Pakistan Security Brief – November 10, 2009
Security forces have discovered a number of observation posts, bunkers and a private jail during search and clearance operations in South Waziristan; twenty-four people were killed when an explosion tore through a market outside of Peshawar on Tuesday morning; Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Azam Tariq told reporters that they have “started a guerilla war” against Pakistani security forces; an Afghan Taliban commander released a statement distancing himself from the TTP and denouncing there bombings against innocent people.
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Nine militants have been killed in the latest day of fighting of Operation Rah-e-Nijat (Path to Deliverance) in South Waziristan. The military reports that it now controls the majority of the towns and villages in the area and is consolidating positions. Security forces have found militant bunkers, observations posts and even a jail in search and clearance operations (click here for more detail on operation in SWA).[1]
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An explosion near a busy market in Charsadda, twenty-five miles outside of Peshawar, killed twenty-four people and wounded over a hundred on Tuesday morning. Authorities believe that the explosives were packed inside a vehicle but it is unknown if it was detonated by a suicide bomber or if the vehicle was planted there. This is the third of such attack near Peshawar in the last three days.[2]
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Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman, Azam Tariq, downplayed the government’s successes in South Waziristan by saying that the government forces are “capturing roads while our people are still operating in the forests and mountains." Tariq characterizes the conflict by saying that the militants “have started guerrilla war against the Pakistani army. We've carried out several actions against the army and inflicted heavy losses on them." With regards to the bombings carried out throughout Pakistan, Tariq said that “whoever harms our movement will be given a lesson.”[3]
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Abdul Mannan, an Afghan Taliban commander also known as Mullah Toor, distanced himself from the TTP and said that the Afghan Taliban have “no connection with the outlawed” TTP. This comment comes in response to the TTP’s attacks on civilians.[4]