Pakistan Security Brief

Pakistan Security Brief – July 13, 2009

A blast in Pakistan’s Punjab province on Monday killed more than a dozen people and wounded seventy others; a militant commander allied with the Pakistani government pulled his forces from the Tank district bordering South Waziristan after Pakistani military enforcements arrived over the weekend; Pakistani official claims that bin Laden is in Kunar, Afghanistan; according to Pakistani security officials, the Pakistani military continued its air strike campaigns in South Waziristan and Dir district over the weekend; the Pakistani government has begun to transport a small number of families back to the Swat valley.

• An explosion emanating from a house used by a cleric accused of recruiting militant fighters in Punjab province’s Mian Channu area killed seventeen people on Monday.[1]
   

• Pro-government commander Turkistan Bhittani has pulled his forces out of the Tank district bordering South Waziristan following the arrival of significant reinforcements from the Pakistani military.  He is reportedly now heading north-west toward Jandola.[2]
   

• Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik assured reporters yesterday that drone attacks targeting high-level Taliban command in Pakistan are futile, asserting that, “If Osama [Bin Laden] was in Pakistan we would know,” and went on to speculate that the al Qaeda leader may instead be based in Kunar province, Afghanistan.[3]
   

• Police raids yesterday on militant and “outlaw” hideouts in Khyber agency and Kohat district captured 51 suspected militants. Police also confiscated 6kgs of hashish and a large stash of weaponry.[4] 
   

• The Pakistani military launched a series of attacks on hideouts and training centers belonging to Beitullah Mehsud’s TTP in the Maulvi Khan Serai, Old Serwekai, Berwand, and Lower Dir areas on Sunday. The resulting death toll for the Taliban is thought to be at least 14. Three soldiers were also killed over the weekend: one in a clash with militants in South Waziristan; the other two in a mosque bombing in Dera Ismail Khan [5]
   

• Monday saw the beginning of organized returns to the Swat area following the end of the Pakistani military’s campaign there. Local officials report that 24 buses reached Swat, transporting a total of 192 families. There are an estimated 2, 680 families left in government-run refugee camps.[6]