Drone strike kills six militants in North Waziristan Agency; Pakistani military airstrikes kill 20 Haqqani, Gul Bahadur militants in North Waziristan; Militants kill solider in Jamrud sub-district, Khyber Agency; Four polio workers killed, three injured in Quetta; IED kills one, injures five in Karachi; Report claims al Qaeda, TTP’s Ansarul Aseer, behind Karachi jailbreak attempt; Pakistani and Indian prime ministers attend SAARC summit in Nepal; Afghanistan not to be used for proxy wars, says Afghan President; Pakistan capable of securing nuclear stockpiles, claims Pentagon.
Drone Strike
On November 26, a U.S. drone strike killed at least six suspected militants and injured three others in the Kund Sar area of Shawal sub-district, North Waziristan Agency. The strike occurred in an area where militants affiliated with the Haqqani Network, the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, and Uzbek militants are known to operate.[1]
Militancy
On November 25, Pakistan military airstrikes killed 20 militants and injured eight others in the Doga Mada Khel area of North Waziristan near the Afghan border. According to an intelligence official, seven of those killed belonged to the Haqqani Network while the rest were affiliated with the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group. A local Haqqani commander was reportedly among those killed. According to a November 26 report in The News, TTP militants were also among those killed in the airstrikes. [2]
In an update to the November 24 drone strike in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province that narrowly missed TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah, a report in the The News on November 26 claims that five senior members of Pakistani Taliban close to Fazlullah were killed in the drone strike. The militants reportedly belonged to the Swat Valley. The report further claims that there was confusion on whether Fazlullah had actually survived the attack. According to a TTP Jamatul Ahrar militant commander, Mullah Fazlullah and his spokesman Mohammad Khurasani were present in the area for a few days before the strike and that unsuccessful attempts were made by TTP Jamatul Ahrar to contact Fazlullah and his spokesman after the drone strike.[3]
On November 25, militants opened fire at security forces during a search operation, killing one soldier and injuring another, in the Shahkas area of Jamrud sub-district in Khyber Agency.[4]
On November 26, unidentified gunmen killed four polio vaccination workers and injured three others near the Easter Bypass area in Quetta. Following the attack the Lady Health Workers association announced that they were boycotting the polio campaign in Balochistan.[5]
On November 25, unknown militants detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) and fired on a vehicle carrying police commandos with the Special Protection Group near Korangi Crossing, Karachi. The blast killed one person and injured five others. No security personnel were injured.[6]
According to a November 26 report in The News, the October 13 Karachi jailbreak attempt was planned by al Qaeda and Ansarul Aseer, the specialty jailbreak branch of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The report further claims that some jail officials were involved in the plan and that financial assistance of approximately $ 880,000 was transferred to the militants from Afghanistan to execute the plan.[7]
Foreign Affairs
On November 25, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared that Pakistan was willing to hold talks with India but that India had to take the initiative for the resumption of talks between the two countries. Meanwhile, spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs declared that Prime Minister Modi will not hold a bilateral meeting with his Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Nepal. Mr. Modi is expected to hold bilateral meetings with all other South Asian heads of state. Addressing the SAARC summit on November 26, Prime Minister Sharif declared that greater collaboration at national and regional levels in all sectors of development was necessary to address the common socio-economic issues faced by the South Asian region. No multi-lateral agreements have been signed at the summit so far. [8]
On November 26, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani declared that Afghanistan would not allow its territory to be used against any of its neighbors and also said that Afghanistan would not permit any country to conduct proxy wars within its territory. Ghani also reiterated that state-sponsorship of non-state actors could destabilize the state system. President Ghani made these remarks at a meeting of the SAARC leaders in Nepal.[9]
On November 25, Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby reiterated at a Department of Defense briefing that Pakistan was more than capable of securing its expanding nuclear stockpiles. The statement was made in response to a question about the fear of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal being accessed by non-state actors.[10]