Pakistan Security Brief

Retaliatory operation expands to Tirah Valley, at least 56 dead; PTI’s Imran Khan says he will support military operation against TTP; Seven Levies personnel dead and ten others injured in Balochistan attack on tourist; Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claims Balochistan attack on Shia pilgrims; Seven killed and nine injured in attack on police providing security for a polio team in Charsadda; Militants destroy NATO tanker in Quetta, no casualties; Blast near Karachi University kills one, injures three; Gunmen kill prayer leader in Orangi Town; Grenade attacks kills three in Lyari; TTP distances itself from attacks on polio teams, threatens Karachi Central Jail officials; Government under pressure to take stronger military action against TTP.

Military Operation in the Tribal Areas

• On Wednesday, military strikes in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) retaliating for attacks on soldiers in Bannu and Rawalpindi in days previous spread to the Tirah Valley, which runs through Khyber, Orakzai, and Kurram agencies. The total death toll has reportedly risen to at least 56 people. Security sources claim that most of the dead in North Waziristan agency are Uzbek militants.[1]

• On Wednesday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan said that he will support the army if it chooses to carry out a military operation against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). He also criticized the government for its handling of talks with the TTP.[2]

Militancy

• On Wednesday, in Darin Garh, Mastung district, Balochistan, gunmen killed seven Levies personnel who were guarding a Spanish tourist. The tourist and nine others were injured. One of the gunmen also died in the clash, and was identified as an Uzbek national.[3]

• On Wednesday, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), a sectarian militant group, claimed responsibility for the Tuesday attack on a bus full of Shia pilgrims in Balochistan, which killed 22 people. An LeJ spokesman said that the attack was “revenge for the killing of Muslims in the whole country.”[4]

• On Wednesday, the families of the victims of the Balochistan bus bombing staged a protest in Quetta and refused to bury the bodies of the victims.[5]

• On Wednesday, a bomb blast in Charsadda district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa killed seven people and injured nine. Six of the dead were policemen who were on their way to provide security for a polio immunization team.[6]

• On Wednesday, unidentified gunmen fired on a polio vaccination team in Bukhari Muhalla, Sibi district, Balochistan, but no one was injured.[7]

• According to a Wednesday report in Dawn, the TTP has distanced itself from the spate of attacks on polio vaccination teams, saying through spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan that, after consulting with “Muslim medical experts,”  some of the TTP’s “doubts have been removed.” However, others within the group continue to oppose polio vaccinations, including Maulana Saleh Qassam, the editor of the TTP’s magazine, who said that because of Dr. Shakil Afridi, a doctor who helped the U.S. under the guise if an immunization drive, he is against vaccinations.[8]

• On Tuesday, a Bomb Disposal Unit official was injured while attempting to defuse a bomb in Loni, Dera Ismail Khan district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.[9]

• On Tuesday, a militant in the custody of security forces in Charbagh, Swat district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa died, allegedly from a heart attack.[10]

• On Wednesday, militants in Quetta lit a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) tanker on fire, but caused no casualties.[11]

• On Wednesday, a Bomb Disposal Squad in Chaman, Qilla Abdullah district, Balochistan successfully defused a 5-7 kilogram bomb.[12]

• On Tuesday, a bomb blast near Karachi University killed one person and injured three others.[13]

• On Wednesday, gunmen in Orangi Town, Karachi killed a prayer leader.[14]

• On Wednesday, three people died in grenade attacks in Lyari, Karachi.[15]

• According to a Wednesday report in The News, the TTP issued a threat to the officials of Karachi’s Central Jail, warning them that they could be targeted due to their treatment of TTP prisoners held there.[16]

U.S-Pakistan Relations

• On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson said that the U.S. will strengthen its economic ties with Pakistan, and that talks with the TTP are a Pakistani internal issue.[17]

Domestic

• According to a Wednesday report in The Wall Street Journal, the Pakistani government has come under increased pressure, both from hawkish domestic elements, and from the United States, to commit to a military operation against the TTP, in the wake of several high profile TTP attacks.[18]

• According to a Wednesday report in The News, the PTI is continuing its partial blockade of NATO supply trucks travelling on the Ring Road in Peshawar for the second month. Party activists have been stopping the trucks, but have not turned them back.[19]