Pakistan Security Brief

Pakistan Security Brief - August 24, 200

Over the weekend militant commander Faqir Muhammad announced that a shura had selected Hakimullah Mehsud as the new leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a report conflicting with statements made by TTP deputy Wali-ur-Rehman indicating he was in control of the TTP; Pakistani police reportedly arrested thirteen Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants in Karachi during a raid on Sunday, seizing narcotics and bomb-making materials; Pakistani's interior minister claimed that members of Beitullah Mehsud's extended family had been executed by Taliban militants on spying charges; the Pakistani government rejected militant leader Hafiz Gul Bahadur's calls for a cease fire during the month of Ramadan; a suicide bombing in Peshawar killed three people on Sunday.�

• On Saturday, militant commander Maulvi Faqir Muhammad declared that Taliban deputy Hakimullah Mehsud had been selected by a 42-member shura to be the new head of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Faqir retained the position of first deputy for himself. On the same day Wali-ur-Rehman, another TTP deputy and a strong contender for the position, claimed during an interview with AP that he was in control of the TTP network. He claimed Beitullah Mehsud had handed him control two months ago and that a new leader would be selected "within five days." Rehman's statements did not reference the claim that Hakimullah Mehsud had been appointed leader of the TTP.[1]�
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• Pakistani police arrested thirteen militants including seven Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) members in Karachi on Sunday. Heroin and bomb-making materials were seized during the raids. The police claimed the arrests "foiled major terrorist attacks and provided clues to how drug sales to Asia and the Persian Gulf help fund the Taliban."[2]
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• Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik claimed that Beitullah Mehsud's father-in-law, Ikramuddin, and other family members had been executed by the Taliban on charges of spying for the U.S. Ikramuddin was the father of Beitullah's second wife who was killed alongside the TTP chief in the drone attack on Ikramuddin's house on August 5.[3]
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• Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Sunday that the government had rejected militant commander Gul Bahadur's call for a ceasefire during the month of Ramadan. He said the Taliban had violated such accords in the past and that "the operation against the militants would continue even in the holy month of [Ramadan]."[4]
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• A suicide bombing in Peshawar killed three people on Sunday. The attacker detonated the device outside the home of the brother of a spokesperson for the "Taliban-linked extremist group" Ansar-ul-Islam. The spokesperson was killed by a remote-controlled bomb on Saturday. Police suspect the attack to be the latest incident in a long feud between rival militant groups Lashkar-e-Islam and Ansar-ul-Islam in Khyber agency.[5]
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• Unknown gunmen shot and killed a 'pro-government' tribal leader from the Ahmedzai Wazir tribe along with other relatives of his on Sunday in South Waziristan Agency. One of the dead was said to be an uncle of the late Pakistani Taliban commander, Nek Muhammad.[6]
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• An Afghan journalist was shot and killed by unknown gunmen during his return to Afghanistan as he traveled through Khyber Agency of the FATA. The journalist was the Peshawar bureau chief for an Afghan television channel and a well-known critic of the Taliban. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.[7]
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• In Swat, Pakistani security forces arrested forty people on Sunday. In addition, twelve militants surrendered to the authorities in various parts of the district.[8]