Pakistan Security Brief

Airstrikes kill 28 militants in the Shawal Valley on July 21; Army begins clearing Boya and Degan villages; Militants and army soldiers exchange fire in and around Mir Ali, killing four militants; Tribal Jirga urges government to compensate IDPs for losses due to Operation Zarb-e-Azb; U.S. drone strike on July 19 kills eight to eleven suspected militants belonging to Punjabi Taliban; Former aide to Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Omar says TTP unjustified in fight against the state; Pakistani delegation meets with Pentagon and State Department to urge U.S. to reconsider troop pullout from Afghanistan; Pakistan’s Foreign Office condemns July 19 U.S. drone strike; IED attack in Khuzdar city, Balochistan kills two civilians and injures nearly 30; Drive-by shooting outside of Peshawar kills four and injures three; Families from Bajaur Agency to return following cancellation of military operation there; Indian soldiers allegedly fire across Line of Control in Sialkot, killing one and injuring three.

North Waziristan Offensive

• Airstrikes on July 21 killed at least 28 local and foreign militants and destroyed six militant hideouts in the Shawal Valley between North and South Waziristan.[1]

• The Pakistan Army reported on July 19 that it had begun clearing the villages of Boya and Degan in North Waziristan.  The army reported that consolidation of control in Boya and Degan is currently underway. Separately, in Mir Ali, the army reports it began to execute a house-to-house search of Mussaki, Hurmez and Mir Ali Bazaar for militants on July 18.[2]

• Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said on July 19 that Operation Zarb-e-Azb has destroyed militants’ command and control center in North Waziristan.[3]

• Militants in and around Mir Ali fired rockets and mortars and used heavy machine guns and sniper rifles against security forces on July 18.  Four militants were killed in a clash with soldiers conducting clearing operations in Mir Ali on July 18.  On the same day, security forces neutralized twelve improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and seized an IED factory, an arms cache, and a significant amount of foreign currency.[4]

• Fata Disaster Management Authority Coordinator Mujahid Ali said on July 19 that 3,050 families from North Waziristan who fled to Afghanistan’s Khost Province following Operation Zarb-e-Azb have moved back to Pakistan via Kurram Agency.[5]

• The FATA Disaster Management Authority reported on July 19 that the National Database and Registration Authority has verified 49,857 families among the 92,702 total displaced families.[6]

• On July 20, a tribal Jirga attended by tribal and political leaders of North Waziristan met and urged the government to compensate the tribal population of North Waziristan for their losses due to Operation Zarb-e-Azb and to allow IDPs to return to their homes as soon as possible.[7]

• Former Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told Dawn on July 21 that the military’s reported casualty numbers are exaggerated because the military reports civilians killed in airstrikes as militants.[8]

U.S. Drone Strikes

• At 3 am on July 19, a U.S. drone strike in the Doga Mada Khel area of Datta Khel sub-district killed at least 8 suspected militants. According to the Express Tribune, the strike killed at least 11 suspected militants.  The drone strike reportedly targeted members of the Punjabi Taliban and killed two important Punjabi Taliban commanders.[9]

• Sanafi al Nasr, a top al Qaeda leader based in Syria and closely linked to al Qaeda’s General Command in Pakistan, said on July 20 that six al Qaeda operatives were killed in a U.S. drone strike on July 10 in the Doga Mada Khel area of Datta Khel, North Waziristan. Sanafi al Nasr, whose real name is Abdul Mohsin Abdullah Ibrahim al Sharikh, named three of the deceased al Qaeda operatives as Taj al Makki, Abu Abdurahman al Kuwaiti, and Fayez Awda al Khalidi, some of whom are senior members of al Qaeda in Pakistan.[10]

Afghan Taliban and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

• In an interview with Express Tribune on July 20, former Afghan Taliban ex-minister and aide to Mullah Omar, Agha Jan Mutasim said that the TTP’s fight against the state is unjustified because Muslims are not permitted to fight other Muslims. Mustasim said religious leaders and influential leaders in Pakistan should work to end the conflict between the TTP and the government. He also condemned suicide attacks as senseless and destructive.[11]

Pakistan-U.S. Relations

• On July 21, Tariq Fatemi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, departed for his one-week trip to the U.S. Fatemi will meet with senior officials from the State Department, Department of Defense and the White House. Fatemi will meet U.S. Senators and Congressmen from the Foreign Affairs Committee. Fatemi will also take part in the UN Security Council debate on “United Nations Peacekeeping: Regional Partnership and its Evolution.”[12]

• During the week of July 14 to 18, five unspecified members of a Pakistani defense delegation held meetings in Washington at the Pentagon, the State Department and Central Command to urge the Obama administration to re-evaluate the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.[13]

• The U.S.’s Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador James Dobbins and Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif discussed Afghanistan’s post-election scenarios in a meeting on July 21. Dobbins also called on Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Advisor to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz to continue to deepen Pakistan’s bilateral relationship with Afghanistan.[14]

• Pakistan’s Foreign Office condemned the U.S. drone strike in Madkhel, Data Khel sub-district, North Waziristan on July 18.[15]

• On July 17, General Joseph Dunford, commander of all U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, told the U.S. Congress that Pakistan and Afghanistan must work together to keep al Qaeda from resurging. He also voiced concerns about the fixed pullout date for Afghanistan.[16]

Militancy

• On July 19, militants attacked a security forces vehicle with a remotely detonated improvised explosive device (IED) in the Seerat Chowk area of Khuzdar city, Balochistan. The Express Tribune reported that the attack killed two pedestrians and a Frontier Corps (FC) soldier and injured four FC personnel and 18 civilians.  Dawn reported that the attack killed three and injured 27.[17]

• On July 20, Dawn reported that unidentified motorcyclists shot two private security guards working at the Hayatabad Industrial Estate in Peshawar. One man died on the scene and the other died in route to the hospital.[18]

• On July 18, two suspected militants engaged in a shoot-out with police after refusing to stop on command at Gaddar Chowk in Mardan. One militant was injured.[19] 

• On July 18, Rangers thwarted a potential militant attack when information provided by arrested militants lead them to a large cache of explosives and weapons in the Sultanabad area of Manghopir, Karachi. The weaponry included bombs, suicide jackets, sub-machine guns, and light machine guns.[20]

• On July 19, unidentified armed men set fire to the Clifton, Karachi offices of WorldCall, the cable operator that transmits Geo News. The attack led to a shutdown of Geo News transmissions in parts of Karachi.[21]

• On July 18, unidentified gunmen conducted a drive by shooting on a roadside restaurant in Landi Akhun Ahmed neighborhood outside of Peshawar where police officials were breaking their fast. The attack killed three policemen and a waiter and injured three others.[22]

• On July 18, the bomb disposal squad defused a two kilogram bomb in Hayatabad near a Khyber police checkpoint on Jamrud road.[23]

• On July 20, three militants died of cardiac arrest while in security forces’ custody at a prison in Kohat.[24]  

• On July 19, unknown men attached an explosive device to an eighteen-inch diameter gas pipeline at Goth Khuda Baksh Jakharani area of Jaffarabad. The resulting blast led to the suspension of gas supply to parts of Sindh, including Karachi. Security forces cordoned off the area after the attack.[25]

Bajaur Operation

• A representative from Nakhthar village in Mamund sub-district said that most of the families who fled Bajaur would return on July 19. An official of the administration said that some families are waiting until the situation stabilizes before returning.[26]

Pakistan-India Relations

• On July 19, Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would welcome a visit from India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi.[27] 

• Early during the morning of July 20, Indian soldiers allegedly opened fire across the Indo-Pak border on civilians in Charwah and Mirajkey areas of Silakot near the Line of Control.  The incident killed one man and wounded two women and a child.[28]