SOUTH ASIA: PAKISTAN                                                                                                                       News Briefs

Later the same night, seven low-intensity explosions, six in Allama Iqbal Town Police Station area and one in the Samanabad area of Lahore, injured five persons. Intelligence sources have warned that four bombers were still present in the city, awaiting instructions to hit their targets.

Notably, the attacks happened despite heightened security following intelligence warning that an explosive-laden white car, with registration number 1320-A, had entered Lahore from Rawalpindi earlier in the day.

On March 8, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle in front of the Special Intelligence Agency’s (SIA) office in the Model Town area of Lahore, killing 15 persons, including eight Security Force (SF) personnel, a woman, and a five-year-old girl, and injuring more than 80 others. The powerful blast, which was carried out using an estimated 600 kilograms of explosives packed with ball bearings and blades, damaged houses in a 0.5-kilometre radius and destroyed more than 40 cars in the area. The SIA office in Model Town K-Block, a residential area, was being used as safe house for Intelligence officials and detained suspects.

The March 8 incident, again, occurred despite a Punjab Home Department Circular issued on March 4 to the Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP), the Assistant IGP (operations), the Special Branch AIGP, the Lahore commissioner, the Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) and the Rawalpindi Regional Police Officer, which specifically warned of terrorist attacks on intelligence offices in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Peshawar. Claiming responsibility, TTP spokesman Azam Tariq declared, "The attack was to avenge [US] drone attacks and [Pakistani] military operations in the Tribal Areas. We have 2,800 to 3,000 more suicide bombers ... We will target all Government places, buildings and offices."

Two major attacks over a gap of three days underline the reality that Lahore is under siege by TTP network, allowing the extremists to strike at will. Growing terrorist violence in Punjab as a whole and Lahore in particular over the past years is a manifestation of the progressive loss of control of the Pakistani intelligence and security apparatus over its own monstrous creations. The Army and paramilitary forces have launched a succession of military offensives against the TTP in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) regions over the past years. Under pressure in their areas of dominance, the TTP and its affiliates have opened new fronts – in the Punjab and in Karachi, accelerating a rapid and firm inward movement, from the NWFP and FATA, to mainland Pakistan.

The entire Punjab Province is now under TTP network operational radar. According to SATP data, 441 persons, including 293 civilians and 97 SF personnel, were killed in terrorism-related incidents in the province in 2009 alone. Apart from Lahore, the national capital Islamabad and the garrison town of Rawalpindi [both of them in Punjab], are facing the brunt of the TTP’s attacks.

The attacks on Lahore have a particular resonance in Pakistan. The city has long been the country’s cultural capital and, as the most populous and prosperous town in the Province, is also regarded as the heart of the country’s powerful ruling establishment. Traditionally, Lahore has been home to the country’s top bureaucrats and military leadership. Punjab returns 183 of the 342-member National Assembly and, as such, the Provincial Capital is considered the country’s political nerve-centre as well, though the seat of Government is Islamabad.

Lahore had generally remained free of militant violence in the years after 2001, when Pakistan reluctantly and selectively joined the US-led campaign against Islamist terrorists. While occasional incidents were witnessed over the preceding years, the city has seen a sharp escalation since 2008. Only eight incidents were recorded in 2007, with no reported fatalities. 2008 saw 77 fatalities in 22 incidents. In 2009, 103 people were killed in 27 incidents.

Terrorism-related Incidents & Fatalities in Lahore 2007-2010

In addition to the three major attacks (involving three or more than three fatalities) in 2010, the most significant of the major incidents in 2009:

December 7, 2009: Two bomb blasts killed at least 38 people, and injured more than 100 at the crowded Moon Market in the Allama Iqbal area of Lahore.

June 12, 2009: At least seven persons, including a prominent anti-Taliban cleric, were killed and seven were injured, when a suicide attacker detonated himself at the Jamia Naeemia madrassa (seminary) in the Garhi Shahu area of Lahore shortly after Friday prayers.

May 27, 2009: Suicide bombers detonated a vehicle loaded with 100 kilograms of explosives near the offices of the CCPO and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Lahore, killing at least 27 persons and injuring 326, destroying the two-storey building of the Rescue 15 Police Service. A colonel of the ISI and 15 Police officials were among those killed.

March 30, 2009: Eight Police recruits and a civilian were killed when a group of 10 terrorists attacked the Police Training Centre in Manawan with guns and grenades. SFs regained control of the facility in an operation that lasted for more than eight hours. About 93 cadets and civilians were injured.

March 3, 2009: Sri Lankan cricketers narrowly escaped a terrorist attack when terrorists ambushed the bus carrying them to the Gaddafi Stadium for the third day’s play of the second Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. At least seven persons – six policemen escorting the Sri Lankans and the driver of another van in the convoy – were killed and 20 persons were wounded in the attack near the Liberty roundabout, 500 metres from the Stadium. Seven Sri Lankan players were among the injured.

Within the wider trend of escalating violence is the increasing incidence of suicide attacks. Lahore saw three suicide attacks in 2009, resulting in the death of 86 persons, including 67 civilians and 15 SF personnel. The first two and a half months of 2010 have already seen three suicide attacks, in which 72 persons have been killed.

Fatalities in Suicide Attacks in Lahore 2009-2010

A total of 680 militants were arrested from different parts of Punjab in 2009. Of these, 185 were arrested from Lahore. 26 of the terrorists arrested in Lahore were suicide bombers. On December 20, the Police arrested Khalilullah, the Punjab ‘chief’ of the TTP, and a 17-year-old would-be suicide bomber, Usman alias Shahbaz, from the Manawan locality of Lahore. Khalilullah, was said to be the right-hand man of the slain TTP chief, Baitullah Mehsud, and allegedly masterminded the twin suicide bombings at Moon Market at Iqbal Town in Lahore on December 7, 2009. During interrogation, he confessed that Usman was to attack the flag-lowering ceremony at the Wagah border on December 22. Khalil also disclosed that he controlled a team of 600 suicide bombers.

Pakistan, and increasingly its Punjabi heartland, is paying a price for the country’s duplicity on terrorism. The country’s leadership continues to actively support terrorist groups operating against India and Afghanistan, even as it seeks to suppress groupings operating within Pakistan. The dividing lines between these diverse groups have, however, become increasingly blurred. The terror is returning, increasingly, to devour its own creators. And yet, few lessons have been learned by the military masterminds behind the monstrous Islamist terrorism that Pakistan’s State agencies have unleashed across South Asia.

News Briefs

Russia points finger at Pakistan over Moscow suicide bombings: The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on March 30, said that militants operating on the Pakistan border may have helped organise suicide bomb attacks that killed 38 persons in Moscow on March 29. Lavrov did not mention al Qaeda, but said the bombers may have had links to militants on the Afghan-Pakistan border, where al Qaeda militants, and Afghanistan and Pakistan Taliban militants are present. Asked if there could have been any foreign involvement in the March 29 attacks, Interfax quoted Lavrov as saying, "I do not exclude that. We all know that in the Afghan-Pakistan border, in the so called no-man’s land, the terrorist underground is very well entrenched." Daily Times, March 31, 2010.

G8 announces Pak-Afghan economic plan: The Foreign Ministers of the G8 countries agreed on an economic initiative plan for the Pak-Afghan border regions, Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said, on March 30, at the start of two days of G8 talks, "Stability in the region is critical for global security." Daily Times, March 31, 2010.

166 militants and five Security Force personnel among 174 persons killed during the week in FATA: At least 17 Taliban militants were killed in air strikes and clashes with Security Forces (SFs) in Orakzai Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on March 28.

Air strikes killed around 16 Taliban militants in the on going Operation Khwakh Ba De Sham (I will see you) in the Orakzai Agency of FATA on March 27. In addition, a US missile strike in North Waziristan killed four militants in a suspected al Qaeda and Taliban hideout.

At least 31 Taliban militants and five soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel, were killed in fighting and air strikes in the Orakzai Agency on March 26.

At least 66 Taliban militants were killed in air strikes in Taliban strongholds of Ghaljo and Mamuzai areas of Orakzai Agency on March 25.

The SFs killed at least 21 Taliban militants in Ajani area of Lower Orakzai Agency on March 24.

The missiles fired from US drones killed at least six militants in the suburbs of Miranshah in North Waziristan Agency on March 23.

The SFs killed five Taliban militants in the Anjani area of Orakzai Agency. The SFs targeted Taliban hideouts with heavy artillery, killing at least five Taliban militants and injuring three others. Dawn; Daily Times; The News, March 22-29, 2010.

823 militants killed during Operation Rah-e-Nijat, says Interior Minister Rehman Malik: Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative David Coleman Headley, accused of plotting the November 26, 2008 (also known as 26/11) Mumbai terrorist attacks and conspiring to target a Danish newspaper, pleaded guilty before a US court in Chicago on March 18. Headley told US District Judge Harry Leinenweber that he wanted to change his plea to guilty, in an apparent bid to get a lighter sentence than the maximum death penalty. Headley reportedly charged on 12 counts, admitted he was guilty of all of them. Dawn, March 27, 2010.

Pakistan continues to support some terrorist outfits, says US official: Pakistan continued to support some militant outfits that operate in Afghanistan, a top US intelligence official said on March 24. "Islamabad has demonstrated determination and persistence in combating militants it perceives dangerous to Pakistan's interests, but it also has provided some support to other Pakistan-based outfits that operate in Afghanistan," said Mathew Burrows, Counsellor and Director of the Analysis and Production Staff at the National Intelligence Council. Times of India, March 25, 2010.

Mullah Omar names new deputies: Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, on March 23 appointed two of his top Taliban ‘commanders’ from the south to replace his former ‘deputy’ Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who was arrested by Pakistani forces in Karachi on February 18. Abu Zabihullah, a senior Taliban operative, said that Abdul Qayyum Zakir, a former Guantánamo Bay inmate, and Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor, replaced Baradar. Their appointments, Zabihullah said, are meant, "to convey a good message that, despite our leader’s arrest, the Taliban is back to business-as-usual operations without a problem". Daily Times, March 24, 2010.

98 militants and 10 civilians among 114 persons killed during the week in FATA: At least 24 Taliban militants were killed in Orakzai and Kurram Agencies of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on March 21. Around 11 Taliban militants were killed by Security Forces (SFs) in an offensive, as they pounded terrorist hideouts in Orakzai Agency. In addition, the ongoing clash between the Mulla Toufan and Mulla Rafiq Taliban faction resulted in the death of six more militants from both the sides. Further, around seven Taliban militants were also killed in bombing by gunship helicopters on both Taliban factions in central Kurram Agency.

A US drone aircraft fired two missiles into an al Qaeda and Taliban hideout in Inzar village of North Waziristan, killing eight militants on March 21.

Two ‘commanders’ of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Mullah Toofan group were among 15 persons killed and nine others injured in FATA on March 20. The two Taliban militants, identified as Jungle Badshah and Ayub Shah, were killed in a fresh fighting between rival Taliban factions in Kurram Agency. Meanwhile, three persons including a woman were also killed in the fighting in the Barozena area. In addition, the jet fighters continued aerial strikes on Taliban hideouts in Mamozai, Shaktangi and Arghujo areas of the Upper Orakzai agency, which claimed 10 lives.

At least 13 TTP militants were killed and many others injured when the Pakistan Air Force planes attacked and destroyed six hideouts in different parts of Orakzai Agency in FATA on March 19. The jets attacked TTP’s hideouts in Zakhtan, Kasha, Sra Mela and Nare Suka areas in Upper Orakzai Agency, killing five militants. In Lower Orakzai, the military planes attacked Taliban fighters’ dens in Utman Khel, killing eight militants.

At least six Taliban militants were killed and five others arrested in a clash with a lashkar (militia) at Dagar area in Kurram Agency on March 17. At least five SFs were killed in a militant attack on a check post in Sheen Darand area of Akakhel under Bara tehsil (revenue unit) of Khyber Agency.

On March 16, 13 persons, including 10 TTP militants and three tribesmen, were killed in a clash between a local lashkar and Taliban militants at Badizona area of the Kurram Agency. In addition, 10 Taliban militants were killed when US drones fired four missiles at a house in Manzarkhel village located in Dattakhel tehsil, 40 kilometres west of the North Waziristan Agency headquarters, Miranshah at around 12:45pm. The area is the home of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a powerful warlord whose fighters are battling US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Dawn; Daily Times; The News, March 16-22, 2010.

Pakistan's recent arrests halt UN contacts with Taliban, says Kai Eide: Pakistan’s recent arrests of top Taliban leaders have halted the United Nations’ secret talks with the outfit, said the UN’s former envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide on March 19. He told BBC that discussions with senior Taliban members began a year ago and included face-to-face conversations in Dubai and elsewhere. "The first contact was probably 2009 spring, then of course you moved into the [Afghan presidential] election process ... communication picked up when the election process was over, and it continued to pick up until a certain moment a few weeks ago," Eide said. Eide said there were several channels of communication with the Taliban, including those involving senior representatives of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Daily Times, March 20, 2010.

LeT militant David Coleman Headley pleads guilty in US court: Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative David Coleman Headley, accused of plotting the November 26, 2008 (also known as 26/11) Mumbai terrorist attacks and conspiring to target a Danish newspaper, pleaded guilty before a US court in Chicago on March 18. Headley told US District Judge Harry Leinenweber that he wanted to change his plea to guilty, in an apparent bid to get a lighter sentence than the maximum death penalty. Headley reportedly charged on 12 counts, admitted he was guilty of all of them. The Hindu, March 19, 2010.

TTP offers ‘deal’ to Punjab Government: A Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman said that the outfit would stop targeting public and Government places in Punjab if the Provincial Government gave an assurance that the Taliban would be spared from any action. Mohmand Agency Ameer Abdul Wali alias Umar Khalid, who is also the deputy of the TTP chief Hakeemullah Mehsud, offered the Punjab Government a conditional end to its activities in the province. The offer comes after a statement by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif where he said, "Musharraf planned a bloodbath of innocent Muslims at the behest of others only to prolong his rule, but the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) opposed his policies and rejected dictation from abroad, thus the Taliban are fighting for the same cause and should not carry out acts of terror in Punjab." Daily Times, March 16, 2010.

63 civilians and nine SFs among 75 persons killed during the week in Lahore in Punjab: At least 57 persons, including eight soldiers, were killed and more than 90 persons were injured as twin suicide blasts, moments apart from each other, ripped through the Lahore’s R. A. Bazaar in the cantonment area on March 12.

On March 8, 15 persons were killed and 80 others injured in a suicide bomb blast in front of the Special Intelligence Agency’s office in the Model Town area of Lahore. Dawn; Daily Times; The News, March 9-15, 2010.

42 militants and 17 civilians among 60 persons killed during the week in FATA: At least 18 Taliban militants were killed on March 14 when fighter Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jets bombed their hideouts in the Orajzai Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

Unidentified assailants killed the commander of a local lashkar (tribal militia) and his two bodyguards of Mohmand Agency on March 13.

At least four civilians were killed and 20 others injured when a suicide bomber, who was supposed to target a paramilitary convoy, prematurely detonated explosives at Old Bara area near Khyber Agency on March 11.

Three persons, including a soldier, were killed in clashes between the Mamond lashkar-backed SFs and militants in Mulla Killay, Lagharai and adjoining areas of Mamond subdivision in Bajaur Agency.

Three more militants, including one senior Taliban ‘commander’ Qari Mohammad Ayub, were shot dead by unidentified assailants at Naurak village near Mirali subdivision of North Waziristan Agency.

At least 14 Taliban militants were killed in a US drone attack in the North Waziristan Agency in the night of March 10.

Three missiles fired by a US drone killed five Taliban militants in the Miranshah area of North Waziristan in FATA on March 8. Dawn; Daily Times; The News, March 9-15, 2010.

24 civilians and three SFs among 28 persons killed during the week in NWFP: At least 17 persons including two Policemen and an army trooper were killed in a suicide attack at a checkpoint manned by the Police and military personnel at Mingora town of Swat District in North West Frontier Province on March 13.

Four persons were killed and 25 others injured when a powerful bomb exploded near the Bara Qadeem checkpost close to a market on the Bara Road in Peshawar on March 11.

Six persons, including two women, were killed and seven others were injured when over a dozen militants armed with Kalashnikov rifles, pistols and hand-grenades attacked the office of World Vision International, a US-based Christian aid agency, in Oghi village in Mansehra of NWFP on March 10. Dawn; Daily Times; The News, March 9-15, 2010.

Pakistan’s military is likely paying compensation to families of terrorists killed in Mumbai attacks, says Gary Ackerman: "Pakistan’s military is likely paying compensation to the families of the terrorists killed in the Mumbai attacks", says chairman of US House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia Gary Ackerman on March 11 and blamed Islamabad for allegedly continuing to support Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). "There is, in fact, no reason to doubt that Pakistan’s military is likely paying compensation to the families of the terrorists killed in the Mumbai attacks, adding that these are our allies in the war on terror," he bemoaned. Dawn, March 13, 2010.

ISI continues to maintain links with LeT, say US experts: The Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, continues to maintain links with the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Islamabad is reluctant to take action against its leaders and its network, several eminent United States (US) scholars and experts of South Asia have categorically told US lawmakers. Attending a special Congressional hearing on March 11 on 'Lashkar-e-Toiba and the growing ambition of Islamic militancy in Pakistan', Congressmen unanimously expressed concern that despite best of the efforts by the Obama administration, the ISI continues to maintain links with LeT and that Pakistan is not taking decisive action against the terrorist outfit. Times of India, March 12, 2010.

Al Qaeda changing its tactics, says CIA Director Leon Panetta: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Leon Panetta on March 9 said counter terrorism operations have placed al Qaeda’s top leaders under extreme pressure and many are "on the run" but recent thwarted terror plots in the US indicate the terror network is changing its tactics. Daily Times, March 10, 2010.

59 militants and two SFs among 62 persons killed during the week in FATA: At least eight persons were killed and two injured as fighter jets pounded Taliban hideouts in the Hamdana area of Sararogha tehsil (revenue unit) in the South Waziristan Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) at around 2pm (PST) on March 7.

At least 30 Taliban militants were killed when SFs retaliated against a predawn attack on Marjhana security post in the Chamarkand area of Safi tehsil, some 45 kilometres northeast of Ghallanai, in Mohmand Agency on March 5. An Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement said one soldier was also killed in the fighting. However, Taliban spokesman Akramullah Mohmand claimed that only four Taliban were killed in the fighting, while "11 security personnel died in the attack".

Nine Taliban militants were killed in the on going factional clash between followers of Noor Jamal alias Mullah Toofan and Mulla Rafique Mengal in the Neka Ziarat area of Kurram Agency on March 4. The Rafique Mengal faction had also ‘detained’ 11 cadres of the rival faction. While the Mulla Toofan group is associated with the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), the Rafique Mengal faction is associated with the Ishaat-e-Tauheed-Wa-Sunnah. Both factions are part of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Seven militants, including a ‘commander’, were killed in a clash between two factions of militants in the Dogar area of Kurram Agency on March 2. The sources said the factions of militants headed by Noor Jamal alias Mulla Toofan and Mulla Rafique Mengal clashed in Dogar area using heavy weapons and ammunition. As a result, seven militants, including Qari Yousaf, were reported to have been killed. The Mulla Toofan faction claimed to have made 48 militants, including Mulla Rafique, hostage. Dawn; Daily Times; The News, March 3-8, 2010.

12 persons killed in suicide bombing in NWFP: 12 persons, including four women, were killed and 33 others injured when a suicide bomber targeted a Parachinar-bound civilian convoy carrying Shia passengers in the Tull area of Hangu in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) on March 5. Local administration officials said the suicide bomber blew himself up when the civilian convoy, on its way to Parachinar and escorted by the Frontier Corps, slowed down at a speed breaker near a petrol station, some two kilometres from Tull city. "The target was a Shia convoy. This is sectarian violence," Kohat Division Commissioner Khalid Umarzai said. Dawn; Daily Times; The News, March 3-8, 2010.

‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir’ remains a training ground for militants, says BBC report: The militant training camps for those fighting in Jammu and Kashmir (India) are once again being established in ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK)’ and recruitment is also on the rise in Punjab, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said on March 3. In its latest report, the BBC also mentioned that the United Jihad Council (UJC) meeting was held in Muzaffarabad in mid-January, chaired by former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lieutenant General (retired) Hameed Gul. The meeting decided that the freedom struggle or jihad should continue until the Indian occupation of Jammu and Kashmir comes to an end. According to the BBC, it looks evident now that the Kashmiri militant groups are once again working under the ‘patronage of the Pakistani establishment agencies’. DNA India News, March 4, 2010.

[South Asia Intelligent Review]