Pakistan Security Brief

Pakistan Security Brief – July 6, 2009 

Pakistani military airstrikes continued to strike areas in Waziristan over the weekend; drone attacks targeted a militant training camp and madrassa in South Waziristan over the weekend; recent clashes between Pakistani military forces and militants in Swat were reported; a Pakistani military helicopter crashed in Orakzai agency on Friday killing more than two dozen; TNSM leader Sufi Muhammad reportedly surfaced in Peshawar.

• Six people were killed in Pakistani airstrikes on Datta Khel, North Waziristan on Sunday. It is disputed whether the dead are militants or tribesmen. On Monday, airstrikes killed seven militants in different parts of Waziristan. In other parts of the FATA, shelling killed three militants in Orakzai agency while three imprisoned militants were killed in a rocket attack on a Frontier Corps fort in Bajaur.[1]
   
• The bodies of two anti-Taliban militiamen killed by militants were recovered in Mohmand agency on Sunday. Additionally, a soldier, 15 tribesmen and three militants were killed in clashes over the weekend.[2]
   
• More than a dozen Taliban fighters, including a “senior trainer of suicide bombers,” were reportedly killed over the weekend in drone attacks on a training camp and a madrassa in Kokat Khel and Mantoi areas of South Waziristan agency.[3] 
   
• Military spokesmen reported on Sunday that a “close aide of Maulana Fazlullah,” Abu Jandal, was killed recently in the Qambar area of Swat during clashes between the military and Swat militants. Ten other militants were also killed in fighting in Swat. In Upper Dir, a suicide bombing targeting a local anti-Taliban militia killed two people.[4]
   
• A Pakistan army Mi-17 helicopter crashed in the mountains of Orakzai on Friday, killing all 26 on board. While the military speculated that the crash may have been due to overloading or a technical fault, some news agencies quoted local officials as saying it was shot down by militants. Army gunships have been strafing the area near the crash since the incident.[5]
   
• Reports emerged that Maulana Sufi Muhammad has resurfaced in Peshawar on Monday. The TNSM leader had gone missing from Swat in April and it is rumored that he is being kept under “protective custody” by the government at an unknown location.[6]
   
• Three people were killed in Dera Ismail Khan in what appear to be sectarian attacks. All three are said to be Shi’i.[7]