Pakistan Security Brief - October 27, 2009

The Pakistani military’s operation in South Waziristan Agency continues into its eleventh day as the military reports progress on all its axes; TTP militants ambush a Pakistani checkpoint in Mohmand Agency; a senior military officer escapes an assassination attempt in Islamabad; a top aide to TTP-Swat commander Mullah Fazlullah is arrested; eleven members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps are arrested after illegally entering Pakistani territory.

• Forty-two militants were killed in the eleventh day of Operation Rah-e-Nijat (Path to Deliverance) against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in South Waziristan.  The army reports that it is making progress on all three fronts but also says that it is meeting strong resistance from the militants.  Eleven militants were also killed in Mohmand Agency when they attacked a security checkpoint in Baizai area.  Two soldiers were also killed in the attack (read more on the South Waziristan operation).[1]

• An unnamed high ranking military officer was attacked by gunmen on a motorcycle on Tuesday in Islamabad.  The officer was able to escape and no casualties were reported.  The waves of attacks carried out in Pakistan have killed nearly two hundred people in October.[2]     A top aide of Swat Taliban commander Mullah Fazlullah was captured in an operation by security forces in Matta on Monday.  Eleven suspects were arrested in the raid, including a number of Afghans.[3]

• Law enforcement agencies arrested eleven personnel of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on Monday on the Iran and Pakistan border.  The eleven soldiers crossed ten kilometers into Pakistan in two vehicles where they were taken into custody by security forces.  It is believed that the Iranians were conducting an operation against Jundallah when they were apprehended.[4]