Pakistan Security Brief
Pakistan Security Brief – March 1, 2010
Report indicates half of Quetta Shura now in custody; TTP releases video of Hakimullah Mehsud; suicide bomber targets police station in Karak; al-Qaeda linked militant confirmed dead in US drone strike; militants destroy NATO oil tanker outside Peshawar; police hold 70 suspected anti-state actors in Mingora; top Taliban commander killed in Swat; 17 suspected Taliban found dead in Kohat; outbreak of sectarian violence during rallies in Dera Ismail Khan and Faisalabad.
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A new report indicates that the Pakistani government has arrested now nine out of eighteen members of the Quetta Shura Taliban. The report also suggests that the US and the Saudi royal family were involved in pressuring Pakistan to initiate the crackdown. Among those detained is Mullah Omar’s top deputy, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.[1]
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The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) released a new video of Hakimullah Mehsud on Saturday. The 43-minute video showed Mehsud discussing the US missile campaign, among other issues, with an off-screen interviewer. However, the undated video failed to provide evidence that Mehsud is still alive.[2]
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On Saturday, a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden vehicle into a police station in the town of Karak, killing four people and wounding more than two dozen others. TTP spokesman Azam Tariq claimed that his group was responsible for the attack.[3]
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US and Pakistani intelligence officials have confirmed the death of Abdul Haq al-Turkistani in a February 15 drone strike in North Waziristan. Turkistani, the al-Qaeda- linked leader of the Turkistani Islamic Party (TIP), had previously called for attacks on China over its poor treatment of Muslims.[4]
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Armed with guns and rockets, suspected militants destroyed an oil tanker outside Peshawar that was transporting fuel to NATO forces in Afghanistan. One passenger was wounded in the initial attack and security forces killed one of the attackers in the subsequent exchange of fire.[5]
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On Sunday, Mingora police arrested 70 suspects, including 40 Afghan migrants, during a crackdown against “anti-state actors.” The police also seized a large cache of arms and ammunition.[6]
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Mohammad Alam Binouri was killed by security forces late on Sunday in the town of Madyan in Swat. Binouri had a Rs10 million reward on his head. Security forces also killed a fellow-commander, Shankoo Mullah, and captured three other militants.[7]
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Seventeen bodies believed to be the casualties of a skirmish with security forces were found in Kohat district on Sunday. According to a pro-government group, they were members of the Tariq Afridi group of the TTP.[8]
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Sectarian violence erupted between Sunnis and Shias during Eid Miladun Nabi rallies in Dera Ismail Khan and Faisalabad on Saturday. Authorities in Dera Ismail Khan reported seven people killed, all Sunnis, and 38 others injured. In Faisalabad, clashes broke out during a procession, resulting in six people injured and dozens more arrested as protestors set a police station and several vehicles ablaze.[9]
