Dozens killed in Khyber clash, suicide bombing
By Jennifer Rowland
Friday, March 2, 2012 - 9:46 AM
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Event notice: Please join the New America Foundation's National Security Studies Program on TUESDAY, March 6 for a conversation with Daud Khattak, a veteran Pakistani journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (NAF).
Bloody clash
At least 10 Pakistani soldiers and 23 militants were killed Friday in a battle sparked when dozens of militants attacked a hilltop military outpost in the remote Tirah Valley in northwestern Khyber Agency (Reuters, CNN, BBC, AP, NYT, ET, The News). Later, a suicide bomber detonated his vest outside a mosque in the Tirah Valley just after Friday prayers, killing at least 23 people (AFP, AP). Gunmen in Peshawar shot and killed an intelligence official identified as Bashir Khan on Friday (AFP).
Taliban spokesman Mohammad Afridi said Thursday that the insurgent group was responsible for killing a Chinese woman who was gunned down in a market in Peshawar on Tuesday, to avenge what he called atrocities carried out by Chinese security forces in China's predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang (AP, Reuters, DT). Bonus read: Brian Fishman, "Al-Qaeda and the Rise of China" (TWQ).
Members of Pakistan's provincial assemblies voted Friday for members of the indirectly elected upper house of the federal parliament, with 54 of the 104 seats available to be filled (AFP, BBC, AFP/ET). Opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan voiced his disappointment at Senate seats being "publicly auctioned," and called for the "bad fish" responsible for the practice to be thrown out of parliament (Dawn). And the New York Times' Eric Pfanner has a must-read on Pakistan's transparency in the ways in which it wants to censor the Internet, including an open advertisement for submissions on the "development, deployment and operation of a national-level URL filtering and blocking System" (NYT).
Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna on Thursday welcomed the Pakistani federal cabinet's decision this week to approve a list of banned goods, allowing all other goods to be traded with India, and also to phase out this negative list over the next ten months (AFP, Dawn, ET). Meanwhile, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar flatly rejected U.S. pressure to drop a gas pipeline deal with Iran, saying the project is "in Pakistan's national interest and will be pursued and completed irrespective of any extraneous considerations" (WSJ, Dawn, ET, ET, CNN, BBC, AP).
Let the bidding begin
The Afghan government next week plans to auction off a section of the oil-rich Afghan-Tajik basin believed to hold at least 600 million barrels of oil (Bloomberg). Securing an investor will be a step toward establishing the economic independence Afghanistan will desperately need when NATO withdraws in 2014.
Western and Afghan officials confirmed Friday that two U.S. troops were killed Thursday at a base in Kandahar by two Afghan soldiers and a civilian accomplice (AP, Reuters).
Film fury
Right-wing Hindu activists belonging to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad stormed the set of Hollywood director Katherine Bigelow's movie on the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Chandigarh, India on Friday (AFP). The activists tore down Urdu language signs that had been erected, as VHP secretary Ramkrishna Srivastava rejected the idea that Indian markets should look like Pakistani markets.
-- Jennifer Rowland
Capt Abdul Qadir Embraced Shahadat in Khyber Agency, Thirty-four militants and three soldiers, including an officer, were killed and eight others sustained injuries during a clash in the Shalobar area in Bara sub-division of Khyber Agency on Thursday.
A spokesman for the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the militants opened fire at the paramilitary Frontier Corps soldiers while they were carrying out a search operation in the area.
Three FC men died on the spot while eight others sustained bullet injuries. The spokesman claimed security forces in retaliation killed 34 militants. He said the fighting continued for sometime and the troops secured the control of the area and resumed the search operation.
Among the three FC personnel killed in the attack was Captain Abdul Qadir Khan, hailing from Mardan. An ISPR statement praised the late captain for his talent, bravery and commitment to his profession.
It said right from his school days to the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA), Capt Abdul Qadir always remained on the top. He was commissioned in the Pakistan Army in 2003 and served on various appointments.
In 2010, Capt Abdul Qadir was posted to the Frontier Corps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and took an active part in various operations conducted against the terrorists. “An extremely daring and selfless officer, he would always be seen at the forefront of action,” said the ISPR statement, adding that Capt Abdul Qadir was a simple, honest, hardworking and obedient officer and his conduct and behaviour were exemplary.
The statement said he respected his colleagues and seniors and was a good team leader. “Capt Abdul Qadir Khan fought bravely along with his brave soldiers and repulsed militants’ attack, causing heavy losses to terrorists; in the process, he along with two other security personnel embraced Shahadat,” the statement said. The captain is survived by a widow and a son.
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in Islamabad, Azad Kashmir, Balochistan, etc.
Bombing, gas and oil pipe-lines supplying oil and gas to locals...
Killing local tribes men and women.......
Abductions.....
These are some of the tactics the foreign-supported terrorists are deploying in the region. They are no friends of Pakistan or Muslims. A sight of fist full of dollars can get them to do anything.
is the 'wage being paid by CIA to hundreds of informants in Baluchistan, in Pak Rupees this is Rs45,500. This is a descent salary for an software engineer just out of university.
No qualifications needed, just intimate knowledge of the areas and the people.
US Citizenship thorough CIA, not just earning tax-free dollars.
How many terrorists is US harbouring?
India - next battle cry for Islamic fundamentalists
Terrorists used riots in China’s Xinjiang province as an excuse to kill a Chinese woman in Peshawar, Pakistan.
If the Uyghurs find safe haven in coming Pakistan-ruled Talibani Afghanistan, Pakistan would be turning its attention away from India.
But it is doubtful - because Pakistan’s first and foremost aim is to destabilize India and then take it over after Pakistan reimposes Taliban rule over Afghanistan.
Rulers of Islamic India then will turn their full attention to China. Palistan’s all-weather friendship with China will continue atleast until then.
......piece by Mart Martel. I'd love to ask you how old you are but I know you can't count that high.
...the Great Game is being played in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Always eager to stab Pakistan in the back, India with support of other, local and not so local, intelligence agencies, are creating havoc in the region.
NEW TERROR groups are emerging backed by Pakistan's die-hard 'friend-enemy' India, Afghan intelligence, CIA etal.
Often the Pakistan has provided the Americans with hard evidence backed by photographs and videos. Often the Amrcians have been slow to take action agaionst those countires.
The region is in chaos, not because of Pakistan but because of India want a strong foot-hold in Afghnaistan and use the territory to attack casue further chaos in Pakistan.
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Scrolls » Afghanistan, Pakistan, Taliban » US Middle East BlogsLong War Journal
Long War Journal - 2 March 2012 22:29 CET
55 Pakistanis killed in violence in Khyber
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At least 55 Pakistanis were killed in the contested tribal agency of Khyber today in a suicide bombing outside a mosque and an ambush on a military outpost. The outburst of violence takes place just two weeks after Khyber’s political agent said military operations have “broken the back” of terrorists operating in the tribal agency.
In the first attack, the Lashkar-e-Islam, a radical, Taliban-like group that operates in Khyber, killed 10 Pakistani soldiers after ambushing a military checkpoint in Khyber’s Tirah Valley. Pakistani troops manning the outpost returned fire and claimed to have killed 23 Lashkar-e-Islam fighters.
In the second attack, a Taliban suicide bomber detonated his vest outside a mosque in the Tirah Valley known to be frequented by members of the Lashkar-e-Islam. Twenty-two people were reported killed. The Lashkar-e-Islam claimed that only six of their fighters were killed in the attack.
The Taliban claimed credit for the suicide attack, and said it was carried out to avenge the deaths of several Taliban fighters at the hands of the Lashkar-e-Islam last month, according to the BBC.
Today’s attacks cap a week of violence in Khyber, which included the killing of two women and a child in an IED attack on Feb. 29, and a clash on Feb. 24 that resulted in the deaths of seven Lashkar-e-Islam fighters and three Pakistani soldiers.
The week of violence occurs after the tribal agency’s political agent said a military operation designed to sever the Tirah Valley from other areas of Khyber was so successful that it has “broken the back of Lashkar-i-Islam that has remained unchallenged in the area for seven years.”
The Lashkar-e-Islam is run by Mangal Bagh [for more information, see LWJ report, A profile of Mangal Bagh]. The group has established its own Taliban-like government in large areas of the tribal agency, including in Bara, Jamrud, and the Tirah Valley. It also provides recruits to battle US and Afghan forces across the border, and has attacked NATO’s vital supply line moving through Khyber before it was shut down by the Pakistani government last November. The Pakistani military has targeted the Lashkar-e-Islam during multiple operations over the past five years, each time declaring the group defeated. But the military has failed to dislodge the group from power.
The Lashkar-e-Islam occasionally allies with the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, and occasionally feuds with the terror group. Tariq Afridi, a powerful Taliban commander based in Darra Adam Khel, has taken control of Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan’s operations in Khyber.
Lashkar-e-Islam’s main enemy, particularly in the Tirah Valley, was the Ansar-ul-Islam, a rival radical Deobandi group based in the area that is supposedly banned by the Pakistani government. In the past, the two groups have fought each other for control over the Tirah Valley, and have even attacked each other using suicide bombers. The Lashkar-e-Islam has gained the upper hand over the Ansur-ul-Islam over the past several years.
Both the Taliban and the Lashkar-e-Islam are known to operate bases and training camps in the Tirah Valley as well as in Bara and Jamrud. These safe havens in Khyber enable these terror groups to launch attacks inside Pakistan as well across the border in Nangarhar province in Afghanistan. In November 2008, the US military attacked Taliban forces in the Tirah Valley after they retreated across the Pakistani border from Nangarhar. US strike aircraft and artillery killed seven Taliban fighters during the hot pursuit.
The US has also launched several drone strikes in Khyber while hunting senior terrorist leaders. In 2009, US Predators killed Ibn Amin, a Taliban and al Qaeda commander, in one of four strikes between Dec.16-17 in the Tirah Valley. Amin was the commander of the Tora Bora Brigade, one of six formations in al Qaeda’s Lashkar al Zil, or Shadow Army. He operated in the Swat Valley.
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Microsoft project 2010
Indubitably. The idea that it all started w. Saddam invading Kuwait is bogus. The idea that 9/11 wasn't a direct result of Gulf War 1 is equally specious. Saddam had been attacking Iran (partially) on America's behalf for years, he was under cutting OPEC heavily and was the best puppet we ever had but excuses had to be found to turn the world's democracies into police states while gaining public support for taking over the entire Middle East. It is the powerful allies of the oil States like Russia that will do more than sting if the powers behind spokesman Bush continue to lead and/or if a change of administration makes no difference in the end..
"Is rio orange war always forfait mobile illimite inevitable ?"
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