Pakistan Security Brief – July 14, 2009
Local police have arrested suspected militants in connection with yesterday’s bombing in Punjab province; Pakistani officials claimed to have arrested more than a dozen al Qaeda-affiliates planning attacks in Punjab province; fighting between local tribal militias and Taliban militants was reported on Tuesday; some refugees began returning to Swat from government-run refugee camps.
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A clash Sunday night between the Pakistani army and Taliban elements near Wana, South Waziristan, prompted a spokesman for Maulvi Nazir to declare the peace deal between his commander and the government “ineffective,” and caution that Nazir’s forces would “hold the government responsible” for the attack, which reportedly left three militants dead.[1]
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Fighting between pro-government lashkars and Taliban militants in Mohmand agency left nearly two dozen Taliban fighters dead on Tuesday, according to a Pakistani government official.[2]
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According to Pakistani security officials, thirteen suspected al-Qaeda affiliates were arrested near Dera Murad Jamali in Baluchistan on Tuesday. The militants, who were transporting an eleven-kilogram bomb, were reportedly en route to Punjab to carry out suicide attacks there.[3]
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Repatriation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Swat continues as an estimated 16,000 refugees currently living in government-run camps are projected to be returned to the area by Tuesday night.[4]
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A number of suspected terrorists have been arrested in connection with Monday’s madrassa bombing in Mian Channu, Punjab, that left eleven dead. The motivation behind the attack is not yet known, but, according to a local police chief, pamphlets from an unknown militant group were recovered from the wreckage along with weapons and other materiel.[5]