Pakistan Security Brief

Pakistan Security Brief –November 17, 2009

Pakistani Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah told reporters that he has left Swat for Afghanistan and is preparing to launch raids against the Pakistani security forces in Swat; militants blew up another girls’ school in Khyber Agency on Tuesday; explosives concealed in a motorbike killed one outside a police officials office in Quetta on Tuesday; Major General Athar Abbas gave a number of reporters a tour of the battle field in South Waziristan.

• Mullah Fuzlullah, one of the most wanted Pakistani Taliban commanders, told reporters that he has left Swat for Afghanistan.  In a call to BBC Urdu he said that he had “reached Afghanistan safely” and that he was going to “launch full-fledged punitive raids against the army in Swat.”  This was the first communication from Mullah Fazlullah in the last few months and some suspected that he had been killed or captured by the Pakistani government.[1]  

• Pakistani military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas gave reporters a tour of South Waziristan and told them that the “myth has been broken that this was a graveyard for empires and it would be a graveyard for the army."  On this tour the select reporters visited a number of sites including Sara Rogha.  The military commanders expressed confidence in the now month old operation.  The reporters observed that the majority of the cities and towns have been abandoned by the population.[2]    

• Militants destroyed another girls’ school in Khyber Agency on Tuesday.  Although no one was injured in the attack the school is “almost out of use.”  Over the past few years militants have destroyed hundreds of schools in Pakistan.  Most of the targets have been girls’ schools.[3]

• A bomb concealed in a motorbike killed one and injured many outside of a police official’s office in Quetta on Tuesday.  The target, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Nizam Durrani, was wounded in the attack but is alive.[4]