Pakistan Security Brief

Pakistan Security Brief - October 31-November 2, 2009

The Pakistani military continues to make progress in its South Waziristan Agency operation over the weekend; three suicide bombs kill dozens in Rawalpindi and Islamabad; the Pakistani military claims to have found proof of Indian involvement with the Pakistani Taliban; an IED kills seven Frontier Corps soldiers in Khyber; militants in Khyber Agency destroy a girls school; the UN suspends its activities in the FATA and NWFP.

• The Pakistani military continued to make progress over the weekend in its latest operation against the Pakistani Taliban militants in South Waziristan Agency (SWA). The military claimed to have cleared and secured the Uzbek stronghold town of Kaniguram. The military also said it had begun clearing and securing the nearby village of Karama. At the same time the military claimed to have surrounded the Taliban bastions of Sara Rogha and Makeen, two key objectives in the Waziristan theatre. The Pakistani military has started advertising rewards of up to five million dollars for information leading to the capture or death of top Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan leaders such as Hakimullah Mehsud. (click here for more detail on operation in SWA)[1]

• A suicide bomb ripped through the garrison town of Rawalpindi on Monday killing thirty-five. The bombing took place outside a bank where military personnel were lining up to cash their paychecks. Also on Monday, a twin suicide bomb attack on a police checkpoint in Lahore killed seven policemen. The deteriorating security situation has prompted the United Nations to suspend most of its activities in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and North West Frontier Province (NWFP).[2]

• The Pakistani military claims to have discovered 'substantial evidence of Indian involvement' in assisting the TTP militants based in South Waziristan. The army's spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, claimed Indian literature and weapons had been discovered at Taliban hideouts in South Waziristan.[3]

• Seven members of Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps were killed Saturday when their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in the Bara area of Khyber Agency. Officials blamed local militants for the blast. Also on Saturday, militants blew up a girls school in Bara, the first such incident since the military recently conducted an operation to clear the area of militants. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Elsewhere in Khyber agency, a local militant group calling itself the Abdullah Azzam brigade took responsibility for a Thursday-night assault on a checkpost in Khyber's Jamrud area.[4]