Pakistan Security Brief

Militants release twenty kidnapped tribesmen, Kurram leaders urge action; Two security officials and eight militants killed in Orakzai; Power pylon and telephone exchange blown up in Khyber; Suicide car bomb blast in Hangu; Power pylons blown up in Peshawar; Zardari condemns U.S. drone attacks; Four killed in rocket attacks in Quetta; Railway tracks damaged in Dera Murad Jamali; Body of GDA official found; ‘Target killings’ continue in Karachi; Two militants killed in Naushera.

FATA

• On Wednesday, militants released twenty of the twenty-four tribesmen who had been kidnapped in Kurram Agency on Tuesday. The men, along with their fifteen vehicles, had been kidnapped from the Baggan, Parao and Talokunj areas of Lower Kurram Agency. Four of the men remain missing. Also on Wednesday, local leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) in Kurram pleaded with the government to take action against insurgents violating the recent peace agreement. Senior Vice-President of PML-Q Youth Wing (FATA) Ashtar Ali Turi, stated that, “We had assured the government and the grand tribal Jirga of our cooperation in the implementation of the peace accord but the militants started targeting the Turi tribesmen to sabotage it. Several tribesmen have been kidnapped. Those involved in the attacks and kidnapping incidents have been identified but the authorities are unwilling to take them to task.”[i]
• On Wednesday, government employees in Miram Shah conducted a protest against the “highhandedness of security forces,” referring to recent searches of their houses. The employees have argued that security personnel have entered their houses without permission. The soldiers have allegedly suspected the government officials of sheltering militants.[ii]
• Two security officials were killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) which struck their vehicle in Orakzai. Following the attack, security personnel killed eight militants in retaliatory fire.[iii]
• On Tuesday, unidentified militants blew up a power pylon and damaged a telephone exchange in Jamrud sub-district of Khyber Agency. The blast occurred near a main power supply line in Ali Masjid, causing damage to the pylon as well as the adjacent telephone exchange.[iv]

Blasts in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

• A suicide car bomb blast in Hangu district killed eight people and injured twenty-five others on Thursday. A senior local police official, Abdul Rashid, stated that the suicide bomber had targeted a police station in Doaba town, but failed to get close enough to completely destroy it because of barricades that had been erected outside. However, parts of the station and nearby houses were partially damaged by the blast.[v]
• Two power pylons were blown up in the Badaber area of Peshawar on Wednesday. Militants had attached eight explosive devices to the two pylons. A local police official confirmed that, “The blasts caused suspension of power supply to Matani in Peshawar and some areas of Kohat district.”[vi]
• Two militants were killed in Nowshera by police officers on Thursday. Following the encounter, security personnel recovered a large quantity of arms and ammunition as well as a suicide jacket.[vii]

U.S.-Pakistani Relations

• On Thursday, President Zardari condemned U.S. drone strikes in the tribal region and said the Obama Administration would have to end them. Zardari also told a U.S. delegation led by Congressman Rob Wittman that the “recent drone attack on a peace Jirga in North Waziristan was intolerable.”[viii]

Attacks in Balochistan

• On Wednesday, four people were killed and seventeen others injured in rocket attacks in Quetta. The first rocket landed in a square in the city, killing two traffic policemen, while two other rockets damaged a house in the area. Unidentified intelligence officials stated that separatist insurgents were behind the attack.[ix]
• A portion of a railway track near Dera Murad Jamali was damaged after militants placed explosives on the track on Wednesday. Two feet of the track and the locomotive were damaged, however no injuries have been reported.[x]
• The body of a Gawadar Development Authority official was found in Lasbela district on Wednesday. The man had gone missing in October, leading his family to suspect that he had been kidnapped by security personnel. Another bullet-riddled body was also recovered in the same area of Lasbela district.[xi]

‘Target Killings’ in Karachi

• At least nine more people were shot dead on Wednesday in the most recent wave of ‘target killings’ in Karachi. A Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activist was among the nine dead after he was shot in front of his residence.[xii]