Pakistan Security Brief - November 1, 2010

Drone strike in North Waziristan kills five; suicide attack on police compound in Swabi; Beitullah Mehsud’s brother murdered in North Waziristan; international aid agencies warn that funding for flood relief is running out.

FATA

• At least five people were killed in a suspected U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan on Monday. Several missiles struck a local tribesman’s house in Haider Khel village that was being used as a “hub of militants’ movement.” Officials said that the identities of those killed in the attack have not yet been ascertained. (For daily updates on key issues and events in North Waziristan CLICK HERE)[1]

• The brother of former Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander Beitullah Mehsud has been shot to death in North Waziristan. The body of Yaqoob Khan was discovered in a field in Mir Ali on Monday. Authorities have not yet determined who is behind Khan’s death. A separate article claims that Pakistani news sources were reporting that Khan was killed in Monday’s drone strike in Haider Khel.[2]

• On Friday, intelligence officials revealed the identities of eight al-Qaeda-linked German militants killed in a U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan last month. Several of the militants were found to have held dual citizenship with either Turkey or Saudi Arabia. A leader of Ittehad Jihad-ul Islami (Alliance for Islamic Jihad), an umbrella organization for European militants, was among those killed in the attack.[3]

• Helicopter gunships shelled militant positions in different areas of Orakzai Agency on Friday, killing at least twelve militants and wounding six others. Four militant hideouts and one vehicle were also destroyed in the strikes as ground forces conducted a search operation in Ghailjo and its surrounding areas where they claim to have recovered a huge cache of arms and explosives. Twelve more militants were killed and nine others injured in a second wave of helicopter gunship shelling that targeted militant hideouts in various locations throughout Lower Orakzai on Monday.[4]

• On Monday, the Taliban in Orakzai said that it has publicly flogged 65 men found guilty by its Islamic courts of selling and using drugs. The men were brought out into an open area in the town of Mamuzai where they were given ten lashes each.[5]

• Militants ambushed a security forces convoy in Mohmand Agency on Monday. The convoy was passing through Baizai district when the militants opened fire and quickly fled the scene before security forces could retaliate. No casualties were reported.[6]

• Two soldiers were killed during a militant attack on a security checkpost in South Waziristan on Saturday. The clashes occurred in the Badar area approximately 30 kilometers to the north of South Waziristan’s main town of Wana.[7]

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

• Two police officers were killed and ten others wounded in a suicide bomb attack outside a police compound in Swabi district on Monday. The blast occurred when police stopped the suicide bomber at the main gate to the compound. Several other militants reportedly stormed into the compound and began firing. One of the attackers was shot dead by police while the others fled the scene. TTP spokesman Azam Tariq later phoned reporters to claim responsibility for the attack, saying that the operation was “revenge for the killing of our innocent brothers” by security forces.[8]

• A group of militants opened fire on two NATO tankers in Nowshera district on Monday, wounding three people. A local police official said that approximately six to eight militants riding in two cars intercepted the tankers on a main highway in the town of Pabbi and began shooting at the vehicles before fleeing the scene. The official also added that although fuel began leaking from the tankers the vehicles did not catch fire.[9]

• Security forces killed three key Taliban commanders during a shootout in the Matta sub-district of Swat on Sunday. The clashes erupted when Taliban fighters opened fire on troops conducting a search operation on the Bakrosar area. A large quantity of arms was also recovered during the searches.[10]

U.S.-Pakistan Relations

• Three more F-16 fighter aircraft were handed over to the Pakistan Air Force at the Shahbaz air base in Jacobabad on Sunday. The F-16s are the second batch of aircraft to be delivered to the PAF as part of a 2005-06 contract signed with the U.S. government. Two more F-16s are due to arrive in the country next week.[11]

Punjab

• A key Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander was shot to death by unknown attackers in the Naseerabad area of Rawalpindi on Friday. The body of the slain commander, identified as Adnan Afridi, was discovered at the Weestreg jail on Friday evening. Police have said that an investigation into Afridi’s murder is currently under way.[12]

• Last week, Punjab’s chief minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered heightened security measures for five of the province’s largest shrines but acknowledged a lack of government resources makes it impossible to provide sufficient protection for the thousands of shrines located throughout Pakistan. The new security upgrades include security cameras as well as the presence of more armed guards and a handful of anti-terrorism commandos. More than two-dozen shrines and other Islamic holy sites, mostly of which have belonged to Sufis, have been the targets of Taliban attacks since 2007. The increased security precautions is part of a government effort to prevent the Taliban from “convert[ing] the war on terror into a sectarian war” which would leave the government “unable to concentrate operations against militants” in the country’s frontier regions.[13]

Sindh

• Two explosions struck a railway track in Hyderabad on Monday, wounding four people and damaging a two-foot section of the tracks. Police said that the blasts occurred in the Qasimabad area between Kotri and Hyderabad. Bomb disposal teams secured the blast site and an official from Pakistan Railways said that the tracks are currently undergoing repairs.[14]

Flood Recovery

• On Friday, officials from international aid organization Oxfam said that it was quickly running out of the funds necessary for providing critical relief services to the millions of people still displaced by Pakistan’s flood disaster. Oxfam also warned that “cases of disease are increasing” and that the “funding shortfall is so serious that… regular food rations to 3.5 million people could be in jeopardy.” Oxfam’s assessment comes as a spokesman from a UN aid agency warned on Friday that the emergency food aid, which provides for six million people every month, will run out by the beginning of December.[15]

Corruption

• Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced on Sunday that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is prepared to launch new initiatives in the coming weeks to battle Pakistan’s severe corruption issues. Malik further said that “the government has taken corruption as terrorism and [will] fight it on a war footing” and that results of the anti-corruption policies will be seen in the next two months. Part of the new anti-corruption effort will include deploying FIA agents to monitor government agencies and establishing a help line for victims of extortion.[16]