunship
and fighter jets fired shells at militant hideouts in Bajaur Agency
in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
A suicide bomber and Taliban militants
attacked a security check post in the Kabal tehsil (revenue division)
of Swat in the NWFP killing three soldiers, a senior official
said.
At least three Taliban terrorists
were killed and seven others injured in a clash with the security
forces (SFs) in the Darra Adam Khel area of NWFP, sources in the
Frontier Constabulary said. The clash began when the SFs raided
the Zohr Killin area after being informed about the presence of
some Taliban there. The sources said troops were pursuing the
Taliban who had fled the area.
September 17
At least 19 Taliban militants
were killed in the ongoing military operation in different areas
of Bajaur Agency in FATA. 40 Taliban were injured in the operation.
United States drones were also reportedly seen flying over different
areas of Bajaur.
A United States missile strike
on a compound used by militants in South Waziristan in FATA killed
at least six people and wounded three others.
The SFs took control of the vacated
Koza Bandai area of Swat in the FATA. Taliban had vacated the
area after an agreement with the local peace committee on September
15-16.
September 18
14 people were killed and 26 others
injured in clashes between the warring tribes of the Kurram Agency
in FATA.
The SFs killed at least eight
Taliban militants and injured several others in an attack on Taliban
strongholds in Bajaur Agency in the FATA. Their command and control
system was also destroyed. The SFs also arrested five Taliban
and shelled their strongholds in the Loyesam, Tang Khata, Kausar,
Rashkai and Kerala areas.
Two suspected suicide bombers
blew themselves up in the Upper Dir town of NWFP after residents
foiled their attempt to take 300 schoolchildren hostage.
Taliban captured a huge cache
of weapons and ammunition from police near the Jandukhalay area
of Shabqadar tehsil (revenue division) in the Charsadda district.
Local Taliban have evicted around
200 shia families from the Aurakzai Agency who have resettled
in Kohat.
The Taliban in Swat in the NWFP
released eight more of the 38 SF personnel they had abducted around
two months ago.
Three out of seven people killed
in US drone attack on the Baghar village of South Waziristan Agency
included two Arabs, one of them a senior al-Qaeda commander, and
one hailing from the Punjab Province. The two Arabs were identified
as Jiran, the al-Qaeda commander, and Sabri while the name of
the militant commander from the Punjab could not be ascertained.
September 19
At least 20 people were killed
and 18 others sustained serious injuries in clashes between the
Toori and Mangal tribes in the Kurram Agency of FATA.
A bomb exploded at a madrassa
(seminaries) run by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in Quetta, provincial
capital of Balochistan, killing five people and injuring 10 more.
Militants in the Dakorak area
of Charbagh in the Swat valley of NWFP lobbed hand grenades at
Brinks-armoured car, shifting cash amount, killing two occupants
and injuring as many, and also looted PKR 9.8 million. The killed
security officials were identified as Muhammad Omar and Ahmad.
The vehicle was also badly damaged in the attack.
According to a statement issued
by the Media Information Centre Swat, around 75 Taliban have been
killed with a similar number injured in the past 14 days in Koza
Bandi.
The SFs gained total control of
Siddiqabad, Toheedabad, Rehman Baba, Shandai Mor, Faja, Sabu Kalay,
Yousufabad, Sharpana, Nawidand, Shomlo Qila and Mamizo areas of
Khar Tehsil. They have also established check posts in the area
and are patrolling the roads.
The US drones continued their
flights over various areas of North and South Waziristan in the
FATA, creating panic and fear among the locals.
Security was put on high alert
across Punjab following reports that four would-be suicide bombers
had entered the province. The alleged suicide bombers, aged between
14 and 20, could wreak havoc on a large scale before Eid. The
bombers are aiming for law-enforcement personnel and sensitive
installations in Punjab.
September 20
A suicide bomber detonated a truck
packed with explosives at the Marriott Hotel in capital Islamabad,
killing at least 60 people. At least 200 people, including a Pakistan
Peoples Party legislator, were injured in the explosion, which
ruptured a gas pipeline and triggered a huge blaze. A US national
was killed and several foreigners were injured Malik. Police arrested
a 14-year-old suspect outside the hotel.
September 21
The Czech ambassador and his Vietnamese
partner were among the 53 persons killed in the suicide attack
in Islamabad. The United States Defense Department said two American
soldiers assigned to the US embassy were also killed in the blast.
Meanwhile, a Danish intelligence official was missing. A US official
at the Guantanamo naval base told Reuters, "The attack certainly
bears all the hallmarks of... Al Qaeda or its associates."
Preliminary investigation suggests
a strong connection with South Waziristan Agency. The six-wheeler
dumper used in the attack carried 600-kilogram’s of RDX and TNT
explosives, along with splinters, mortars, artillery rounds, mines
and aluminum powder – which caused the fire. The hotel was not
the intended target. 53 people, including four foreigners, had
been killed in the attack and 266, including 13 foreigners, had
been injured.
The Prime Minister Syed Yousuf
Raza Gilani said that terrorists had intended to target Parliament
and the Prime Minister House where key figures of the country
were present after attending a joint parliamentary session.
The federal government says it
will intensify operations in FATA, with more security personnel
set to be committed to the fight for a large operation which is
to begin sometime in the next 48 hours. The operation in Swat,
Bajaur and other tribal agencies will continue.
September 22
A police SHO and four constables,
son of a tribal chief, and four other people were killed when
tribesmen attacked a police post at Nurpur in the Qambar-Shahdadkot
district in Sindh. The post was attacked by about 100 tribesmen,
who also torched a police van.
Nine SF personnel were killed
and two other injured in a suicide car-bomb attack on a check
post in Swat in the NWFP. A suspected Taliban militant rammed
his explosives-laden car into a small roadside check post in Madyan
town in Swat.
The SFs killed three militants
and arrested 28 others during an operation against Taliban at
Abbas Chowk and Sikha Khel in the Darra Adam Khel.
Three Hazara tribesmen were shot
dead at two places in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
Afghan Consul-General in Peshawar,
Abdul Khaliq Farahi, was abducted and his driver was shot dead
for resisting the assailants.
Pakistani troops reportedly fired
at two US gunship helicopters that intruded into the Lowara Mandi
area of the North Waziristan Agency (NWA), forcing them to fly
back to Afghanistan.
A group calling itself Fedayeen-i-Islam
claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on the Marriott
hotel in Islamabad.
A grand peace Jirga (council)
consisting of elders of major tribes of Upper Dir in the NWFP
unanimously decided that the people of the district will resist
militant activities and that action will be taken against those
providing shelter to militants or anti-state elements.
Two Chinese engineers abducted
by the Taliban appealed for their safe release. In a newly released
video by the AfPax Insider news service, the two apparently distraught
Chinese engineers appealed to the governments of China and Pakistan
to help save their lives.
September 23
More than 50 militants and a lone
SF personnel were killed in the ongoing military operation in
the Darra Adam Khel area of NWFP. The SFs had secured major portions
of the Indus Highway, cleared the Kohat Tunnel, and successfully
evicted Taliban from their roadside hideouts, on the second day
of the operation. The troops also carried out a search operation
in Darra bazaar while helicopter gunship and artillery pounded
militant positions.
Security forces killed at least
10 militants in Bajaur Agency.
Three persons, including two women,
were killed in a mortar attack on the Pewar village of Kurram
Agency in the FATA. The Mengal tribesmen allegedly fired four
mortar shells at a house in the Pewar village that belonged to
a Toori tribesman, killing three people.
Foreign al Qaeda and Taliban fighters
are ‘infiltrating’ into Bajaur from Afghanistan to join their
colleagues in the crucial battle for survival in the face of an
all-out military action.
The army undertook a leading role
in the operation from September 1, after paramilitary forces made
a failed attempt to take over Loyesam from the militants on August
6. Since then, 80 percent areas of Utmankhel, Salarzai and Khar
tehsils have been ‘cleared of militants’. However, Nawagai and
Mamoond tehsils have not yet been secured against the militants.
Police are searching for two explosives-laden
trucks in the federal capital, Islamabad.
The Federal Interior Ministry
has warned that banned militant groups could strike in Karachi
as well as other cities of the country.
September 24
25 Taliban militants and seven
soldiers were killed during fierce fighting in different areas
of Bajaur Agency in the FATA. Several Taliban bunkers were also
destroyed in the operation. The troops recovered arms and ammunition
from several compounds they searched in the Tang Khata, Rashakai
and Khazana areas.
Security forces killed six unidentified
armed men during the ongoing operation in Darra Adam Khel in the
NWFP.
Tribal elders, clerics and Taliban
militants publicly killed four criminals in Wana in South Waziristan
for allegedly committing murder. The Taliban blindfolded the four
(alleged) criminals before allowing people to shoot them.
At least three people were killed
when a shell hit their vehicle as security forces (SFs) and Taliban
militants clashed in the Karapa area of Mohmand Agency in the
FATA.
A teenaged female student, Shahida,
was killed and 22 others were injured in a suicide blast targeting
a Frontier Corps (FC) convoy in the Quetta cantonment area of
the Balochistan.
The police arrested three men
and seized two explosive-laden trucks in the Sara-e-Alamgir area
of Jehlum. It said the trucks were headed for Lahore from Rawalpindi
and carried equipment used to manufacture fireworks.
September 25
At least 16 Taliban militants
and two civilians were killed when army helicopter gun ships attacked
Taliban hideouts in the Bajaur Agency of FATA.
An Utmankhel tribe Jirga (council)
decided to take action against the Taliban and their backers in
the area.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) in Swat said they had reservations about the proposed Shari
Nizam-e-Adl laws for the area.
A 3,000-strong armed tribal lashkar
forced Taliban out of the Malagori area near Jamrud.
The Government Girls School and
College in Jamrud received threatening letters from the Taliban.
Pakistani troops fired on United
States helicopters which had crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan.
September 26
14 militants were killed and 20
others injured when security forces, backed by helicopter gun
ships and artillery, pounded suspected militant positions in the
Bajaur Agency of FATA.
Helicopters shelled militant hideouts
in the Tang Khatta, Damadola, Rashakai, Bicheena and Banda areas,
killing another seven militants.
Three would-be suicide bombers,
suspected to be cadres of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), were killed
along with a handcuffed hostage when one of the bombers blew himself
up following a police raid on a house in Karachi.
The situation in Bajaur Agency
will be stabilised within two months, the Frontier Corps (FC)
chief in the region said.
September 27
19 militants and two Frontier
Corps (FC) personnel were killed while four FC personnel received
injuries in a gun battle between the security forces (SFs) and
militants in the Dera Bugti district of Balochistan.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA)
spokesman Sarbaz Baloch told reporters in Quetta that militants
had killed 17 SF personnel in the fighting. The clash happened
25 days after a unilateral ceasefire was announced by three militant
outfits – the BLA, the Baloch Republican Army and the Baloch Liberation
Front – on September 1.
September 28
The security forces killed at
least 16 Taliban militants after coming under attack at Bajaur
Agency in FATA.
Unidentified militants abducted
a Polish engineer near Attock in Punjab, shooting dead his two
drivers and a security guard during the abduction.
28 people, including 25 militants
and three Frontier Corps (FC) personnel, have been killed in two
days of clashes between the security forces (SFs) and militants
in the Gandoi and Uch areas of Dera Bugti in Balochistan. The
fresh clashes erupted on September 27 and continued on September
28 in which six FC personnel also sustained injuries. The SFs
had destroyed two militant camps during a search operation, and
seized a huge haul of weapons and explosives.
September 29
20 Taliban militants were killed
in an intense encounter with the security forces (SFs) at Tur
China in the Darra Adam Khel area of NWFP.
13 people, including nine tribesmen
and four Taliban militants, were killed following a clash in Bajaur
Agency in FATA.
A press release issued by the
Frontier Corps headquarters in NWFP said combat aviation had killed
13 Taliban militants and two suicide bombers in the Bara area
of Khyber Agency in FATA.
Around 50 Taliban militants stormed
a military check post in the Rashakai area. The security forces
(SFs) in retaliation killed five Taliban militants.
Around 40 Taliban militants raided
a check post at Tang Khatta. The SF’s firing killed at least four
Taliban militants, while two soldiers were also wounded.
The SFs claimed to have killed
56 militants and injured 88 others during the 12-day operation
in Darra Adam Khel.
Operation against the militants
has almost been completed in Darra Adam Khel as security forces
flushed out the miscreants from the town and seized huge quantity
of lethal weapons and ammunitions during the 12 days offensive.
The abducted Afghan envoy, Abdul
Khaliq Farahi, has been found seven days after his abduction and
was brought to Peshawar on September 29-evening.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)
chief Altaf Hussain has reiterated his stance on increased Talibanisation
in the Karachi city, stating that the Taliban has imposed its
‘system’ in two major areas of the city, Sultanabad and Pukhtoonabad.
The Balochistan Chief Minister
(CM) Nawab Aslam Raisani notified the dropping of eight cases
pending against Baloch nationalist leaders Nawab Khair Baksh Marri
and his son Nawabzada Harbiar Marri.
The US Defence Secretary Robert
Gates said that international laws allow the US to take unilateral
actions inside Pakistan.
US military commander David Petraeus
said that Pakistan must deal with the threat from the Taliban
to its very existence.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
said that the government will never give in to terrorism.
Operations against militants had
been a mixed bag of success and setbacks and no timeframe could
be given about the ongoing campaigns, sources in the military
said in a media.
Sources further informed that
the security forces had suffered a total of 1,368 casualties in
the war on terror since 2001, while 3,348 personnel had been wounded.
Meanwhile, 2,825 Taliban, including 581 foreigners and 2,244 locals
had been killed. 1,400 Taliban were injured over the same period,
which included 311 foreigners and 1,089 locals.
Thousands of Charmang tribesmen
following in the footsteps of Salarzai and Utmankhel tribes announced
the formation of a grand 'laskhar' to launch massive crackdown
against militants in the Agency and vowed to fight shoulder-to-shoulder
with the Pakistan Army.
September 30
Troops killed another five Taliban
militants after they launched an attack on a military checkpost
in the same town, leading to a gun battle that lasted nearly an
hour, the official said.
Four Taliban militants were killed
and two others were wounded in the shelling of a vehicle at Mamoond
town, when tribesmen backed by Army helicopter gunships fought
the Taliban at Bajaur Agency in the FATA.
Four security personnel were killed
and five others injured when their vehicle hit a landmine near
Sui at Dera Bugti region in Balochistan. The vehicle was destroyed
in the explosion.
Residents said government helicopters
dropped leaflets in various parts of the agency calling for the
support.
October 1
At least 13 more militants were
killed and ten others injured when a Qaumi lashkar (army) of the
Salarzai tribe launched an operation against the militants in
the Salarzai tehsil (revenue division).
Five people had been killed in
a US strike, eight kilometers south of the town of Mir Ali. Reports
said that a US pilot less drone fired two missiles at a house
in the area.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
condemned the US attacks inside Pakistani territory and termed
them 'terrorism'. Regarding the ongoing military operations in
north-western Pakistan, he reiterated that the war against terrorism
was Pakistan’s own war.
October 2
Troops backed by artillery killed
25 Taliban militants in the Bajaur Agency in FATA.
A suicide bomber blew himself
up as he tried to enter a house owned by the Awami National Party
(ANP) chief, Asfandyar Wali Khan, in the NWFP, killing four. Khan,
the chairman of the Pakistani parliament's foreign relations committee,
however, escaped unhurt in the attack. The incident took place
in the town of Charsadda outside a hujra (guest house) belonging
to Khan, a member of ruling coalition.
Taliban have claimed that they
are holding the abducted Polish engineer. "He is with us. We have
kidnapped him," Mohammad, a spokesman for the Taliban active in
the Darra Adam Khel region told reporters in Peshawar by telephone.
The Pole, identified as Piotr Stanczak, was abducted by gunmen
on September 28 and his two drivers and a security guard shot
dead in northern Attock district.
The local government has ordered
Afghan refugees in Bajaur to leave the area within three days.
There are an estimated 70,000 Afghan refugees in Bajaur, who have
been living there since the late 1970s after fleeing the Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan.
October 3
United States air strikes on three
villages in North Waziristan in FATA killed at least 20 people.
Intelligence officials said a pilot less drone aircraft launched
an attack on the Mohammad Khel village, 30-kilometres west of
Miranshah, at around 9:30pm (PST).
Pakistani intelligence officials
reported another US air strike on Datta Khel village, situated
closer to the border with Afghanistan, in which at least three
persons were killed.
October 4
Volunteers of the Salarzai tribe
set ablaze eight Taliban houses in the Aundai area of Bajaur Agency.
Taliban militants attacked the lashkar (army) and three Taliban
militants were killed in the exchange of fire.
Tribesmen in the Mir Ali sub-division
fired rockets at two drones that crossed into Pakistan.
The residents of Mamoond have
also decided to form a lashkar to combat the Taliban. The decision
was taken during a meeting of tribal elders. Another meeting of
tribal leaders would be held on October (5) to devise a strategy
against Taliban.
The Afghan refugees started leaving
Bajaur Agency following a three-day deadline given by the local
administration for them to vacate the agency, locals said.
October 5
At least five Taliban militants
were killed when security forces targeted suspected Taliban hideouts
in the Bajaur Agency of FATA with heavy artillery and helicopter
gunships. Eight Taliban were also injured in the operation at
Tang Khata, Rashakai, Khazana, Kausar and Shinkot.
Five persons were killed and three
others injured after clashes between tribal rivals in the North
Waziristan Agency of FATA.
Two top Taliban commanders were
killed in an exchange of fire with the security forces (SFs) in
the Matta tehsil (revenue division) of Swat district in the NWFP.
Two rockets fell near the NWFP
Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti’s native residence on the
Mardan-Nowshera road.
October 6
A suicide bomber blew himself
up in a crowd of people at the house of Rashid Akbar Niwani, a
Shia Member of National Assembly from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz
(PML-N), in Bhakkar, 260-km southwest of Islamabad in Punjab,
killing 25 people and wounding 60 others, including Niwani.
Six militants were killed in a
fierce clash with the Frontier Corps (FC) in the Khazana area
of Bajaur Agency in the FATA. In a statement issued in Peshawar,
FC authorities said that the militants "wearing militia uniforms"
had occupied a house.
Four militants were killed by
security forces (SFs) in the Tor Chappar village of Darra Adam
Khel in the NWFP.
Taliban released four more of
the 25 trainee police officials they abducted last month from
Hangu. The agency quoted NWFP Police Inspector General Malik Naveed
as saying negotiations were held with Taliban for the release
of police officials and action was also taken against them.
In Darra Adam Khel, the SFs said
they had gained complete control of the Indus Highway and cleared
the Kohat tunnel.
Darra Taliban have claimed responsibility
for the Walibagh suicide attack on the chief of Awami National
Party, Asfandyar Wali Khan.
Two more tribes in the FATA formed
militias on to take action against Taliban and several others
assured the government of their support in its efforts to restore
peace in the Tribal Areas.
A press release by the FATA Secretariat’s
media cell said tribal elders from the Khyber, Bajaur, Mohmand
and Orakzai agencies and the Frontier Regions had assured the
government of support against the Taliban in separate jirgas.
The Salarzai, Mamoond and Utman Khel tribes of Bajaur Agency,
Mullagori, Zakha Khel and Adam Khel Afridis of Khyber Agency and
the Kohat Frontier Region, and the Ali Khel tribe of Orakzai Agency
had formed lashkars against the Taliban, the statement said. The
Koki Khel tribe in Khyber Agency however declined to form a militia
against the Taliban. Its head, Attaullah Jan Koki Khel, told a
jirga raising militias was ‘American policy’.
October 7
Three remote-controlled bombs
went off one after the other in three juice shops in the Garhi
Shahu area of Lahore in Punjab injuring seven including two children
and a woman.
Pilot less aircraft continued
their flights over Miranshah in the North Waziristan Agency of
FATA as tribesmen fired rockets to target them as they entered
Pakistan’s airspace.
October 8
At least 20 Taliban militants,
including eight foreigners, were killed when helicopter gun ships
hit their hideouts in the Badaan area of Mamoond tehsil (revenue
division) in the Bajaur Agency of FATA. The sources said the Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan’s (TTP) spokesman Maulvi Omar’s house.
Five Taliban militants were killed
and 27 arrested by the security forces (SFs) during an operation
in the Darra Adam Khel area of NWFP.
A pilot less drones from Afghanistan
violated Pakistani airspace, and flew over various areas of Mohmand
Agency, locals said.
The SFs arrested 22 Taliban militants,
including several important commanders in an operation at Gul
Jabba in the Kabal tehsil (revenue division) of Swat.
The Utmankhel and Mandal tribes
of Bajaur Agency have convened jirgas (councils) on October 9
to make decisions regarding law and order in the agency.
October 9
At least 21 Taliban militants
were killed in air strikes on their hideouts in the Ghat Peochar
and Landai Sarshur areas of Swat district in the NWFP.
11 persons were killed in the
Dir area of NWFP when an improvised bomb exploded under a prison
vehicle shortly after 1pm (PST) in the Khwago Oba area. The dead
included four schoolchildren, three policemen and five prisoners.
At least eight persons, include
seven Taliban militants and a local tribesman, were killed when
the local Toori tribesmen and security forces (SFs) clashed with
the Taliban militants in the Kurram Agency of FATA.
At least seven people, including
three foreigners, were killed in a missile attack by a suspected
United States (US) drone, 20-kilometres east of Miranshah in the
North Waziristan Agency of FATA.
Six members of a family were killed
in the Darmai area of Matta tehsil (revenue division) as a shell
fired by the security forces (SFs) accidentally hit the house
of a local, identified as Wazirzada. The dead include two women,
three children and a male member of the family.
Five persons, including three
suspected militants and two women, were killed and several others
sustained injuries in continued shelling by gunship helicopters
on suspected positions of Taliban militants in the Mamond sub-division
of the Bajaur Agency in FATA.
A suspected suicide car bombing
destroyed part of an Anti-Terror Squad building and wounded at
least six policemen in the heavily guarded Police Lines area in
Islamabad. Security officials found a letter from the TTP at the
explosion site, signed by its commander Waliur Rehman on a Jaish-e-Islami
letter pad. Written in Pashto language, the letter seeks permission
from an undisclosed authority to launch an attack on the Anti-Terror
Squad saying the plan of action had been finalised.
Unidentified assailants lobbed
a hand grenade at the car of Baloch Republican Party leader, Saifullah
Jattak, in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, partially
damaging the vehicle.
In the Mandal area of Salarzai
tehsil (revenue division), a tribal lashkar (army) comprising
thousands of armed tribesmen announced a crackdown against militants
in their area from October 10.
October 10
At least 40 persons were killed
and around 90 others wounded when a suicide bomber in an explosives-laden
vehicle set off an explosion in an anti-Taliban jirga (council)
of the Ali Khel tribe in the Khadezai area of Upper Orakzai Agency
in the FATA.
13 militants were killed in a
clash with a tribal lashkar in the Charmang area of Bajaur Agency
in the FATA. Five militants were also killed in an air strike
carried out by security forces in the Mamound area.
Security forces killed five suspected
Taliban militants when they shelled their hideouts at Malam Jabba
in the NWFP.
The Taliban militants beheaded
four elders from the Charmang tribe after they had attended a
pro-government jirga (council).
The dead bodies of four Qaumi
Lashkar members were recovered from Tungi.
Four Taliban militants were killed
when security forces neutralised their hideouts in the Rashakai,
Tang Khata, Khazana and Kauser areas of Bajaur.
A jirga in Bajaur Agency ruled
it was necessary to act against the Taliban. An emergency meeting
was held in Chaarmang at the hujra (guest house) of Mohammad Rehman.
October 11
The death toll in the Orakzai
suicide blast of October 10 increased to 85, while 200 persons
were reported injured.
A suspected United States (US)
missile strike killed four people while the International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) claimed it had killed five Taliban militants
inside Pakistan.
Tribesmen in the Charmang area
of Bajaur Agency in the FATA accelerated their action against
the local Taliban after the recovery of the beheaded dead bodies
of four tribal elders in the area.
October 12
Security forces said they have
killed 27 Taliban militants in an air strike in the Orakzai Agency
of FATA.
20 Taliban militants and three
lashkar (army) men were killed and several others injured when
fierce fighting erupted between volunteers of the armed tribal
force and the Taliban militants in the Charmang area of Nawagai
tehsil (revenue division) in the Khar sub-division of Bajaur Agency
in the FATA.
A missile strike killed at least
four people at Miranshah in the North Waziristan Agency of FATA,
residents said.
A jirga (council) held in Charmang
decided to expedite action against the militants and miscreants.
The British officials covered
up evidence that a Taliban commander killed by special forces
in Helmand in Afghanistan last year was in fact a Pakistani military
officer. Citing unidentified Afghan officials, reporter Christina
Lamb said British soldiers discovered a Pakistani military ID
on his body.
October 13
In an intensified operation against
the Taliban militants in Swat in the NWFP, the security forces
killed at least 25 militants in parts of Khwazakhela tehsil (revenue
division).
Troops and helicopter gun ships
killed at least 24 Taliban militants in the Bajaur Agency of the
FATA.
Four tribesmen were killed in
clashes between the Taliban militants and a tribal lashkar in
the Kotkai village near Charmang area, Reuters quoted another
government official as saying. He said several Taliban militants
were also killed, but was unsure of the number.
Five Taliban militants were killed
and 15 others arrested during a security forces’ operation in
the Darra Adam Khel area of NWFP.
Four people, including a leader
of the Awami National Party, were injured when a roadside bomb
struck their vehicle in the Dir district, an administration official
said.
October 14
At least 28 Taliban militants
and a tribesman were killed in the latest clashes in the Bajaur
Agency of FATA. Jets and helicopters killed 16 Taliban in Bajaur,
while artillery and mortars overnight killed 10 others.
The SFs targeted suspected Taliban
hideouts in various areas of Bajaur Agency, killing 14 Taliban
and wounding several others. Two more Taliban militants and a
tribesman were killed in a separate incident in the same agency.
10 persons, including five civilians
and four Taliban militants, were killed in the ongoing operation
in the Khwazakhela area of Swat. The SFs shelled suspected positions
of militants from helicopters and artillery in the Alamganj and
Gashkor areas killing five civilians.
Clashes between the two sides
were reported in which four Taliban fighters, including two commanders,
Abdul Wakeel and Sher Muhammad, were killed.
At least three people were killed
while three others were injured when unidentified assailants opened
firing on a van in the Sanbaga area of Orakzai Agency.
A Polish engineer abducted two
weeks ago in Pakistan by suspected Taliban militants appeared
in a video address urging the release of jailed Taliban fighters.
Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski
declared he was prepared to negotiate, but cast doubt on the real
intentions of the Taliban. He said he was also prepared to make
important concessions, but stressed the Taliban’s demands were
not focused on Poland.
October 15
SFs pounded Taliban hideouts in
the Bajaur Agency of FATA killing at least 16 Taliban militants.
Troops fired artillery and mortars onto hideouts of Taliban in
Loyesam, Rashakai, Chinar and Babra areas, killing 10 and wounding
eight others. Six other Taliban militants were killed by helicopter
gun ships in the same area.
Four people, including a female
politician of the ANP, were killed by suspected Taliban militants
in Swat in the NWFP.
The staffs of the CID have arrested
two criminals who were allegedly supplying automatic weapons to
various militant outfits, including Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and
the Taliban. During the investigation it was discovered that the
two arms suppliers were the associates of Noor Sharif (an arms
supplier from Dara Adam Khel recently caught by the CID).
A tribal lashkar (militia) in
Charmang refused to co-operate with the SFs in operating against
Taliban.
The TTP spokesman Maulvi Umar
has said that Pakistani Taliban are ready to lay down their arms
and hold talks with the government if the latter ceases fire.
The annual budget of the local Taliban is more than PKR 4 billion.
A Khasadar force soldier is paid a monthly salary of PKR 3,000,
while a Taliban mercenary gets PKR 6,000 a month. Local Taliban
commanders receive as much as PKR 20,000 a month.
October 16
The SFs killed seven militants
in the daylong shelling by artillery and gunship helicopters in
different parts of the Bajaur Agency in FATA. Several other militants
were injured and their hideouts destroyed in the attacks, the
sources added.
A suspected US drone fired two
missiles into South Waziristan, killing five people, including
at least one foreigner, security officials said.
A suicide bomber rammed a vehicle
packed with explosives into the Mingora Police Station in Swat
in the NWFP, killing four security personnel and destroying the
building. Nearby offices of newspapers and a TV channel were damaged
in the earlier firing. Most of the 27 people injured were security
forces and police, though two civilian bystanders were also injured.
The political administration banned
government officials from entering the agency because of abduction
threats.
The insurgency based in Pakistan’s
FATA is intensifying, a soon-to-be completed US intelligence assessment.
October 17
At least 60 Taliban militants
were killed when fighter jets bombarded a Taliban training camp
and suspected hideouts in the Matta tehsil (revenue division)
of Swat district in NWFP.
The security forces launched an
offensive against the Taliban militants in the Bajaur Agency of
FATA, killing 12 militants. Backed by helicopter gun ships, artillery
and jet fighters, the troops launched the operation in the Loyesam
area.
October 18
13 Taliban militants were killed
in attacks by the SFs on Taliban positions in the Bajaur Agency
of FATA. The SFs continued targeting Taliban posts with heavy
artillery and fighter jets in the Zor Bandar, Loyesam, Charmang,
Kohi and Babara areas of the agency, killing 13 and destroying
several Taliban hideouts.
The SFs reportedly completed preparations
for a massive operation against Taliban in the Charmang and Mamoond
areas. The troops have also started advancing towards the Loyesam,
Zor Bandar and Tangi areas of Khar tehsil (revenue division) of
Bajaur.
October 19
27 Taliban militants, including
two commanders, were killed as fighter jets bombed a Taliban hideout
in the Matta tehsil (revenue division) of Swat in the NWFP. The
commanders killed in the air strike in were closely associated
with pro-Taliban cleric Fazlullah. An ammunition dump at their
hideout also exploded. Nearby houses were also destroyed.
Seven Taliban militants were killed
when jets bombed suspected Taliban hideouts in the Loyesam, Zorbandar,
Sar Lara and Enzara areas of Khar tehsil (revenue division) and
Sawai, Tangai, Dabara and Zarnawoo areas of Mohaman tehsil in
the Bajaur Agency of FATA.
Four people were killed and six
others injured when a remote-controlled bomb exploded in the main
bazaar of Dera Bugti in Balochistan. The bomb was planted to strike
Member of the National Assembly, Ahmadan Bugti, the lawmaker,
escaped unhurt. A vehicle carrying Ahmadan and his son had driven
past the bomb before it exploded. Police told APP that terrorists
wanted to target Ahmadan’s son. No group has so far claimed responsibility
for the attack.
Three Taliban militants and a
soldier were killed in an attack by the Taliban on a security
forces convoy in the Kabal tehsil (revenue division).
Three Taliban militants were killed
in other parts of Bajaur when they tried to attack security posts.
Four tribes joined hands to fight
Taliban and al Qaeda in their areas in Orakzai Agency of FATA.
The Ali Khel, Mullah Khel, Mushti and Shekhan tribes demolished
Taliban hideouts and ‘asked them to leave’. Taliban left to take
refuge in the Mamozai area where their headquarters are located.
Elders of Mamozai tribe held a secret meeting, it said, to plan
a strategy against them.
October 20
15 Taliban militants were killed
as security forces used heavy artillery, fighter jets and helicopter
gun ships to target suspected Taliban hide-outs in the Bajaur
Agency of FATA.
Seven Taliban militants were killed
and another 10 wounded in a clash with security forces (SFs) in
the Shah Dherai area of Kabal tehsil (revenue division) in the
Swat area of NWFP.
About 300 elders from the Salarzai
tribe vowed to resist Taliban in their areas during a grand jirga
(council) held in Bajaur.
The US Assistant Secretary of
State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Richard Boucher said
that Pakistan must not begin talks with the Taliban as negotiations
had failed in the past and praised the government for the its
military operations in the tribal areas. Boucher met President
Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani, and also
the NWFP’s political leadership.
October 21
Helicopter gunships and fighter
jets pounded Taliban hideouts in the Bajaur Agency of FATA, killing
11 Taliban militants and wounding 10 others. Security officials
said important Taliban positions were destroyed in the attacks
in the Chinar, Charmang, Kohi, Babara and Hashim areas of Nowagai
tehsil (revenue division).
Five Taliban militants, including
a local commander identified as ‘Chota Mufti’, were killed as
clashes erupted between the security forces SFs and the militants
following a police convoy hitting an improvised bomb on its way
from Kabal to Totano in the NWFP. Two vehicles were damaged in
the incident.
October 22
At least 15 FC personnel and five
Taliban militants were found dead in the Kabal tehsil (revenue
division) of Swat in the NWFP. The FC personnel had gone missing
after a fight with Taliban that broke out on October 21 after
a roadside bomb targeted a paramilitary convoy in the Sarsenai
area.
Security forces backed by helicopter
gun ships and jet fighters targeted suspected Taliban hideouts
in the Nawagai and Mamond tehsils (revenue divisions) of Bajaur
Agency in FATA, killing more than 12 Taliban militants and injuring
10.
At least four Taliban militants
were killed in a clash with the security forces (SFs) in Khyber
Agency. One Frontier Constabulary soldier was also injured. The
SFs also arrested seven Taliban militants from the Shah Kas area.
The Pakistan Parliament after
two days of negotiations unanimously adopted the 14-point resolution
declaring that Pakistani nation was united against terrorism and
sectarian violence and would tackle the problem by addressing
its root causes. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani moved the resolution,
which he said would serve as policy guideline to the government
in framing a national security strategy.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) indicated willingness to lay down arms if the Government
assured it of ending the ongoing military operation. The TTP spokesman,
Maulvi Omar, said that the allegation that the Taliban movement
was destabilising Pakistan was baseless, adding, that the TTP
was firm on its stance that if the Government ended the military
operation, it would lay down its arms.
October 23
Security forces carried out ground
and air strikes in the Bajaur Agency of FATA, killing at least
35 Taliban militants. Jet fighters continued targeting suspected
Taliban hideouts in the Loyesam and Charmang areas, killing eight
associates of Taliban commander Maulvi Omer in an attack on a
hideout in Badan.
Taliban militants killed at least
eight pro-government Ferozkhel tribal elders in an ambush in the
Orakzai Agency of FATA. The victims were returning from a jirga
(council) to discuss strategies for combating Taliban in the agency
when their vehicle was stopped in the Babraki Ziarat area on the
Oblana-Kohat road.
Suspected US drones fired missiles
into a madrassa (seminary) set up by veteran pro-Taliban commander,
Jalaluddin Haqqani, killing eight people and wounding six others,
near Miranshah in the North Waziristan Agency of FATA.
Frontier Corps Inspector General
Maj Gen Tariq Khan has alleged that Taliban militants are infiltrating
from Afghanistan into Pakistan to help those battling security
forces in Bajaur Agency.
October 24
SFs targeted suspected Taliban
hideouts in various areas of Bajaur Agency in the FATA, killing
12 Taliban militants and wounding many others. The SFs backed
by tanks and helicopter gun ships pounded Taliban positions in
the Charmang, Chinar, Kohi and Banda areas of Nawagai tehsil (revenue
division) and Zobandar and Anzrai areas in the Khar tehsil.
The locals from the upper areas
of Matta tehsil (revenue division) formed a lashkar (militia)
of more than 4,000 armed men and ordered Taliban militants to
leave the area in three days. The decision was made in a jirga
(council) held at Labat High School with Pir Samiullah in the
chair.
October 25
Six people were killed and four
injured when two rival groups fought each other using heavy weapons
in the remote area of Mandal Daag in the Matta tehsil (revenue
division) of Swat in the NWFP.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
spokesman, Maulvi Umar, had been killed when an air strike in
the Budano area of Bajaur Agency in the FATA.
The security forces have killed
1,500 Taliban militants during the Bajaur operation so far and
regained complete control of strategic towns including Loyesam,
military officials said at a media briefing. 95 civilians and
73 troops were also killed during the operation codenamed "Sherdill",
Frontier Corps Inspector General Maj Gen Tariq Khan and ISPR Director
General Maj Gen Athar Abbas told reporters.
October 26
Tribesmen killed 20 Taliban militants
in clashes that followed a botched attempt to abduct an elder
in Swat. Police said a group of pro-Mullah Fazlullah Taliban were
trying to hustle Pir Samiullah – chief of a lashkar (militia)
– from his home in the Mandaldag area of Matta tehsil (revenue
division) to a getaway car when dozens of local tribesmen confronted
them and snatched him back. Among the killed Taliban were four
commanders, including Shamsher, a bomb making expert, and two
close aides of Fazlullah. Muslim Khan, a Taliban spokesman contacted
by telephone, confirmed a clash but said only three Taliban militants
died. He claimed that 12 tribesmen were killed and another 62
abducted.
At least 11 people, seven of them
Frontier Corps personnel and three Khasadars, were killed and
five injured in a suicide attack in the Mohmand Agency of FATA.
The channel quoted sources as saying that a suicide bomber rammed
his explosives-laden car into the Naqi check post, killing the
10 SF personnel and a technician.
At least seven persons were killed
when the suspected US drones fired missiles into an alleged Taliban
compound near Wana at South Waziristan in FATA.
The Taliban militants attacked
a security post on the outskirts of Khar, headquarters Bajaur
Agency in the FATA. Troops retaliated, killing six Taliban.
Five more militants were killed
when troops attacked a suspected Taliban base in the Charmang
district.
Three civilians were killed as
Taliban militants targeted a barbershop in the Sambat area of
Swat.
Police have found the bullet-riddled
body of a man said to be the younger brother of Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud, in the Bannu district of
NWFP. The body was found on 14-kilometres from Bannu on a road.
The elders from Salarzai tribes
said that there should be no dialogue with the Taliban, as they
are extremists killing innocent people.
The Balochistan Reconciliatory
Committee declared a three-pronged strategy to resolve the long-standing
issues facing Balochistan. The declared 3R strategy reportedly
involved reconciliation with all political forces, rebuilding
national institutions and reallocating resources.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
addressing a news conference after his October 24-25 visit to
China, where he attended the 7th Asian Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit
in Beijing, said that the Government would call back the Army
and replace it with other law-enforcement agencies after restoration
of peace in the troubled areas of NWFP.
October 27
At least 10 Taliban militants
were killed in a clash with troops in Sarsanai village of Matta
tehsil (revenue division) of Swat district in the NWFP. Three
Taliban militants were arrested in a subsequent search operation
in the same village.
Four persons, including an imam
(prayer leader) and a seminary teacher, were killed and several
others injured, when suspected militants opened fire on them at
Baldia Town in Karachi.
October 28
Five civilians, including a woman,
were killed and 21 others injured during shelling on Kabal village
of Swat in the NWFP.
Four Taliban militants were killed
in fighting with the security forces in the Bajaur Agency of FATA.
The SFs shelled the hideouts of
Taliban militants in the Sar Banda area of Matta tehsil (revenue
division), a breeding ground for the militants, and wounded two
important commanders, Abn-e-Aqil and his father.
The militants released two elders,
Azizullah and Khurshaid Iqbal. Both the persons along with 60
others were captured by the Taliban militants in Barthana during
a jirga (council) convened to stop the militants from using their
village for militant activities.
Bugti leader, Wadera Muhammad
Maluk Bugti, along with his accomplice was gunned down in the
Lajo Safari area of Dera Bugti district in Balochistan.
The SFs injured three Taliban
militants and arrested five others after an hour-long gun battle
in the Mohmand Agency of FATA.
Local Taliban in the Orakzai Agency
of FATA have agreed to lay down arms, demolish training camps
and expel foreign fighters, including Uzbeks and Arabs, from their
respective areas. A Mamozai tribal elder told Dawn that local
Taliban could stay in the area if they gave assurance of good
conduct.
The United States (US) is actively
considering talks with Taliban in a major policy shift that would
have been unthinkable a few months ago, discloses a report in
the Wall Street Journal.
The Taliban, separately, rejected
a Pakistan-Afghanistan mini-jirga (council) call for dialogue.
A spokesperson of the Taliban termed it as ‘worthless’. "This
jirga was founded by the Americans. It has no power, no respect,"
The authorities had set up village
police in Lower Dir to improve law and order in the district.
The Lower Dir district police officer said that village police
would conduct joint patrolling along with regular police in different
areas of the district.
October 29
Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel
killed five Taliban militants in the Lakaro tehsil (revenue division)
of Mohmand Agency in the FATA.
Nine soldiers and five civilians
were injured when a suicide bomber exploded his explosives-laden
Land Cruiser jeep at a military check post in the Cantonment area
of Bannu district in the NWFP. A powerful blast rocked the main
compound wall of a school in the Cantonment area.
October 30
The SFs killed 10 more Taliban
militants and injured two others during operations in various
areas of Kabal tehsil (revenue division) of Swat in the NWFP.
The SFs took action in Akhun Killay, Kotlai, Dagai, Saidu Sharif
Airport and Kanju, using gunship helicopters and artillery to
pound suspected positions of the militants. According to the ISPR-run
Swat Media Centre, seven militants were killed and an ammunition
dump destroyed in an attack on the insurgents’ positions in Kotlai
area of Kabal.
Security forces in Mohmand Agency
of FATA killed five Taliban militants and captured an explosives
expert known to have links with Afghan insurgents. One Taliban
was killed and another was wounded in a shootout with troops,
who chased their vehicle when they refused to stop at a check
post. Four other Taliban arrived in a jeep to rescue the injured,
but security forces attacked the vehicle, killing all of them.
The alleged explosives expert was identified as Pakistani Taliban
commander Imran alias Mansoor.
The SFs entered Sirsenai village
where, during a house-to-house search, an exchange of fire took
place with the Taliban, resulting in the death of three militants.
One militant was also arrested and a large quantity of explosives
and CDs recovered from some houses.
October 31
20 Arab fighters of the al Qaeda
were killed when two suspected US missiles struck a pick-up truck
and a house west of Mir Ali in the North Waziristan of FATA.
At least 12 suspected Taliban
militants were killed when two missiles were fired by a suspected
US drone at a hideout near Wana in the South Waziristan of FATA.
Top Taliban commander Mullah Nazir was also wounded in the strike.
A suicide bomber killed nine persons
and injured 21 in an attack on police in Mardan of NWFP. The suicide
bomber attacked the police squad of Mardan DIG Akhtar Ali Shah
outside his office at 1:30 pm, police said, adding that five among
the dead and three among the injured were policemen.
Six persons were killed and five
others, including two women and three children, injured in the
shelling by fighter planes in Sapri area of the Mamond tehsil
(revenue divisions) in the Bajaur Agency of FATA.
Four persons were killed and three
others sustained injuries during an attack by the Taliban militants
in Daboori area of upper Orakzai Agency in FATA. The retaliatory
fire killed a militant and injured another.`
The security forces killed four
militants and injured nine others in separated operation in Swat
valley of NWFP. While two militants were killed and five others
injured in Char Bagh area, two militants were killed and four
others sustained injuries in Sar Bandai area of Matta tehsil (revenue
division).
November 1
At least Eight Taliban militants
were killed and 10 others injured as helicopter gunships of the
security forces targeted Taliban positions in the Damadola and
Mataro Sha areas under Mamoond tehsil (revenue division) of Bajaur
Agency in the FATA. The volunteers from the Mamoond tribe reportedly
captured several check posts abandoned by the Taliban in different
areas.
November 2
At least 13 Taliban militants
and two SF personnel were killed and nine militants injured in
clashes in various areas of Swat valley in the NWFP.
A suicide car bomber rammed his
vehicle into a checkpoint near the main gate of the Zalai Fort
in South Waziristan FATA, killing eight paramilitary troopers.
Four persons were also wounded in the attack.
Three Taliban militants were killed
and four others injured in a military operation in Bajaur Agency
FATA.
November 3
18 Taliban militants were killed
in SF operations in the Bajaur Agency of FATA. Four Taliban militants
were killed in artillery shelling in different areas of Mamond
tehsil (revenue division) in the morning, while 14 Taliban militants
were killed in bombing by jet fighters in the afternoon, officials
said.
In Kabal Khas, four bullet-riddled
bodies, including a father and son, were found on the bank of
river Swat. The killed persons were identified as Fazal and his
son Shah Wali Khan and Aziz. The identity of the fourth deceased
could not be ascertained.
The political administration of
Orakzai Agency in the FATA arrested at least 20 tribesmen, including
men of the Rabia Khel and Asa Khel tribes, accused of involvement
in the abduction of six people, including two security force personnel,
on November 1. The political administration said it would continue
action against the tribes until the recovery of the abducted people.
A former deputy attorney-general,
Raja Mohammad Irshad, who spilled the beans about Gen Pervez Musharraf’s
alleged move during last year’s judicial crisis to get a favourable
decision in a case about his eligibility to contest the presidential
race, has admitted that he lost his son who was fighting alongside
the Taliban against the American-led forces in Afghanistan soon
after September 11, 2001.
November 4
At least seven persons, including
three SF officials, were killed and six others injured in a suicide
attack on a SF check post in the Hangu district of NWFP.
Five Taliban militants were killed
and several others injured in artillery fire and bombing by jet
planes on suspected Taliban hideouts in the Bajaur Agency of FATA.
Jet fighters targeted Taliban positions in the Dama Dola area
of Mamoond tehsil (revenue division).
Unidentified militants attacked
a police vehicle in the Mardan district of NWFP, killing two policemen
and injuring two others.
Owing to the growing threats to
security agencies in the Swat valley, about 350 policemen have
reportedly either deserted the force or submitted their resignations.
November 5
11 Taliban militants were killed
in bombing by jet fighters and artillery shelling in different
areas of Bajaur Agency in the FATA. The security forces targeted
Gat Agra, Damadola and Janzai areas of Mamoond tehsil and destroyed
several Taliban hideouts.
Three Taliban militants were killed
when a roadside bomb they were planting exploded in the Chamkanai
area of Swat in the NWFP.
November 6
22 tribesmen were killed and 45
others sustained injuries when a suicide bomber blew himself up
at a Salarzai jirga (council) in the Bajaur Agency of FATA.
The blast targeted a lashkar (militia) in the Batmalani,
about 40-kilometres northeast of agency headquarters Khar. Among
the dead were the militia’s head Malak Fazal Karim and his aides
Malak Wazir Khan and Malak Sakhi.
19 Taliban militants were killed
as fighter jets and helicopter gun ships targeted suspected hideouts
in the Mamoond and Nawagai tehsils (revenue division).
Two FC personnel were killed when
a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a FC camp
in the Mingora area of NWFP. The police said the attacker infiltrated
the gathering of several hundred FC soldiers, which was followed
by an assault by Taliban militants.
The Government released three
Taliban prisoners, including Baitullah Mehsud’s deputy Maulvi
Rafiuddin, while the Taliban released 10 soldiers taken hostage
in the Hangu district of NWFP.
US missile strikes in Pakistan’s
Tribal Areas in recent months have killed three of the top 20
al Qaeda and Taliban leaders in the area, US Central Command chief
Gen David Petraeus told Associated Press in an interview.
Al Qaeda has released the video
of the suicide attack on the Danish embassy in Islamabad in June
2008. The video that the news channel claims to have received,
shows that the attack was carried out by 18-year-old Saudi boy
Kamal Saleem a.k.a. Abu Gharaib. The video also included statements
from al Qaeda leaders Sheikh Abu al Haya and Sheikh Mustafa Abu
Yazeed, who called the attack a response to the controversial
cartoons published by Danish newspapers. It also included a message
from the attacker. The channel did not run the video, citing ‘journalistic
responsibilities’.
November 7
Approximately 20 Taliban militants
were killed and 10 others injured at Bajaur Agency in FATA. Helicopter
gunships and fighter jets targeted Taliban hideouts in the Mamoond
and Nawagai areas as SFs increased aerial strikes in the agency.
The troops hit Taliban hideouts in Damadola, Seweai, Sparay, Kharkay,
Shinkot areas of Mamoond tehsil (revenue division) and
Charmang and Zoorband areas of Nawagai tehsil.
13 persons were killed as suspected
US drones fired two missiles at a house in Kamshaam in the Razmak
tehsil of North Waziristan in FATA. Latifur Rehman, a senior Government
official in the region, told Reuters the missiles hit a
'militant' compound.
November 8
Murtaza Marri, an information
officer at the Balochistan Directorate of Public Relations, and
his father Abdullah Marri, a senior banker, were shot dead by
suspected militants at Khatm-e-Nabuwat chowk in Quetta, capital
of Balochistan.
November 9
16 Taliban militants were killed
as SFs continued targeting Taliban positions with fighter jets
and helicopters in Bajaur Agency of the FATA. Officials said the
areas targeted included Sapri, Banda, Khakai, Damadola and Sewai
of Mamoond tehsil (revenue division), and six bases and
an arms depot were also destroyed in the offensive. Several Taliban
posts were destroyed.
NATO jets bombed Tirah Valley
in the Khyber Agency of FATA, killing eight members of a banned
outfit – Amar Bil Maroof – and injuring three. Amar Bil Maroof
spokesman, Munsif Afridi, confirmed that those killed were members
of his group. He said that 10 Afghan soldiers had been killed
in a gun battle with his group at the Torkham border earlier in
the day.
Mortar shells fired by the SFs
killed six civilians in the Swat district of NWFP. Police said
the civilians were killed as security forces and the Taliban exchanged
fire.
November 10
In Mingora, five Taliban militants,
including a local commander, were killed in clashes with the troops
in the Moragai and Shalkho areas of Matta tehsil (revenue
division), while two others were killed in a separate clash in
the Kabal area of Swat district in the NWFP.
Six Taliban militants were killed
in the Sewai and Damadola areas of Bajaur Agency in the FATA when
jets bombarded Taliban hideouts.
The Balochistan Republican Army
claimed responsibility for killing a man and his son in the Dera
Bugti district of Balochistan on the charges of spying.
The Pakistani security forces
retrieved 15 trucks that had been hijacked by the Taliban earlier
in the day en route to Afghanistan to deliver goods to US-led
coalition forces. The trucks were seized at four places along
a road leading to the Afghan border at Jamrud in the Khyber Agency
of FATA. "About 60 masked gunmen popped up on the road and
took away the trucks. Not a single shot was fired. A military
offensive followed the hijacking, with two gunship helicopters
targeting Godar, Saurkamar and Varmado Mela areas of Jamrud. At
least two Taliban fighters were killed in the operation. "We
have successfully recovered all the trucks ... two militants were
killed and five wounded in the operation," a news agency
quoted official Rahat Khan as saying.
November 11
11 Taliban militants were killed
in encounters with troops in the Swat valley of the NWFP.
Seven Taliban militants were killed
as troops targeted their hideouts in Bajaur Agency of the FATA.
Security forces targeted Taliban positions with helicopters, jet
fighters and heavy artillery in Nawagai and Mamoond tehsils (revenue
division). Artillery shells also hit civilian areas, but there
were no reports of casualties.
A suicide bomber blew himself
up at a packed Qayyum Stadium in Peshawar, killing four people,
including a policeman and three civilians. 13 more persons were
wounded. Investigations Senior Superintendent of Police Ghulam
Muhammad said seven or eight kilogrammes of explosives were used
in the attack.
Three persons were killed during
clashes following a combined search operation by Pakistan Army
and the paramilitary Frontier Corps and contingents of the Frontier
Police at Mathra in the limits of Peshawar district of NWFP.
Three persons were killed during
a clash in the Kas Ghundi locality of Machni in Khyber Agency
of FATA. The clash ensued after suspected Taliban militants set
ablaze a truck carrying a US military jeep to Karachi near the
Machni check post.
The outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) has renewed its offer to hold talks with the Government
and said that use of tribal lashkars (militia) is not a
solution to the problem in the tribal region. The group’s spokesman
Maulvi Omar told newsmen that the TTP wanted a dialogue with the
Government for restoring peace in the tribal areas and other parts
of the country. He claimed that the Taliban were sincere in their
offer because violence was in no-one’s interest.
November 12
At least eight Taliban militants
and a solider were killed in an exchange of fire in Kabal tehsil
(revenue division) of Swat district in the NWFP.
Five persons, including four SF
personnel, were killed as a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-filled
bus into the gates of the Subhan Khaur village school in the Charsadda
district of NWFP. Two other civilians were killed as troops opened
retaliatory fire. The school was being used by the SFs for carrying
out operations against the Taliban and hence, there were no children
in the school. Fifteen people including soldiers and civilians
were injured.
A USAID official, heading a project
of the FATA Development Authority, was killed along with his driver
near the American Club in the Peshawar town. Stephen de Vance,
the chief of the USAID-funded FATA Livelihood Development Programme,
was en route to office when unidentified attackers ambushed his
car at around 9:00 am on the Ataturk Road.
The Federal Investigation Agency
(FIA) arrested former Taliban minister of Afghanistan, who served
in the position of a deputy minister of civil aviation under the
Taliban government, at the Allama Iqbal International Airport
in Lahore. He was trying to leave for Dubai. He carried a Pakistani
passport, which portrayed him as a resident of Mandi Bahauddin.
November 13
Three Afghan nationals of Tajik
tribe were killed by unidentified assailants in the Sariab area
of Quetta.
At least two Taliban militants,
including a commander identified as Ibrahim, were killed and several
others were injured after SFs retaliated to a Taliban rocket attack
on Saidu Sharif airport.
Unidentified gunmen abducted an
Iranian diplomat in Peshawar’s Hayatabad locality and killed his
police guard. According to the police and witnesses, three gunmen
with beards and flowing hair stopped Iranian commercial councillor
Heshmatollah Atharzadeh’s vehicle some distance from his house
in Phase-IV of Hayatabad, bordering Khyber Agency and took him
away.
Security forces continued their
attacks on suspected Taliban hideouts in the Shnow Ghundo, Spray,
Juma Khan Koroona, Kas Koroona and Mullah Ghani Baba areas in
Machni. Details of Taliban casualties were not available.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah
Mahmood Qureshi told a news briefing in New York that the country
has suffered huge losses, amounting to $34.5 billion, since 2001
for its role in the war on terror. Speaking to reporters after
President Asif Ali Zardari’s participation in the trilateral summit,
involving Saudi Arabian King Abdullah and Afghan President Hamid
Karzai, Qureshi said, "Pakistan paid a huge price, both in
economic and human terms, to protect itself and the world."
November 14
SFs, backed by helicopters and
tanks, launched an operation to flush out militants from areas
around Charsadda and Peshawar as part of a wider plan to establish
the Government’s writ in the Mohmand Agency of FATA. While officials
claimed that 21 militants were killed and several others wounded
in the operation, local population put the death toll at 13, including
seven militants and six civilians. One soldier was killed and
another injured.
Suspected US drones fired four
guided missiles early at a house in Aula Din Garaj Khel village
in North Waziristan, killing 12 persons and injuring three others.
The targeted house, belonging to a local tribesman Ameer Gul,
was completely destroyed in the attack. Three of the dead were
identified as relatives of Ameer Gul. Associated Press reported
that the 12 people killed included several foreign fighters. According
to an estimate, this missile attack is the 38th during
the tenure of the Pakistan People’s Party Government, while a
total of 36 such attacks took place during the Musharraf regime.
Six Taliban militants were killed
and several injured in shelling by helicopter gun ships and artillery
firing in Charsadda district and nearby Mohmand Agency in the
FATA.
The Sindh Government has imposed
a ban on circulation of the weekly newspaper Zarbe Momin Karachi
and Daily Islam, an official handout said. "The
weekly Zarbe Momin Karachi and Daily Islam contain material that
can be a source of inspiration for Jihadi outfits and youth,
which is prejudicial to the national integration and will promote
anti-state feelings, and they are liable to forfeiture for containing
objectionable material under section 99-A CrPC 1898", the
official handout said.
The Balochistan Assembly passed
a unanimous resolution condemning the attacks by NATO and United
States forces inside Pakistani territory.
The Pakistan President Asif Ali
Zardari said in New York that the US strikes inside Pakistan are
undermining efforts to win the hearts and minds of people. He
also said the attacks were being carried out without his knowledge.
He stated that the new US administration must let Pakistan deal
with the Taliban on its own, as "we want to do more ... it’s
our own war".
November 15
Nine Taliban militants, including
commander Ali Rehman from Derai, were killed in clashes with the
security forces in Swat.
The troops killed a suspected
suicide bomber and an accomplice when they fired a rocket on troops
in Shabqadar. They also seized Taliban commander Ehtishamul Haq’s
house.
Six Taliban militants were killed
as troops targeted Taliban hideouts in the Bajaur Agency of FATA.
Political authorities suspended
supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan via Torkham Border due
to security concerns on the Pak-Afghan Highway, a private TV channel
reported. The channel reported that hundreds of trucks and containers
had been stopped in Peshawar after the suspension of the supply.
Khyber Agency Political Agent Tariq Hayat told the channel that
supplies had been suspended following incidents of looting of
trucks and containers carrying oil and other supplies for the
NATO forces battling Taliban in Afghanistan.
Foreigners, including Uzbeks,
Chechens, Afghans and Saudis, are involved in cross-border activities,
which justify air strikes by international forces on Pakistani
territory, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said.
November 16
Ten militants and two tribal elders
were killed in clashes in the Gutkai and Bandarae areas of Bajaur
Agency and six militants and two civilians were killed by SFs’
shelling in the Mamond and Nawagai sub-divisions.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) has announced it will not negotiate with the Government
in future because the Government is ‘inciting common people against’
the Taliban. TTP spokesman Maulvi Umar also claimed killing 100
members of a tribal lashkar in a clash in Bajaur, and said 25
of them had been captured.
The TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud
called the ongoing military operation in Swat and the FATA ‘state
terrorism’, according to a message conveyed to the BBC on telephone
by Rehman Mehsud who claimed to be a ‘personal spokesman’ for
the TTP chief.
November 17
12 militants were killed and eight
were arrested in an overnight operation in the Shabqadar area
of Charsadda district in the NWFP. Gunship helicopters reportedly
shelled different locations in the area, including Khalil Korona,
Shanir Ghandy, Akrabdad, Juma Khan Kila, Muhab Kila and Rashkai
Korr. Shelling in the Ayesha Korr area resulted in the killing
of 12 militants.
Ten persons, including four soldiers,
were killed and 17 others were wounded in a suicide blast in the
Khawazakhela area of Swat in NWFP. A military statement said the
suicide bomber struck the security forces'' check post in an explosives-packed
vehicle at 11:15 a.m. near Gashkor. The bomber is believed to
be a teenager. Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan claimed responsibility
for the attack, adding attacks against security forces would continue
if the military operation in Swat continued.
Five Taliban militants were killed
when the SFs targeted their hideouts in the Bajaur region in FATA.
The five were killed in Siprai village, where the SFs have been
engaged in fierce clashes with militants for the past three months.
November 18
15 militants were killed and several
others sustained injuries in the ongoing military operation in
the Swat Valley in NWFP. Gunship helicopters shelled alleged militant
hideouts in Akhund and Zora Kellay in the Kabal sub-division,
killing seven militants and injuring several persons, including
civilians. Further, a soldier was killed and a civilian was wounded
in an encounter between the SFs and militants at Ningolai checkpoint.
10 persons were killed in clashes
between the Taliban and pro-government tribal leaders in Bajaur
Agency.
Eight militants were killed in
an encounter with the SFs in the Gashkor area of Khwazakhela sub-division
in Swat.
Five militants were killed while
nine persons, including five militants, sustained injuries during
a gun-battle in Mian Kellay in the Charsadda district of NWFP.
A suspected US drone fired two
missiles on a residential compound in the Janikhel area of Bannu
district in NWFP, killing four persons and injuring four others.
This was the first time that a drone intruded 70kms deep inside
Pakistani territory and hit a target in the settled area of the
NWFP. One Arab, two Turkmen and a local militant were killed in
the pre-dawn attack. A senior security official in provincial
capital Peshawar said that a major Arab al Qaeda operative was
among six militants killed in the overnight missile strike. Security
sources identified the militant as Abdullah Azam Al-Saudi, a senior
al Qaeda member who, they said, American intelligence officials
had identified as the main link between al Qaeda’s senior command
and Taliban networks in the Pakistani border region.
November 19
12 militants were killed and several
others injured when the SFs targeted their suspected hideouts
in different areas of Bajaur Agency in FATA. SFs, with artillery
and gunship helicopters, targeted hideouts in Damadola, Saparay
and Shinkot areas of Mamond tehsil (revenue division) and
Charmang, Zorbandar and Sagi areas of Nawagai subdivision.
Nine persons, including five militants,
were killed and dozens of others sustained injuries in the ongoing
military operation in Swat Valley.
Motorcycle borne gunmen shot dead
a retired major general of the Pakistan Army and his driver in
the outskirts of national capital Islamabad. Major General Ameer
Faisal Alvi from the Special Services Group had retired more than
two years ago.
November 20
At least 24 Taliban militants,
including 11 foreigners and one local commander, were killed in
the military operation in Bajaur Agency. The foreign fighters
killed in Bajaur were suspected to be Uzbek nationals. The Taliban
casualties came when SFs targeted militants in the Darbari, Saparai,
Gatki, Bagori and Zorbandar areas of Mamoond and Nawagai sub-divisions.
Fighter jets targeted Taliban
hideouts in the Ghat Piocher area of Matta tehsil in Swat,
killing 20 militants. However, the Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim
Khan said that five houses and a local school were destroyed in
the bombing, but there were no casualties.
An angry mob torched shops and
vehicles and pelted police with rocks in Dera Ismail Khan in the
NWFP after a bomb exploded at the funeral procession of a slain
Shia cleric. 10 persons were killed and approximately 40 others
were wounded in the blast. Deputy Superintendent of Police Sanaullah
Khan told that a remote-controlled bomb exploded during the funeral
of Syed Iqbal Shah at 11am.
In the Khwazakhel tehsil of
Swat, at least eight civilians, including six women, were killed
and 33 injured as SFs tried to target Taliban positions in the
Alam Ganj area.
The chief of a tribal Lashkar
(militia) and eight other persons were killed when a suicide
bomber blew himself up in a mosque in the Badan village of Bajaur
Agency. Eyewitnesses said the bomber succeeded in entering the
mosque on the premises of the house of one Malak Rehmatullah during
Maghrib prayers. Rehmatullah, a tribal chieftain and head of the
Mamond militia, and eight of his close relatives, including a
nephew, were killed.
The Baloch nationalist leader
Mir Abdul Nabi Bangulzai was released from the Quetta district
jail. Mir Bangulzai, a close aide of veteran Baloch leader Nawab
Khair Bakhsh Marri, was arrested in September 2000 in the Justice
Nawaz Marri case.
November 21
22 militants were killed and five
others sustained injuries when the SFs targeted hideouts of suspected
militants in the Damadola area of Bajaur Agency. SFs targeted
hideouts in Damadola, Tanikhwar, Sapray, Charmang, Kotki, Zorbandar,
Glokas Shenkot, Kharkay and Gutki areas of Mamond and Nawagai
sub-divisions.
The banned Sunni militant group
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) may strike in Karachi and "we need to
discourage them and increase the vigil," Adviser on Interior Affairs,
Rehman Malik, said in a meeting to review law and order in Karachi
and Sindh with President Asif Ali Zardari in the chair at the
Governor’s House in Karachi. Malik said there were 17,000 seminaries
in the country and 3,000 of them were in Karachi alone. He stated
that al Qaeda was using the LeJ, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP)
and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan for carrying out its activities.
November 22
Four Taliban militants and three
women were killed in bombing by fighter aircraft in the Bajaur
Agency. Officials said the aircraft attacked suspected hideouts
in Kas, Gatki and Kharki areas of Mamoond.
Five people, including two children,
were killed and seven others injured when a bomb exploded in a
mosque in the Tull tehsil (revenue division) of Hangu district
in the NWFP. Hangu District Police Officer Sajjad Khan told the
bomb went off at about 4:00pm (PST) during prayers in the Sewa
Gul Mosque in the Mohallah Tandaroo Sunni neighbourhood.
British terror suspect Rashid
Rauf was among the five people killed in a US drone attack at
Mir Ali in North Waziristan. The Government, however, did not
confirm his killing. A Western diplomatic source said the missile
was fired from a jet across the border in Afghanistan. Peshawar-based
intelligence officials said another low ranking al Qaeda operative
Abu Zubair Al Masri was also among the dead.
Suspected Taliban militants fired
rockets and bullets at the Lorra Pull police check post in the
Mundan area of Bannu in NWFP at about 4:00am (PST), killing at
least three policemen.
Security forces have taken complete
control of Swat’s Kabal tehsil (revenue division) in the
NWFP, a military statement said. It said the Taliban had fled
the area after heavy casualties and a team of engineers was detecting
and removing landmines and remote-controlled bombs that Taliban
had planted in the area. It said the fleeing Taliban had robbed
several houses and offices.
November 23
Five militants were killed and
several others sustained injuries in fresh air raids and artillery
shelling in different areas of the Bajaur Agency. SFs, backed
by jet fighters, gunship choppers and artillery, moved towards
the headquarters of Nawagai revenue division and adjoining villages
and took control of the area. The area, which was once a stronghold
of the militants in Bajaur, fell to the SFs for the first time
after the launch of ‘Operation Sher Dil’ against the militants
on August 6.
US missile strikes are undermining
Pakistan Army’s strategy to control the situation in the Tribal
Areas and some suicide attacks are a direct result of US attacks,
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told CNN in an interview.
He said Pakistan did not have an agreement with the US to allow
it to carry out attacks on al Qaeda and Taliban targets inside
Pakistan.
The Taliban are present in Karachi
and have links with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Sipah-e-Sahaba
Pakistan (SSP) and other banned religious organisations, but they
have no intention of carrying out attacks in the provincial capital
if not provoked by a political party or the Government, Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Mullah Omer said.
November 24
SFs claimed to have killed 25
hardcore militants during a military operation in the Michini
area of Peshawar district in the NWFP. They also claimed arresting
40 militants and seizing a huge quantity of arms and ammunition.
The NWFP’s Inspector General of Police, Malik Naveed, said a police
constable and two Frontier Constabulary personnel were also killed.
17 persons, including 15 militants,
were killed in a military operation against the militants and
fresh incidents of violence in the Swat valley.
The ongoing military operation
in Swat marked one year. During the last one year, 189 SF personnel,
including 61 policemen, 35 Frontier Constabulary, seven Frontier
Corps and 86 Army soldiers, were killed while hundreds of others
wounded. The militants abducted 66 SF personnel, including 26
police officials, 36 Frontier Constabulary and four Frontier Corps
soldiers. Around 135 important personalities were killed, 89 injured
and 39 kidnapped. The SFs killed over 700 militants during the
last one year of the ‘Rah-e-Haq Operation’. More civilians than
the militants reportedly lost their lives in the military actions,
17 suicide and 148 remote-controlled bomb blasts and other incidents
of violence.
SFs killed 10 militants and arrested
17 others in the Dera Bugti area of Balochistan. The SFs were
carrying out search operations in the Neal and Zain Koh areas
of Dera Bugti when militants ambushed them. The troops seized
heavy arms, rockets, hand grenades, light machineguns, mortar
shells and landmines from the area during their operations. The
Baloch Republican Army’s spokesman Sarbaz Baloch claimed that
SFs had killed innocent people working in fields. He told the
media on satellite phone that the troops had also used helicopters.
The SFs targeted suspected hideouts
of militants in different areas of Pandyalai tehsil (revenue
division) in the Mohmand Agency of FATA with artillery killing
five militants and injuring an equal number of them.
British-Pakistani terror suspect
Rashid Rauf is still alive. His lawyer told the BBC reports that
he had died in a US missile attack in Pakistan were "fake". The
alleged al Qaeda mastermind of a 2006 transatlantic jet bombing
conspiracy was reportedly killed at the weekend in a US drone
attack in North Waziristan. "We don’t believe that this story
is true... It is a fake story," lawyer Hashmat Ali Habib told
BBC radio, adding: "We still believe that my client, Rashid, is
alive."
November 25
Eight persons, including six Shias
and two Sunnis, were killed and several injured in separate acts
aimed at fanning sectarian violence in the Hangu and Kohat districts
of NWFP.
Three persons, including the deputy
chief of the Matta sub-division, Liaqat Ali Khan, were killed
and as many injured in incidents of violence in Swat Valley.
The NWFP Labour Minister Sher
Azam Wazir survived an assassination bid in Bannu district, as
a police pilot vehicle escorting him was blown up by a remote-controlled
explosive device. Wazir was en route to his native village Sarkikhel.
At least six Taliban militants
were killed overnight as the Pakistani Army moved in on their
hideouts in the Bajaur Agency. "Pakistani artillery pounded Taliban
hideouts and underground bunkers, killing six and injuring four
others," said local administration official Mohammad Jamil.
In the FATA, United States drones
violated the Pakistani airspace again and were seen conducting
surveillance flights over various areas of the North and South
Waziristan agencies. Provoked by the frequent flights by the drones
over their areas, local tribesmen opened fired on them, upon which
the spy planes returned to Afghanistan.
The Lashkar-e-Islami (LI) Amir
(chief) Mangal Bagh resigned as head of the organisation in a
meeting held at Daro Adda Akakhel in the FATA. Sources said the
meeting of LI consultative body was held at Daro Adda Akakhel
and was attended by elders and notables of the Shlobar, Malakdinkhel,
Sepah, Zakhakhel, Akakhel, Jamarkhel and Kamarkhel tribes of the
Khyber Agency. Mangal Bagh tendered his resignation, which was
accepted by the participants of the meeting and appointed unanimously
another Amir, Haji Haleem Shah, belonging to Kamarkhel tribe.
The spokesman for the organisation, Misri Gul, said according
to the LI charter, the new chief Haleem Shah would lead the organisation
for only three months.
Pakistan and India agreed to boost
co-operation between their civilian investigation agencies to
control cross-border terrorism, illegal immigration, influx of
fake currency and liberalise the visa regime under a joint anti-terrorism
mechanism. Officials of the interior ministry said the decisions
were taken during the composite dialogue, which reviewed proposals
by President Asif Ali Zardari for a treaty to make South Asia
a non-nuclear region and an economic hub. It was the fifth round
of home secretary-level talks. During the two-day dialogue, the
Indian side was represented by Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta
and Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah represented Pakistan.
November 26
Five persons, including three
Taliban militants, were killed in two separate clashes between
the Taliban and police in Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. The first
clash erupted when over 100 militants, believed to have entered
the city from Darra Adam Khel, besieged the house of Adezai Union
Council chief Abdul Malik. According to Malik, the Taliban ordered
him to surrender or join them. Upon refusal, they targeted his
house with rockets and hand-grenades. Malik’s two relatives, Khayal
Gul and Sher Mast, were killed while six people were injured in
the attack. Malik said security forces came to his rescue soon
and attacked the Taliban. After a two-hour battle, the Taliban
fled from the incident site leaving behind two dead bodies.
The TTP would target President
Asif Ali Zardari and his allies for their ‘pro-American’ stance,
a regional commander told journalists in the Orakzai tribal region.
Hakeemullah Mehsud, deputy to Baitullah Mehsud, accused the ANP,
PPP and MQM of "working to break up Pakistan in collaboration
with the US". The TTP also threatened to ‘cut off’ supplies to
American forces in Afghanistan if US drone attacks did not stop.
The TTP also displayed one of the two American Humvee military
vehicles they had hijacked in Khyber Agency on November 10.
November 27
Five suspected militants were
killed when a roadside explosion destroyed their vehicle in the
Tiarza area of South Waziristan. Local people claimed that suspected
militants belonging to the TTP of Baitullah Mehsud were traveling
in a vehicle when it hit a roadside landmine at Tiarza, around
25 kilometers north of Wana. Locals suspect that relations between
the groups of Baitullah Mehsud and deceased militant commander
Abdullah Mehsud soured during last couple of days, resulting in
this incident.
Pakistani intelligence agencies
have gathered credible information on the influx of foreign militants
and sophisticated weapons into Pashtun areas of Balochistan –
with some also headed to Karachi – via the Pakistan-Afghanistan
border. The sources claimed that the weapons were being supplied
to Balochistan’s Chaman, Pishin and Qila Abdullah districts for
the BLA, by ‘anti-Balochistan and anti-Pakistan quarters’. They
said Pakistani agencies had seized at least 726 missiles in addition
to other weapons over the last few days.
The LeT denied any involvement
in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in India. The LeT "strongly
condemns the series of attacks in Mumbai. The Lashkar has no association
with any Indian militant group," said Abdullah Gaznavai, chief
spokesman of the group.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani
confirmed that his Government had disbanded the political wing
of the ISI, the external intelligence service. Gilani''s statement
confirmed an announcement by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi
on November 23 that the ISI''s political wing dealing with domestic
politics had been disbanded. "The political wing of ISI has been
closed," said a brief statement from Gilani''s media office.
November 28
At least seven people, including
a policeman, were killed and 16 others, including four policemen,
sustained injuries when a suicide bomber targeted a police patrol
vehicle in Bannu district of NWFP. Local sources told that a suicide
bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a police car patrolling
the streets near Tarezi Chowk on the main Bannu-Kohat road.
Seven persons, including six of
a family, were killed in fresh incidents of violence in the Swat
Valley.
Three militants were killed when
the SFs attacked militant hideouts with gunship helicopters in
different areas of Bajaur Agency. Sources said SFs targeted hideouts
in the Charmang, Chamarkand and Chinar areas of Nawagai and Momand
sub-divisions. Troops also reportedly destroyed the hideouts and
bunkers of militants during the routine operation.
The outlawed BLA refuted media
reports quoting Islamabad-based state intelligence agencies that
it is getting external assistance for its operations in Balochistan.
Bibarg Baloch, the BLA chief spokesman, said his organisation
did not get any external support from the neighbouring states,
as reported in the media while quoting the Islamabad-based intelligence
sources. However, the BLA would delightedly accept any kind of
help offered to it by countries that sympathise with the Baloch
people in their struggle for ''independence'', he said. "We have
not been very lucky in terms of getting external support like
Islamabad. But we welcome such support from friends of the Baloch
people as we await such assistance. If Pakistan can misuse the
external assistance it gets for fighting terrorism to crush the
Baloch then what is wrong if we operate with the help of similar
assistance," he said, adding that if the Baloch had really been
getting external support, they would not have been vulnerable
to attacks by the army and other security forces.
A spokesman for Prime Minister’s
House said that a representative of the ISI will visit India instead
of the Director General to facilitate investigations into the
Mumbai terrorist attacks. Reports earlier said that Prime Minister
Dr. Manmohan Singh had requested that the ISI chief be sent to
India. The request apparently came after ‘confirmation’ of Pakistani
nationals’ involvement in the multiple terrorist attacks in Mumbai
incidents and President Asif Ali Zardari’s pledge to co-operate
with India in exposing and apprehending the masterminds behind
the attacks.
November 29
At least three people were killed
and two injured in a missile attack by a suspected United States
drone in the Chashma village of North Waziristan. The attack targeted
the house of a local tribesman Taj Muhammad, around two kilometres
south of Miranshah. There was no immediate information about the
identity of those killed. Official sources, however, denied reports
of the suspected drone attack.
November 30
Three SF personnel and eight militants
were killed and 17 SF personnel sustained injuries in a gun-battle
which followed a Taliban attack on a police checkpoint on the
Bannu-Miranshah road in Bannu district. Police said the militants
attacked the Baranpul checkpoint with rockets and mortars, killing
three SF personnel and injuring 17 others. Bannu District Police
Officer Mohammad Alam Khan Shinwari said the Taliban escaped with
the bodies of seven militants, leaving one body behind. Ahmadullah
Ahmedi, a spokesman for the TTP (Hafiz Gul Bahadar group), claimed
responsibility for the attack, which he said would continue till
US drone attacks were stopped. He also said the agreement reached
with SFs in North Waziristan would not be violated and attacks
on Government installations and functionaries would be carried
out only in the settled areas of the country.
Three policemen were killed and
five others were injured when the Taliban militants fired rockets
at a police vehicle near Lakki Marwat, said senior police official
Mohammad Alim Shinwari.
The SFs claimed killing nine militants
in artillery and air attacks on their hideouts in the Mamond tehsil
(revenue division) of Bajaur Agency. Four others were injured.
A 40-year old woman was killed when artillery shells reportedly
hit a civilian area. Air attacks were carried out in Kharkay,
Damadola, Gatkai, Irab, Gat Agra, Tarkho and Kass areas.
The United Jihad Council (UJC)
chief Syed Salahuddin has called the killing of civilians in the
Mumbai terrorist attacks ‘reprehensible’, and denied that any
member of his alliance was involved. "Let me be very clear
once again that the United Jihad Council does not approve of civilian
killings and under its code of conduct such an act is reprehensible,"
Salahuddin said. "I can say with utmost certainty that none
of the Kashmiri jihadi groups has any involvement with the events
in Mumbai," he told. Salahuddin said the attacks in Mumbai
were probably carried out by an Indian group in response to the
oppression of minorities, including Muslims.
A senior leader of the TTP accused
the Indian Government of ‘using the Mumbai attacks’ as a pretext
to defame Pakistan. "Neither Pakistan nor the mujahideen
are involved in the attacks in Mumbai, and India should not use
the occasion to blame us for something which we have not done,"
TTP deputy chief Maulana Faqeer Muhammad said. Faqeer told that
the Indian government ‘staged the attacks’ to defame Pakistan.
Pakistan is willing to have an
agreement with India to allow each other to question terror suspects
in the other country, President Asif Ali Zardari said in an interview
with CNN-IBN. Asked if Pakistan would allow India to question
people it suspects were involved in terrorism on its soil, the
president said it was ‘a procedural matter’. Asked if he would
close down terrorist training camps allegedly operating in Pakistan,
the president said if there was evidence of any camps, he would
close them down and take action against people running the camps.
He said, "I assure you, if any evidence points out to any
camps . . . we will not only close down, but [also] take action
against those people who are running those camps." Zardari
also said the people of India should see the Mumbai terrorist
attacks as an action of ‘non-state actors’. The president said
Pakistan would co-operate with India in the investigation "without
any hesitation whatsoever, no matter where it may lead".
December 1
Fighter jets and artillery killed
15 Taliban militants in Bajaur Agency. The clashes took place
in several areas of Bajaur where troops are engaged in fighting
with the Taliban since the launch of an army operation in August
2008. Local administration official Mohammad Jamil said six militants
were killed and three others injured in artillery fire in Nawagai,
while nine were killed after fighter jets bombarded their hideouts
in Mamoond. Jamil added that a woman was also killed when a mortar
hit her house in Mamoond.
11 civilians were killed and 66
persons, including two soldiers, injured when a suicide bomber
rammed his explosives-laden mini-truck into the Sangota checkpoint
in the Swat valley. The suicide blast brought the roof of a nearby
house down, leaving a woman dead. All the dead were civilians
waiting at the checkpoint. After the blast, the SFs resorted to
indiscriminate firing, which reportedly injured several people.
Meanwhile, three persons - a trooper, an arrested militant and
a 13-year-old boy - were killed when they came under fire. The
SFs subsequently arrested 17 suspected militants during a crackdown.
Eight vehicles, including two
armoured personnel carriers of the US-led NATO forces, were destroyed
and seven others partially damaged when militants attacked a parking
lot in the vicinity of the Pishtakhara village near capital Peshawar,
killing two civilians and injuring as many.
December 2
One soldier, six militants and
six civilians were killed and several others wounded in an exchange
of fire and shelling in Swat valley. According to the Government
media centre, the soldier, identified as Shaukat, was killed when
militants ambushed a convoy in the Deolai area of Kabal tehsil
(revenue division). The Inter-Services Public Relations said
that six militants were killed when helicopter gunships shelled
their positions. Six non-combatants, four of them members of a
family, were killed and several others injured when some shells
hit a civilian area.
Six Taliban militants were killed
and several others injured in security forces’ operation in several
areas of Bajaur Agency. Locals said troops targeted the Kosar,
Bai Cheena, Jannat Shah and Charmang areas of Khar tehsil with
artillery. Officials said several areas in Nawagai were now under
the army’s control.
Three persons, including two women
of a family, died and a minor was critically injured when a shell
struck their house in lower Chinari village of Lakaro tehsil
in Mohmand Agency.
Pakistan proposed a joint mechanism
with India to investigate the Mumbai terrorist attacks as part
of its offer of complete co-operation in efforts to unearth "the
hands behind the dastardly act,". The proposal was made at a briefing
by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to foreign diplomats
a day before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice begins her
visit to the region.
President Asif Ali Zardari said
that Pakistan was not involved in the terrorist attacks on Mumbai
last week. "I think these are stateless actors who have been operating
all throughout the region," Zardari said on U.S. based television
channel in an interview. He said: "The gunmen plus the planners,
whoever they are stateless actors who have been holding hostage
the whole world." Zardari informed that it was wrong to put blame
on Pakistan as the person arrested has no connection with Pakistan
and he does not posses Pakistani nationality. "The state of Pakistan
is in no way responsible," he told.
The Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (also known
as Lashkar-e-Toiba [LeT]) has reportedly expressed apprehension
about an Indian missile strike on its complex. "Will India attack
our centre?... Are they serious" said Abu Hassaan, chief administrator
at Jama’at-ud-Da’awa headquarters, known as the Markaz-e-Tayyaba.
LeT chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed has said that it will be unfortunate
if India attacked his organisation’s headquarters in Muridke,
as has been indicated in media reports, because the complex housed
only educational institutions. In an interview with a TV channel,
he denied that the centre contained any training facility for
terrorists or jihadis and said that instead of blaming
Pakistan India should focus on investigation of the Mumbai terrorist
attacks.
The US Director of National Intelligence,
Mike McConnell, blamed the LeT for the multiple terrorist attacks
in Mumbai. "The same group that we believe is responsible for
Mumbai had a similar attack in 2006 attack on a train and killed
a similar number of people," said McConnell, speaking at Harvard
University.
December 3
14 militants and seven civilians
were killed when fighter planes and gunship helicopters targeted
various areas in the Lakaro tehsil (revenue division) of
Mohmand Agency. Fighter planes and gunship helicopters bombed
the hideouts of militants in Ziarat mountain, Ghaziabad, Bagh
hill, Bhawatha, Shawa Farsh, Mamad Gatt, Alingar, Hazeena, Chinari
and Karer areas.
SFs took control of another important
town in Bajaur Agency. According to locals, troops backed by tanks
and armoured personnel carriers, secured Nawagai town, near the
Afghan border. The militants did not put up resistance and vacated
their positions before the troops’ arrival. According to sources,
militants had set up a vast network of tunnels and bunkers, as
well as ‘detention centres’, in the town.
Five people, including three SF
personnel, were killed and six others sustained injuries when
a suicide bomber rammed his auto rickshaw into a vehicle of the
SFs at Pir Qala area of Shabqadar tehsil (revenue division)
in the Charsadda district of NWFP.
Four persons were killed in fresh
incidents of violence in the Swat valley. According to the ISPR,
a convoy of the SFs came under attack from the militants in Kanju
area of the Kabal revenue division, resulting in the death of
a soldier besides injuries to two others. Following the attack,
the SFs launched a search operation in the area. They claimed
to have arrested 21 suspected militants and blown up two houses
of militants. Two persons were killed and three others sustained
injuries when a mortar shell landed on their house in Sro village
located in the militant-controlled Peochar area.
Syed Salahuddin, chairman of the
United Jihad Council (UJC), has predicted more Mumbai-like attacks
in the near future if India did not review its policy of state
terrorism against the minorities and their worship places. He
offered full support of the UJC to Pakistan in the given scenario
and said in case of a war, which it believed was out of question,
Kashmiri fighters would demonstrate what they were capable of
doing with the aggressor.
The US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice urged Pakistan to co-operate "fully and transparently"
in investigations into the Mumbai terrorist attacks. "This
is the time for everybody to co-operate and do so transparently,
and this is especially a time for Pakistan to do so," Rice
told a press conference in New Delhi. "We have to act with
urgency, we have to act with resolve and I have said that Pakistan
needs to act with resolve and urgency and co-operate fully and
transparently. That message has been delivered and will be delivered
to Pakistan," Rice said. She said that even if "non-state
actors" had carried out the attack, it would still be Pakistan’s
responsibility to take "direct and tough action" against
them.
Suspects wanted by India in the
terrorist attacks on Mumbai will be tried in Pakistan if there
is concrete evidence against them, President Asif Ali Zardari
said. He told a television channel in an interview from Islamabad
that if proof of wrongdoing surfaced, the men would be tried in
Pakistani courts and sentenced. The state of Pakistan is in no
way responsible for the Mumbai attacks, he said, which were the
work of ‘stateless’, meaning non-state, actors. LeT, he said in
answer to a question, is a banned organisation in Pakistan and
all around the world. "If indeed they are involved, we would
not know. Again, they are people who operate outside the system,"
he claimed.
The White House said that it agreed
with the bipartisan congressional commission’s report that Pakistan
was closest to the intersection of nuclear weapons and terrorism.
"I have no reason to disagree with it," said White House
Press Secretary Dana Perino when. The bipartisan Commission on
the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and
Terrorism reported earlier that if there was a WMD attack on the
United States, it would originate in Pakistan. "Were one
to map terrorism and weapons of mass destruction today, all roads
would intersect in Pakistan," the report said.
The US has given four names of
former ISI officials, including Lt-Gen (retd) Hameed Gul, to the
UN Security Council to put them on the list of international terrorists.
Gul confirmed that he was included in the list of those four or
five former ISI officials whose names had been provided to the
UN Secretary-General by the US Government to be included in the
list of international terrorists under Resolution 1267 of the
Security Council.
December 4
The SFs killed 10 Taliban militants
in Malam Jabba and Matta tehsil (revenue division) in Swat. "The
troops targeted (Taliban) hideouts in Malam Jabba and destroyed
a vehicle prepared for a suicide explosion," the spokesman of
Swat Media Centre as saying. He said that six militants were killed
in the operation. In Matta, the news agency said that troops attacked
a Taliban vehicle, killing four militants.
Jama’at-ud-Da’awa officials denied
any links with the banned terrorist group LeT at a press briefing
at their centre in Muridke, 30km from Lahore. Abdullah Muntazir,
deputy spokesman for the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa, said at the 75-acre
complex that they wanted to refute ‘propaganda’ against them and
clear their names in front of the national and international press.
Yahya Mujahid, a spokesman of the group, said that although the
group offered its philosophical support to militants in Kashmir,
they condemned the Mumbai attacks. He added that neither the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa
nor the LeT were involved in the attacks. On the status of the
group’s leader, Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, Muntazir stated that the
government of Pakistan was "not yet so weak that it would hand
over its own citizens to India."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice said that enough information was available for acting against
the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attacks and forestalling
such incidents. "There is a lot of information and it needs to
be used to get to the perpetrators and prevent them from doing
it again," she said at a news conference after meeting President
Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Chief
of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani during her brief visit
to Islamabad.
Interior Adviser Rehman Malik
denied India had provided Pakistan a list of 20 wanted suspects,
saying it had asked for three suspects who do not include Hafiz
Muhammad Saeed, the chief of the LeT. "They gave us three names,
two of them are Indian nationals – Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon
– and the third is Masood Azhar, the JeM chief," Malik said in
Islamabad. He said the two Indian nationals were not on Pakistani
soil, and India should provide evidence against Azhar so that
the "law can take its own course". He also denied India had asked
Pakistan in writing for a visit of the ISI chief.
December 5
A car bomb explosion outside an
Imambargah (congregation hall for Shia rituals) near the
Qisakhwani Bazaar in Peshawar, capital of the NWFP, killed at
least 34 persons and injured more than 150. Imambargah Alamdar
Karbala and several adjacent buildings in the Kocha Risaldar alley
were damaged and the ensuing fire engulfed buildings, markets
and vehicles. The powerful explosion also damaged electricity
wires, plunging the area into darkness. NWFP Information Minister
Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that about 20 to 25 kilograms of explosives
were used in the blast, which he said did not appear to be a suicide
bombing.
At least six persons were killed
and eight others sustained injuries when an explosives-laden vehicle
blew up in the Kalaia area of Lower Orakzai Agency. Officials
said the suicide bomber was attempting to target a local fair,
but the vehicle blew up before reaching the site when a petrol
station’s guards started firing at it. Orakzai Political Agent
Kamran Zaib told that six people were killed and eight injured
in the explosion, but local sources put the death toll at 10,
and said 15 people were injured.
Three people were killed in a
missile attack by a suspected United States drone in the Mir Ali
tehsil (revenue division) of North Waziristan. Two missiles
were fired at a house in Kateera village in Khushal Torikhel area,
around 20 kilometers south of Mir Ali, locals said. Intelligence
officials and residents said those killed in the attack were Taliban
militants. Two people were also injured in the attack.
Militants operating in the Swat
valley announced a unilateral cease-fire till the third day of
Eidul Azha in reverence of the religious festival. A spokesman
for the militants said that they had decided to announce a unilateral
truce for a week starting from today (December 6). He said the
decision was taken to show respect for Eidul Azha.
The LeT chief, Hafiz Muhammad
Saeed, has advised India to refrain from hurling baseless accusations
at Pakistan and focus its attention on solving its internal problems
and providing justice to minorities. Muslim states have always
given equal rights and protection to minorities, yet Muslims living
in secular states have been deprived of their basic human rights
and justice, he said during Friday sermon at the Jamia Qadsia
mosque in Lahore. Saeed said India was indulging in politics of
accusations and blaming Pakistan in order to hide its internal
problems.
December 6
13 Taliban militants and a trooper
were killed in two clashes in Swat district of the NWFP. The Inter-Services
Public Relations (ISPR) officials in Mingora said 11 Taliban militants
were killed in shelling by helicopters in the Nalkot area. Two
more Taliban militants were killed and four wounded in an exchange
of fire in the Sambat area of Matta. The officials also confirmed
the killing of one trooper in the same incident.
The ANP Senior Vice President,
Haji Adeel, said that the NWFP government has ‘lost control’ of
Swat district. The ANP leader also questioned the role of thousands
of army and paramilitary troops engaged in combating militancy
in the valley for more than a year. "What will be the credibility
of the military operation in Swat when houses of ministers are
destroyed and their family members are queued up for shooting,"
Adeel said at a seminar organised by the Joint Action Committee.
US Senator John McCain said in
Lahore that there is enough evidence of the involvement of former
ISI officers in the planning and execution of the Mumbai attack
and if Pakistan does not act, and act fast, to arrest the involved
people, India will be left with no option but to conduct aerial
operations against select targets in Pakistan.
December 7
At least 171 vehicles of the US-led
NATO forces, including 62 armoured personnel carriers, were torched
by armed attackers in two parking bays on the Ring Road in the
vicinity of Pishtakhara in Peshawar. Around 130 vehicles were
completely destroyed in the attack, while 40 others were partially
damaged. The attack is the biggest ever on NATO logistics in Pakistan,
during which a watchman was killed while two others were injured
when they offered resistance to over 300 attackers, who were armed
with rocket launchers, hand grenades, petrol bombs and AK-47 rifles.
A worker at the Port World Logistics on Ring Road near Pishtakhara
said 106 vehicles were parked in their parking lot, including
trucks, Humvees, cranes, fire brigade trucks and jeeps. Over 60
other vehicles were parked at the Al-Faisal Terminal, located
across the Ring Road. The attack is second in the past week after
the December 1 similar assault when two drivers were killed and
15 NATO trucks were set ablaze.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice said that there was evidence to suggest that people living
in Pakistan were involved in the recent attacks in Mumbai. "There
is evidence of involvement somehow on Pakistani soil," said
Rice. "The investigation is still ongoing… Pakistan needs
to cooperate transparently. They’ve said that they will. Clearly
there are organisations that operate with longstanding involvement
in this kind of activity (in Pakistan)," Rice added.
Pakistan''s former ISI chief Hamid
Gul said in Islamabad that the United States wants him on a UN
list of people and organisations linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Gul told Reuters the US moves against him began several
weeks ago. He said he had asked his Government for support, adding
"I don''t know why America is so much after me." Lou
Fintor, spokesman for the US embassy in Islamabad, said he had
no information, and added it was Government policy not to comment
until action had been taken either by the UN or the US Treasury''s
Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Security forces have reportedly
launched a ‘quiet’ crackdown on activists belonging to the banned
LeT, also known as Jama’at-ud-Da’awa in different parts of the
country and PoK. In Muzaffarabad, capital of the PoK, a major
army operation was under way in the city suburbs against a site
being used by the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa, which is headed by Hafiz
Mohammad Saeed. Sources said that more than 20 members of the
banned organisation and LeT ‘commander’ Zakiur Rehman Lakhwi had
been arrested. However, reports of the crackdown could not be
confirmed from the interior ministry or the Inter-Services Public
Relations. Local residents in Muzaffarabad, however, said they
had seen army personnel taking control of the area along Shawai
Nullah, some five kilometres northwest of Muzaffarabad, where
the organisation possesses a large plot of land on which several
buildings had been built. There were unconfirmed reports of an
exchange of fire. However, a Jama’at-ud-Da’awa office-bearer denied
that a crackdown had been launched on his organisation in other
areas.
December 8
Taliban torched at least 53 vehicles
destined for NATO forces in Afghanistan in an attack on the outskirts
of Peshawar, the second such raid in two days. Armed gunmen shouting
‘God is great’ attacked Bilal Container Terminal near Jamil Chowk
on the Ring Road at around 3am, said Zahid Ali, a local resident.
He said he heard gunshots and explosions after which a large part
of the terminal caught fire. City Superintendent of Police Chaudary
Ashraf said it was a sabotage attack. The number of attackers
could not be ascertained, he said, and it was not clear how they
entered the terminal and set ablaze the vehicles.
Security forces arrested an alleged
mastermind of the Mumbai terrorist attacks during a raid on a
militant camp. Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was among at least 15 people
detained on December 7 after the raid on the camp run by the banned
LeT in PoK, the officials said. "Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi is under
arrest. He was an operational commander of the Lashkar-e-Toiba,"
said a senior security official. Troops backed by a helicopter
overran the camp close to Muzaffarabad, the PoK capital, briefly
exchanging fire with militants there, a senior intelligence official
said. He said more than 12 detainees were being questioned over
any possible links to the multiple terrorist in Mumbai.
SFs raided the offices of Jama’at-ud-Da’awa
(the LeT front outfit) in Mansehra and Chakdara. The NWFP unit
chief of Jama’at-ud-Da’awa, Attique Chohan, said their charity
centre called "Markaz-e-Hafsa" was raided in Mansehra by the SFs.
He said some arrests of their personnel were also made and the
centre and its record seized by the SFs. Another small office
of the group in Chakdara in Lower Dir was also taken over by the
SFs.
The army confirmed that it has
begun an operation targeting banned organisations in the wake
of the attacks in Mumbai last month, but did not name any organisation.
"There have been arrests and investigations are ongoing," a statement
said, adding further details would be released once preliminary
investigations had been completed.
The LeT chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed
condemned a raid on the outfit’s camp. "The operation against
Jihadi organisations in Azad Kashmir is unwarranted and we strongly
condemn it… The government has shown signs of weakness by targeting
Kashmiri organisations," said Saeed. "India wants to crush the
independence movement of Kashmir using the Mumbai attacks as a
pretext," he added.
The Government has rejected India’s
demand to extradite three fugitives and urged it to share evidence
proving that elements from Pakistan had carried out the recent
terrorist attacks in Mumbai. This was communicated to India in
a demarche from Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir to Indian High
Commissioner Satyabrata Pal in response to India’s second demarche
which had listed actions it wanted Pakistan to take. "India has
been told that of the three fugitives, Pakistan doesn’t know the
whereabouts of two of them, who are Indian nationals — the infamous
Mumbai crime kingpin Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, while evidence
is needed for action against … Maulana Masood Azhar, the head
of the now banned Jaish-e-Muhammad and is a Pakistani," an official
said.
The Defence Committee of the Cabinet
(DCC) has decided to renew the offer of full co-operation with
India – including intelligence-sharing, assistance in investigations
and the formation of a joint commission – and vowed not to allow
Pakistani soil to be used for terrorist activity against anyone.
The DCC meeting which was presided over by Yousuf Raza Gilani
at Prime Minister’s House – was the first in nine years.
The Pakistani authorities have
placed restrictions on the movement of Maulana Masood Azhar, chief
of the outlawed JeM, by confining him to his multi-storeyed concrete
compound in the Model Town area of Bahawalpur in Punjab province.
Official sources said Azhar’s activities have been restricted
in the wake of the India’s recent demand to hand him over to New
Delhi. Adviser on Interior Rehman Malik said in Islamabad last
week that India has given to Pakistan a list of three persons—Maulana
Masood Azhar, Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon—for their immediate
extradition.
December 9
A child was killed and four others
were injured in a premature suicide blast in the Nari Oba area
of Buner District in NWFP. Sources said a congregation of Eid
prayer, to be performed at 9 am, in Dagger village was the apparent
target of the attack, but the suicide jacket exploded 25 meters
away from the Eidgah (open-air mosque), killing a child,
Zahid Hussain, and the suicide bomber. Four others Shakeela (6),
Stooria (9), Saifullah (8) and Muhammad Hussain (7) were wounded.
Pakistan’s permanent representative
to the UN, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, said that the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa
could be banned on the request of the UN Security Council.
Pakistan will not hand over any
suspects in the Mumbai terrorist attacks investigation to India,
but will try them under its own laws, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood
Qureshi said. The minister said India’s demands for the extradition
of suspects in the Mumbai attacks were out of the question and
that Pakistan, which has arrested 16 people since December 6,
would keep them on home soil.
Pakistan has detained the LeT
‘operations commander’, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, and the JeM chief,
Maulana Masood Azhar, Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar confirmed.
"Lakhvi was picked up on December 8. Azhar has also been picked
up," Mukhtar told.
December 10
The LeT chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed
and arrested ‘operations commander’ Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi were
among those who met the ten terrorists involved in the multiple
terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26, a senior Mumbai Police
officer said. "Hafiz Saeed, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Abu Hamza and
Kahfa are the four who played a prominent role in hatching conspiracy,
training the terrorists and uting the plan," Joint Commissioner
of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria said. Arrested terrorist Mohammed
Ajmal Amir Iman has said that Saeed allegedly gave motivational
speeches to the group of ten terrorists while they were training
in Muridke in Pakistan, Maria said. Lakhvi, presently placed under
arrest by Pakistani authorities, allegedly hatched the conspiracy
of carrying out the attacks in Mumbai. "Lakhvi was also present
to bid farewell to ten terrorists who left on November 22 from
Karachi," Maria added. Hamza and Kahfa allegedly were with the
group of ten terrorists throughout their entire training which
lasted about a year and a half in four locations in Pakistan,
Maria stated.
A UN Security Council panel declared
that Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (JuD), a Pakistan-based charity, is a front
group for LeT, the terrorist group accused of orchestrating last
month''s attacks that killed 195 persons in Mumbai. The panel
said JuD is a front for the LeT and now subject to UN sanctions
on terrorist organizations. The panel also designated four men
linked to the Mumbai attacks as terrorists subject to sanctions.
Designated as terrorists subject to UN sanctions were LeT chief
Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, ‘operations commander’ Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi,
Haji Muhammad Ashraf, its chief of finance and Mahmoud Mohammad
Ahmed Bahaziq, a financier with the group. The Security Council''s
al Qaeda and Taliban sanctions committee added them to its list
of terrorists subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms
embargo under a council resolution adopted this year.
The UN sanctions panel also described
a number of trusts and foundations as aliases for the al-Rashid
and al-Akhtar trusts, which have raised funds for Lashkar. According
to the panel, the al-Rashid Trust can be equated with the al-Amin
Welfare Trust, al-Amin Trust, al-Ameen Trust and al-Madina Trust.
The al-Akhtar Trust aliases, the panel said, are Pakistan Relief
Foundation, Azmat-e-Pakistan Trust and Azmat Pakistan Trust.
December 11
Five militants were killed and
seven others sustained injuries in an exchange of fire with the
SFs in Targhakhi area of the Mohmand Agency. A group of local
militants attacked the Targhakhi checkpoint in Pandyalai tehsil
near Ghalanai, the Agency headquarters, with mortar guns and other
heavy weapons. However, the SFs retaliated with artillery and
mortar guns from the Ghalanai headquarters and the Yousafkhel
checkpoint, killing five militants on the spot and injuring seven
others.
Six suspected militants were killed
when a missile apparently fired by a US drone struck a house in
the Azam Warsak area of South Waziristan. The missile hit a house
next to a seminary, a senior security official told. Local intelligence
officials confirmed the strike, saying the missile destroyed the
house and damaged the seminary.
Two US military trucks were destroyed
when suspected militants attacked a parking lot with petrol bombs
on the Ring Road in Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. The assailants
hurled explosives in the premises of the Bilal Parking and by
the time fire-fighters doused the flames two military vehicles
had been destroyed.
The Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (front outfit
for LeT) chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed was placed under house arrest
for three months as the countrywide crackdown on the organisation
continued.
Police sealed Qudsia Mosque, the
headquarters of Jama’at-ud-Da’awa in Chauburji Chowk, and 18 other
offices throughout Punjab province. Five offices were sealed in
Sialkot. 25 members of the organisation, including Ameer Hamza,
Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, Maulana Naseer Hamza, Saifullah Mansoor,
Da’awa’s director of public relations, Col (retd) Nazir Ahmed,
and Rajanpur District president Talib Rehman, were detained. A
large number of publications of the organisation were reportedly
seized. In Peshawar, the NWFP capital, Police sealed the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa
office in Fowara Chowk. The group’s office in Quetta, capital
of Balochistan, was also sealed. In Karachi, Police sealed the
central office of the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa in Gulshan-i-Iqbal.
A spokesman for the State Bank
said the central bank had frozen bank accounts of the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa,
its leaders and sister organisations — Al-Rashid Trust and Al-Akhtar
Trust.
"Instructions have been issued
to seal Jama’at-ud-Da’awa offices in all the four provinces as
well as Azad Kashmir," said Interior Ministry spokesman Shahidullah
Baig.
December 12
Three persons were killed in an
armed clash between militants of the banned TTP Swat chapter and
Pir Samiullah group in Mandal Dag area of Matta. The victims were
from Pir Samiullah group.
12 more containers were set ablaze
in a parking lot on the Ring Road in Peshawar, capital of NWFP.
This is the fifth attack on NATO logistics since December 1, prompting
the authorities to deploy Frontier Constabulary paramilitary troops
at the transport terminals to secure supplies. There were reports
that five rockets were fired at the Port World Logistic and the
VSF Terminal, a parking lot transshipping containers to Afghanistan
that was attacked for the third time in less than two weeks. Firing
of automatic weapons and shots were also reportedly heard after
the explosions at around 2:30 am.
After a meeting between President
Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Government
announced it will not hand over any Pakistani wanted in the Mumbai
terrorist attacks to India. The meeting focused on the current
situation against the back of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai
on November 26, sources said.
Police shut down offices of the
JuD across the country and arrested scores of operatives as it
continued a crackdown against the banned group.
The Defence Minister Chaudhry
Ahmed Mukhtar said that Pakistan had launched a crackdown on JuD
to avoid being declared a ‘terrorist state’ by the United Nations.
"Had the action not been taken, the UN would have declared
Pakistan as a ‘terrorist state’ and imposed economic sanctions…
We were left with no option but to take action against JuD,"
he told reporters at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport
in Rawalpindi.
The Jud said it would mount a
legal challenge to the decision to close it down after the United
Nations listed it as a terrorist organisation. Mohammad Talha
Saeed, son of the LeT chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, condemned the
ban, while claiming that the Jud was engaged in relief work. "Dawa
was doing welfare work across Pakistan, but the relief work has
been stopped," he told a congregation during Friday prayers
at a mosque run by the organisation in Lahore. According to him,
"There is no moral or legal justification for this action."
Later he told that the group would "go to competent courts
for our rights" and would resort to the International Court
of Justice if necessary.
December 13
Five civilians were killed when
a car hit a landmine in the Jano area of Khawazakhela tehsil
(revenue division) in Swat.
In Mandal Dag area of Matta tehsil
in Swat, Taliban militants killed four people in a gun battle
with followers of a local leader.
A commander was among four Taliban
militants killed during an operation in the Bajaur Agency of FATA.
The Taliban commander – identified only as Ismail – was killed
in Bajaur’s Nawagai tehsil, while three other Taliban militants
– all of them Afghan citizens – were killed in Sperai area of
Mamoond tehsil, adding that several other Taliban militants
were also wounded as SFs targeted their positions with artillery
and mortars.
December 14
The Taliban killed an anti-Taliban
cleric, Pir Samiullah, and his eight followers. Soon after the
killings, the Taliban took over Mandal Daag area in Swat from
the followers of the cleric. The Taliban also torched the houses
of Samiullah and 15 elders of his group, and abducted 25 of his
followers. The Taliban later launched a search operation and seized
50 rifles, a rocket launcher and others weapons from the slain
cleric’s followers.
The Maulvi Omer, spokesman for
the TTP, claimed responsibility for the attacks on NATO supplies
and termed it a reaction to the US drone attacks in the Pakistani
territory. Talking to reporters by phone from an undisclosed location,
Omer termed the recent series of attacks on terminals, used for
supplies to NATO and the US forces in Afghanistan, "a response
to the Americans for their drone strikes inside Pakistan".
He said the TTP would expedite the attacks if the US strikes continued.
The Taliban torched at least 11
trucks en route to Afghanistan carrying NATO supplies, in another
attack targeting coalition goods on Peshawar’s Ring Road. Police
official Awaz Khan said that 11 trucks were gutted in the fire
that started in the early hours of the day at Bilal Terminal on
Ring Road. 13 containers had also been destroyed.
The federal Government has launched
a crackdown against Al-Amin Trust (AAT), sealing 24 offices and
freezing its bank accounts across the country. According to a
notification issued to all the provinces, the federal Interior
Ministry ordered the sealing of all AAT offices as well as seizing
its accounts and licensed weapons. However, no arrests were made
nor any weapons recovered.
The British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown blamed the outlawed LeT for the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
Addressing a press conference at the President’s House in Islamabad
after talks with President Asif Ali Zardari, he urged Pakistan
to provide British investigators access to people detained during
a crackdown on JuD, including its chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed.
Brown had said that British Police wanted to question the suspects
because at least three UK nationals were among the people killed
in Mumbai. Proposing a new British-Pakistan pact against terror,
Brown said: "Three-quarters of most serious terrorist plots
investigated by British authorities have links to al Qaeda in
Pakistan." Announcing a grant of £6 million for upgrading
security apparatus, he said: "We have asked Pakistan to utilise
this money for the purchase of car bomb detectors and scanners
and training of the bomb disposal squads, airport security, counter-terrorism
measures and improvement of police and forensics capabilities."
There is no evidence that the
JuD is engaged in acts of violence, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood
Qureshi said. "If there is evidence (of terrorist activities)
we will take action," Qureshi said in Paris.
The ISI, Pakistan external intelligence
agency, has no links with the banned LeT, President Asif Ali Zardari
said in a Newsweek interview. Asked if the ISI had shared
intelligence with the LeT on Kashmir, Zardari said it was "something
[that happened] in the old days when dictators used to run the
country. Maybe before 9/11, that may have been a position. [But]
since then, things have changed to a great extent". He said
the group had now been banned in Pakistan, but such groups "keep
re-emerging in different forms". "Whenever there is
actionable intelligence, we move in before anyone else does,"
he said.
December 15
The Taliban in Swat killed three
people while three others were lashed for allegedly selling narcotics.
Militants reportedly beheaded two followers of rival cleric Pir
Sameeullah in the Gwalerai area of Matta tehsil (revenue
division). The Taliban had killed Samiullah in a clash on December
14 and had taken 25 of his followers as hostage.
A missile strike by suspected
United States forces killed at least two Taliban militants and
injured three others in Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan.
The missile struck the house of local tribesman Ghunchagul Wazir
in Tabitolkhel village.
Authorities in Pakistan occupied
Kashmir (PoK) have released four detained workers of the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa
(JuD) and have also withdrawn Police guards from the residence
of the group’s regional head. Chaudhry Imtiaz, Deputy Commissioner
of Muzaffarabad, the PoK capital, said Police guards had been
removed from the residence of Maulana Abdul Aziz Alvi but he had
been asked not to leave the area without informing the administration.
Maulana Alvi, who heads the PoK chapter of JuD, was put under
house arrest in his Karyan village, some 19 kilometres north of
Muzaffarabad, on December 11.
Security agencies continued the
crackdown against JuD and arrested 12 workers and sealed its assets
in different parts of the NWFP. JuD provincial spokesman Atiq
ur Rehman Chohan said 12 workers, including Mardan District chief
Murad Khan, were arrested.
December 16
SFs killed seven militants, including
a prominent commander, when the latter attacked a checkpoint in
the Safi area of Mohmand Agency. A spokesperson for the Mohmand
Rifles, a wing of paramilitary Frontier Corps, said a group of
120 militants attacked the Darwazgai-2 check-post with heavy weapons
on the night of December 15. SFs retaliated and targeted militants’
positions with artillery and mortar guns. The official said seven
militants, including an important commander Zar Muhammad alias
Zaray, and a trooper from the Mohmand Rifles, Ibad Gul, were killed
in an encounter that continued for three hours.
An oil tanker carrying fuel for
the NATO forces in Afghanistan was completely destroyed when militants
fired rockets on it at Landikotal in Khyber Agency. Sources said
the militants came in a double cabin pick-up and fired several
rockets at the oil tanker parked at the roadside near the Shalman
gate in Cantonment area. The tanker, which was full of GP8 fuel
and was bound for the US Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, caught
fire and was completely destroyed.
The Provincial Police Officer
in Balochistan, Asif Nawaz Warraich, has said that no arrest of
any JuD member was made. However, there was one office of JuD
in Quetta which was sealed. Speaking to reporters, he said the
JuD had specific activities in Balochistan. Their camps set up
for collecting relief for earthquake hit people had been closed.
He said the federal Government did not provide any list for arrests.
December 17
Seven people were killed and two
others wounded in the Swat valley of NWFP. Two bodies were found
in the Totano Bandai area of Kabal sub-division. Unidentified
persons had killed them and thrown their bodies in the fields.
Similarly, the bodies of two others were found in Sambat and Bedara
areas of the Matta sub-division. Meanwhile, in Langhar area of
Kabal, a person identified as Esa Khan was killed and his body
was recovered from the fields. In Kanju Township, a couple was
killed for having alleged illicit relations.
Militants in Balochistan attacked
an oil tanker destined for NATO forces in Afghanistan near east
of the provincial capital Quetta. "At least three armed men
intercepted a tanker carrying fuel to Kandahar, shot the driver
in his leg and spilled some 60,000 litres of oil," said local
Police official Mohammad Irshad.
The Taliban fired rockets at a
convoy of trucks taking supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan,
killing a woman and injuring a child, officials in Jamrud tehsil
(revenue division) of Khyber Agency said. Political administration
officials said the Taliban fired three rockets from an unidentified
location at a 150-truck convoy carrying supplies for NATO forces
in Takhta Baig area of Khyber Agency. The rockets missed the convoy.
However, one of them hit the house of tribesman Gohar Khan, killing
his wife and injuring his child.
In a written statement, the Minister
for Petroleum and Natural Resources informed the National Assembly
that 80 attacks on Sui gas pipelines in Balochistan in the last
five years caused a loss of PKR 526.923 million to the Government.
He said the blasts occurred at Dera Bugti, Sui, Sibi, Mastung
and Bolan areas of the province.
Authorities have reportedly claimed
neutralizing a clandestine terror network set up by the jailed
killer of Daniel Pearl inside the Hyderabad Jail and the Sindh
Government has suspended senior Police and jail officials after
a large number of cell phones, SIMs and other equipment were recovered.
Highly-placed Interior Ministry sources told that the jailed terrorist,
JeM cadre Ahmed Omar Sheikh, had also threatened General Pervez
Musharraf on his personal cell phone in the second week of November
2008 and planned to get him assassinated by a suicide bomber.
Rejecting Indian claims yet again
that there is ‘clear evidence’ suggesting the Mumbai terror attacks
originated inside Pakistan, President Asif Ali Zardari told BBC
there is still no conclusive proof. Zardari stated claims
that the sole surviving attacker had been identified by his father
as coming from Pakistan had also not been proven.
Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, chief of
the banned LeT cannot be tried without solid proof, Defence Minister
Ahmad Mukhtar said. Mukhtar said Saeed had been detained under
the Maintenance of Public Order regulation, which only allowed
detaining a citizen for 90 days. The detention could be extended,
he said, but India had not given solid proof to Pakistan about
the involvement of Saeed or the LeT in the terrorist attacks in
Mumbai on November 26, 2008. "In the absence of solid proof,
neither Hafiz Saeed nor any other leader detained at the moment
can be tried in any court of law," the channel quoted him
as saying.
December 18
Four persons, including a Security
Force official, were killed and another injured in separate incidents
of suspected sectarian violence in the Hangu District of NWFP.
The crackdown on the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa
charity continues and 55 of its senior leaders have been detained,
a private TV channel reported the Interior Ministry as saying.
An unnamed Interior Ministry spokesman said the names of 22 of
those arrested had been placed on the Exit Control List. He said
the detained men were being interrogated and no clues of their
link to the Mumbai terror attacks had been found so far.
Large areas of Bajaur and Mohmand
agencies have been cleared of ‘miscreants’ and complete Government
control would be established in the two agencies by the end of
December 2008, Frontier Corps Inspector General (IG) Major General
Tariq Khan told President Asif Ali Zardari during a briefing.
The Foreign Ministry has said
that the JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar "is wanted by the
law enforcement authorities of Pakistan and is at large."
The clarification came after Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi
told a television channel that Azhar was among the "important
people" who had been taken into custody. A few hours earlier,
Pakistan High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik told that his
Government was still looking for Azhar. "He is not under
house arrest. As far as I know, [the report of his house arrest]
is wrong. He is not in Pakistan... We don’t know where he is,"
Malik said. Last week, Pakistan Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar
told that Azhar had been "picked up."
A British Pakistani, accused of
being a high-profile al Qaeda activist, was found guilty of "directing
terrorism." The police claimed this was the first time that
someone in the U.K. had been convicted of such an offence. Rangzieb
Ahmed (33) was described by prosecutors as a key link between
British recruits and al Qaeda leaders. He and co-defendant Habib
Ahmed (29) were found guilty of possessing diaries which had names
and phone numbers of suspected leading al Qaeda operatives, including
Hamza Rabia, believed to be a former top al Qaeda leader. It was
stated that they were part of an active al Qaeda cell working
on an unknown foreign mission.
December 19
Two drivers and a cleaner were
killed when militants opened fire on an empty oil tanker near
the Landikotal Bazaar in Khyber Agency. Sources said the oil tanker
was on its way to Khyber Walikhel after supplying oil to the US
forces in Afghanistan, when the militants attacked it with light
and automatic guns, killing driver Rehan and cleaner Shabir on
the spot. The co-driver, Wasif, also sustained bullet injuries
and was rushed to the Landikotal Civil Hospital where he succumbed
to his injuries.
December 21
Six persons, including two women,
were killed and three others sustained injuries when jetfighters
targeted the Omaray area of Mamond sub-division in the Bajaur
Agency.
An attack by unidentified men
destroyed an oil tanker in the Bahadar Khel area of Khyber Agency.
However, no casualties were reported. The tanker was carrying
24,000 litres of fuel to a private company in Afghanistan. Sources
said the tanker was attacked with a rocket and machine guns.
The Taliban announced imposition
of sharia (Islamic law) and to ban cutting forest trees
in several areas of Upper Orakzai Agency of FATA. Sources said
the announcements were made in sermons from mosques in Khangarpur,
Ghundako, Kundi Mushti and Qaum Aakhel areas of Orakzai Agency,
adding the local Taliban had also banned the cutting of forest
trees in the agency.
A large quantity of arms seized
by the SFs during the military operation at Lal Masjid in Islamabad
and stored in the Aabpara Police station’s heavily guarded armoury,
is missing and was reported as ‘stolen’. Adviser to the Prime
Minister on Interior Rehman Malik has reportedly suspended the
Senior Superintendent of Police Ahmad Latif and Superintendent
of Police Shahzad Asif and ordered registration of a case against
Inspector Naeem Iqbal and 14 other Police personnel on charges
of criminal breach of trust, theft and burglary. According to
Police, the stolen arms include 47 small machine-guns, three light
machine-guns, several AK-47 rifles, rocket launchers and hand
grenades, seven rockets and 2,800 bullets.
The LeT was operating in the guise
of JuD and Pakistan would have been isolated in the world if the
group had not been banned, a private TV channel reported Federal
Religious Affairs Minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi as saying.
Suicide bombings in 2008 surpassed
the last year’s figures, with 61 attacks so far killing at least
889 people and injuring 2,072 others, a source in the investigation
agencies disclosed to The News. The total number of suicide
blasts in Pakistan since 2002 has risen to 140 to date while 56
bombers had struck in 2007. At least, for 29 times, suicide bombers
struck in the NWFP, while 16 others hit their targets in the adjacent
FATA during 2008. Swat topped the list of Districts where 11 suicide
bombers hit targets, killing 101 people and injuring 294 others.
Four suicide bombers struck in Peshawar in 2008, killing 99 and
wounding 226 others. Punjab witnessed 10 suicide blasts with five
in Lahore alone. Three suicide bombers hit their targets in the
federal capital Islamabad during 2008. Apart from the killing
of three alleged bombers in Karachi, no suicide attack took place
in the entire Sindh province. A single incident was reported in
Balochistan when a suicide bomber blew himself up, killing a young
girl student and injuring 22 persons in Quetta on September 23.
Apart from 60 suicide bombers, who accomplished their mission,
12 were those who were caught by the security agencies before
hitting their targets. They are still being interrogated in Police
custody. All the tribal agencies, Khyber, Mohmand, Bajaur, Orakzai,
Kurram, North Waziristan and South Waziristan have witnessed either
one or more suicide attacks during 2008. The Districts and towns
where suicide attacks occurred during the current year include
Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Bhakkar, Attock, Peshawar, Mardan,
Parachinar, Swat, Darra Adamkhel, Landikotal, Bannu, Bara, Dera
Ismail Khan, Dir Upper, Buner, Charsadda, Hangu and Quetta.
December 22
23 people, including 15 militants,
were killed in a ground operation against the militants and other
incidents of violence in Shakardara area of Swat District.
The ISPR-run Swat Media Centre
(SMC) said SFs launched a ground assault against the militants
in Shakardarra, the stronghold of Maulana Fazlullah-led militants.
It said SFs started a search-and-cordon operation early in the
morning, backed by gunship helicopters, and killed 15 militants,
besides injuring scores others, and destroyed their command and
control centres. According to a SMC press release, the troops
were advancing in a calculated way with a view to avoiding civilian
casualties. However, the press release claimed that fleeing militants
were using local population as human shield and were firing at
the advancing SFs, but the troops were exercising restraint. The
SFs also conceded casualties of two soldiers besides injuries
to an equal number of SF personnel.
Seven suspected militants reportedly
belonging to the Punjab province were killed and several others
sustained injuries when three US spy planes fired missiles at
two vehicles and a house at Karikot, Azam Warsak and Dhog villages
of South Waziristan Agency (SWA). Officials and tribal sources
told from Wana, headquarters of SWA, that the CIA-operated spy
planes fired three missiles, two at vehicles parked at Karikot
and Azam Warsak villages, and another at a house, which did not
explode. They said the Maulana Nazeer-led Ahmadzai Wazir and Punjabi
Taliban had installed heavy weapons on both the vehicles from
which they fired at the drones in the morning. Sources close to
the militants said three militants hailing from Punjab were killed
at Karikot village where the drone fired a Hellfire missile at
a double-cabin pick-truck parked near the village. Similarly,
they said, four more suspected militants, also from Punjab, died
when their truck was hit by the pilotless spy plane. Villagers
in Wana said another missile, which the drone had fired at a home
at Dhog, could not explode.
Incidents of violence and mortar
shelling in Shakardarra killed six persons, including two women,
and injured eight others. A mortar shell killed two persons, including
Arjumand and his daughter-in-law, while four others sustained
injuries. Three bodies were found in Kanju in the Kabal sub-division.
One was identified as Akbar Ali of Mardan while the other two
could not be identified. In Faizabad, militants shot dead a civilian,
identified as Rahmat Ali.
Baitullah Mehsud, central head
of the TTP, announced full support to the army against India if
it makes any aggression against the country. "Thousands of
our well-armed militants are ready to fight alongside the army
if any war is imposed on Pakistan," Baitullah said from an
undisclosed location. He said the time had come to wage a real
jihad they had been waiting for. "We know very well
that the visible and invisible enemies of the country have been
planning to weaken this lone Islamic nuclear power. But the "mujahideen"
will foil all such nefarious designs of our enemies," said
the TTP chief. Baitullah said he wanted to assure the nation,
Government and army that they should not worry about Pakistan’s
western borders with Afghanistan as, according to him, thousands
of his armed fighters had already been deployed to safeguard the
strategically important frontier. Besides thousands of armed militants,
he claimed, hundreds of would-be bombers were given suicide jackets
and explosives-laden vehicles for protection of the border in
case of any aggression by the Indian forces. "Our mujahideen
would be in the vanguard if fighting broke out. Our fighters will
fall on the enemy like thunder," he stated.
Adviser to the Prime Minister
on Interior, Rehman Malik, revealed that the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
(LeJ) carried out the terrorist attack on the Marriott hotel in
Islamabad. Answering a question in the National Assembly, he said
investigations into the Marriott attack had been completed. He
said the truck used in the attack was loaded with ammunition in
Jhang and it entered Islamabad via Rawat. Two boys from Toba Tek
Singh, who had been arrested, facilitated the terrorist act and
a charge-sheet against them had been submitted in court.
The Foreign Office in Islamabad
confirmed that the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi has received
a letter written by Mohammad Ajmal Amir alias Ajmal Kasab, the
lone LeT militant arrested during the multiple terrorist attacks
in Mumbai on November 26.
December 23
SFs claimed to have killed seven
militants in Shakardara, while six other people were killed in
fresh incidents of violence in the Swat Valley. A military official
said SFs also destroyed the militants’ positions in Shakardara.
He said troops suffered no loss in the operation.
The NWFP Assembly asked the federal
Government to initiate talks with the local Taliban for the restoration
of peace, saying military operations were not a solution to the
deteriorating law and order. The province’s security situation
dominated the discussions in the House, with some opposition members
alleging the Government had lost its writ in the Tribal Areas.
Pakistan has ‘satisfactorily complied’
with UN sanctions on terrorist groups, including the JuD, a senior
United Nations official has said. Richard Barrett, co-ordinator
of the UN Security Council’s (UNSC) Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions
Monitoring Committee, told CNN-IBN television that it was
difficult to implement the sanctions completely, but the UN had
found all Pakistani agencies were co-operative. The committee
has the task of monitoring sanctions imposed by the UNSC on declared
terrorists. "It is very difficult for a state to implement
that (sanctions) completely, but yes in a way the Pakistani government
is working to ensure fruitful compliance," he said.
December 24
11 Taliban militants were killed
and several others injured when the SFs attacked their hideouts
in the Shakardara area of Swat District in the NWFP. A Swat Media
Centre spokesman said the SFs, backed by gunship helicopters and
artillery, had targeted the Taliban locations at Shakardara in
the Matta tehsil (revenue division) and killed 11 Taliban
militants. The SFs also consolidated their positions in Sangota,
he added. At least 22 Taliban militants and two soldiers have
been killed during the last two days of the operation at Shakardara.
The TTP chief, Baitullah Mehsud,
said that ‘hundreds of thousands of suicide bombers’ are ready
to defend Pakistan in case of war with India. According to a statement,
he said, "Despite our differences with the government, the
protection of Pakistan and its people is as much our duty as it
is of the armed forces. The armed forces and the nation do not
need to worry about the western borders in case of an Indian attack."
The NWFP Inspector General of
Police, Malik Naveed Khan, said that 154 Policemen were killed
and 522 wounded in the fight against militancy and terrorism in
2008. Talking to reporters at Nowshera, he also said Hangu, Kohat,
Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan have been declared as NWFP's most
sensitive Districts.
December 25
Four persons, including two women,
were killed in the ongoing military operation in the Swat valley
of NWFP. All the dead belonged to Alamganj town of Khwazakhela,
where SFs have been engaged in an operation against the Maulana
Fazlullah-led militants.
SFs killed four Taliban militants
in the Mamoond tehsil of Bajaur Agency in the FATA. According
to a private TV channel, the SFs continued operations against
the Taliban in different areas of the tehsil. The SFs also destroyed
a number of Taliban hideouts.
The Maulana Fazlullah-led militants
operating in Swat Valley have announced a complete ban on female
education from January 15 and warned violators of harsh action.
Shah Dauran, the vice chief of Swat militants and in charge of
the FM radio, announced that no Government or private educational
institution would enroll girls. He said all schools and colleges
should stop female education by January 15. He threatened to blow
up all schools violating the ban, adding the schools providing
education to girls would be forced to close. The militants in
Swat have so far reportedly bombed or torched around 100 girls’
schools to forcibly stop girls from going to school in the district.
December 26
Seven persons were killed and
10 others, including three SFs personnel, were injured in the
ongoing military operation in Swat Valley.
In a suspected sectarian incident,
unidentified gunmen shot dead five persons, including a senior
Government official, in the vicinity of Gilgit town. Abdul Wahid,
the Director of Agriculture Department, one of his associates,
his wife and a child and his driver were killed in the ambush
after more than one of the assailants opened indiscriminate firing
on his vehicle. The deceased director was reportedly on his way
to office in the morning when his vehicle came under fire from
both sides of the road in an apparently sectarian motivated but
highly organised target killing near Naikoi area, about 10 kilometers
from Gilgit town. A senior Government official confirmed the deaths,
saying at least three suspects had been arrested.
Pakistan is reportedly moving
nearly 20,000 troops from the FATA to Kasur and Sialkot amid reports
of Indian troop movement and rising tensions between Islamabad
and New Delhi. An unnamed senior military official said the redeployed
14th Division would "counter any misadventure by India". "The
troops have been moved from the western border areas where the
operation [against Taliban] is not going on. But this is a limited
movement to reinforce our defence on the eastern border," the
official said. He said Pakistan Army had restricted the leaves
of its troops and officers in view of the security situation.
Two units of the Pakistan Army have been gradually withdrawn from
the Lower Dir district bordering the Bajaur Agency and Afghanistan’s
Kunar province while troops have also been pulled out of South
Waziristan.
December 27
Approximately seven persons were
killed in fresh incidents of violence in Swat District while SFs
claimed killing 34 militants in the four-day operation in Alamganj
area of Khwazakhela. A press release of the Inter-Services Public
Relations (ISPR) said SFs had killed 34 militants, including an
important commander Abdul Aziz alias Kotay, during the four-day
operation. The troops suffered two casualties, it further said.
Three persons were killed when a house in Wenai was hit by a mortar
shell, allegedly fired by the SFs, while four others sustained
injuries. Locals said SFS targeted the suspected hideouts of militants
from the Wenai checkpoint, resulting in the casualties besides
the damage to houses. In a similar incident, three persons, including
a child, were killed in the Totano Bahdai area of Kabal sub-division.
A beheaded body was found in Ranial area of Matta sub-division.
Four people, including three children,
of a family were killed when a shell landed at their house in
the Bajaur Agency of FATA. The shell fired from an unidentified
location hit the house in the Mandal area of Bajaur, sources said.
December 28
43 people were killed when a suicide
bomber detonated his explosives-laden car near a polling station
in a Government school in the Buner District of NWFP. 16 persons
were injured in the blast believed to have been carried out to
disrupt the by-election for a National Assembly seat. "It
was apparently a suicide attack," Deputy Superintendent of
Police, Arsala Khan, said, adding the bomber detonated his explosive-laden
car parked near camps set up by different parties in front of
the school in Shalbandi village, 5kms from the District headquarters
of Daggar. The Swat unit of the TTP claimed responsibility for
the attack and said it had been carried out to avenge the killing
of its six members in the area four months ago.
Five persons, including a woman,
were killed in separate incidents of violence in Swat Valley.
Three persons were killed by suspected
militants on charges of ‘spying for the United States’ forces
in Afghanistan and their bodies were thrown on the main Bannu-Miranshah
Road.
December 29
The death toll from the December
28 suicide attack near a polling station in the Buner District
of NWFP increased to 43 after seven bodies were retrieved from
the debris overnight.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
denied that the Government has a secret agreement with the Taliban
which states the Taliban will not create unrest in the Tribal
Areas if troops are withdrawn amid rising tensions on the eastern
border. He told reporters in Islamabad that the Government would
not support the ‘establishment of a parallel authority’ in the
Tribal Areas.
December 30
Five militants and three civilians
were killed and several others injured when SFs targeted suspected
militant hideouts in different parts of Bajaur Agency. SFs resorted
to heavy mortar shelling after militants fired five missiles towards
Khar, regional headquarters of Bajaur Agency, from Kohi Mor and
Maram Ghundai areas. They said that three missiles landed in the
Civil Colony, one fell near a check post in Fajja and one hit
the Siddiqabad area. However, no casualty was reported in these
missile attacks. The SFs countered the attack and fired mortar
shells to target the militants’ positions. Two militants were
consequently killed and a number of hideouts destroyed in the
shelling on Kohi Mor and Maram Ghundai hills, said official sources.
They also said a mortar shell fell in the Tope area, killing three
civilians and injuring one. Officials added that three more militants
were killed when SFs retaliated to an attack on a check post in
the Zor Bandar area, about 18 kilometers from Khar.
Pakistan suspended supplies to
more than 65,000 NATO and United States troops in Afghanistan
when SFs imposed curfew in and around Jamrud tehsil (revenue
division) of Khyber Agency to initiate a military operation against
the Taliban. Two militants were among five people killed in the
joint operation by military and paramilitary forces. "We have
launched crackdown against people creating disturbances, and army,
paramilitary and levy force is jointly conducting the operation,"
Khyber Chief Administrator Tariq Hayat said in Peshawar. Hayat
also said the operation was targeting six Taliban-linked organizations.
The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza
Rice, has said that the existence of alleged safe havens in FATA
has allowed the resurgence of the Taliban in the region. "Part
of the problem there is that nobody has been able to deal with
the sanctuary across the border in that ungoverned part of Pakistan,"
said Rice. She also said Pakistan must "better handle on what’s
going on in the Northwest Frontier, because that is the place
from which the Taliban is resurgent."
December 31
Three women and a boy of a family
were killed and six persons, including four women, were injured
when a rocket hit a house in Darra Adamkhel in the NWFP. Officials
said the rocket fired from some location in the hills near the
town blew up the house, killing the three women and the boy on
the spot. Six other members of the family were injured. Sources
said this was the first rocket attack in Darra Adamkhel after
a lull of one month. They said militants had escaped from the
area to the Orakzai Agency after a military operation was launched
in the area.
SFs have flushed out the Taliban
from various areas of Salarzai tehsil (revenue division) and Khar
area of Bajaur Agency, Daily Times reported. The areas
cleared of Taliban presence include Arrang and Barrang in Utmankhel
tehsil, Roghgan and Pashat in Salarzai tehsil and
Khar area of Bajaur. In other areas, the SFs continued targeting
Taliban positions with artillery and mortars, but there were no
reports of casualties.