Officials in northwest Pakistan say a suicide bomber blew himself up near a tribal police patrol Wednesday, killing at least 18 people, including 11 officers, and wounding more than 15 others. The officials say the attacker struck on the main highway leading to the Khyber pass, one of the busiest transport routes into neighboring Afghanistan. The wounded were taken to nearby Peshawar for medical treatment.
No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing, but Taliban militants frequently attack local Pakistani security forces as well as NATO trucks carrying supplies for troops in Afghanistan.
Separately, Pakistan's military said one of its attack helicopters crashed in a remote area of the Khyber region following a battle with militants. The fate of the crew is unclear.
Meanwhile, a senior Pakistani government official has confirmed there is "credible information" that Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud died last month of injuries he sustained in a missile strike in South Waziristan. Mehsud's death had been widely reported, but Wednesday's announcement by Interior Minister Rehman Malik was the most definite statement to date from the central government. Malik declined to give any further details about Mehsud's death. After an unmanned aircraft attacked the target in South Waziristan in mid-January, intelligence officials said they believed Mehsud was seriously wounded and later died.
Taliban spokesmen denied the reports and at one point released an audio recording intended to prove that Mehsud was still alive. But media reports have continued to quote anonymous Pakistani and U.S. intelligence officials who said they believe he is dead. Hakimullah Mehsud's predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a U.S. missile strike in South Waziristan last August.
Source: Voice of America
Showing posts with label Waziristan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Waziristan. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Abu Sayyaf operative reported killed in North Waziristan
A wanted member of the Philippines-based, al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Group is thought to have been killed in a US airstrike in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan last week. Abu Sayyaf operative and bomb-making expert Abdul Basit Usman is thought to have been killed in an airstrike on Jan. 14 in North Waziristan. Usman is believed to have died in the attack that targeted Taliban chieftain Hakeemullah Mehsud in the Pasalkot region in North Waziristan, an area close to the border with the neighboring tribal agency of South Waziristan. Ten Taliban and foreign fighters were reported killed in the attack, which hit a madrassa, or religious school, used by Taliban fighters from South Waziristan who dodged the Pakistani Army operation in South Waziristan.
Usman is wanted by the United States for his involvement in multiple bombings in the Philippines and also has links to Jemaah Islamiyah, al Qaeda's regional affiliate in Southeast Asia. "Because of his association with these US Government-designated international terrorist organizations, US authorities consider Basit to be a threat to US and Filipino citizens and interests," states the Rewards for Justice website. "He is believed to have orchestrated several bombings that have killed, injured, and maimed many innocent civilians."
The US has put a $1 million reward out for information leading to his capture and prosecution. It is unclear when Usman entered Pakistan. As of May 2009, the US believed Usman was hiding on the Philippine island of Mindanao. US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not confirm Usman's death, but did say they were investigating the reports. Usman's death in North Waziristan, if confirmed, would further reinforce the reports that Pakistan's tribal areas are a nexus for al Qaeda-linked groups across the globe. "It isn't just al Qaeda operating in the tribal areas," a senior US intelligence official told The Long War Journal. "You have Pakistani groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. You have the Uzbek terror groups. You have HuJI (the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, a terror group based in Pakistan and Bangladesh), Jemaah Islamiyah, Abu Sayyaf, you name it."
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has described this jihadist nexus in Pakistan as "a syndicate of terrorist operators" during his recent visit to India. US military and intelligence officials often privately refer to this alliance as AQAM (al Qaeda and allied movements, or al Qaeda and associated movements). US intelligence officials have spoken of AQAM's influence in Pakistan for years. "At times their [AQAM's] planning, allocation of resources, and operations are indistinguishable," a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal in October 2009. "Their goals are identical; they want to hit us here as well as carve out their caliphate there [in Pakistan and Afghanistan]."
Despite the growth of al Qaeda and its allies in Pakistan's tribal areas, the Pakistani military has stated it will not conduct further operations this year to root out the Taliban and al Qaeda safe havens. "We are not going to conduct any major new operations against the militants over the next 12 months," Major General Athar Abbas, the top spokesman for the Pakistani military told the BBC in an interview today. "The Pakistan army is overstretched and it is not in a position to open any new fronts," Abbas continued. "Obviously, we will continue our present operations in Waziristan and Swat."
Source: The Long War Journal
Usman is wanted by the United States for his involvement in multiple bombings in the Philippines and also has links to Jemaah Islamiyah, al Qaeda's regional affiliate in Southeast Asia. "Because of his association with these US Government-designated international terrorist organizations, US authorities consider Basit to be a threat to US and Filipino citizens and interests," states the Rewards for Justice website. "He is believed to have orchestrated several bombings that have killed, injured, and maimed many innocent civilians."
The US has put a $1 million reward out for information leading to his capture and prosecution. It is unclear when Usman entered Pakistan. As of May 2009, the US believed Usman was hiding on the Philippine island of Mindanao. US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not confirm Usman's death, but did say they were investigating the reports. Usman's death in North Waziristan, if confirmed, would further reinforce the reports that Pakistan's tribal areas are a nexus for al Qaeda-linked groups across the globe. "It isn't just al Qaeda operating in the tribal areas," a senior US intelligence official told The Long War Journal. "You have Pakistani groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. You have the Uzbek terror groups. You have HuJI (the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, a terror group based in Pakistan and Bangladesh), Jemaah Islamiyah, Abu Sayyaf, you name it."
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has described this jihadist nexus in Pakistan as "a syndicate of terrorist operators" during his recent visit to India. US military and intelligence officials often privately refer to this alliance as AQAM (al Qaeda and allied movements, or al Qaeda and associated movements). US intelligence officials have spoken of AQAM's influence in Pakistan for years. "At times their [AQAM's] planning, allocation of resources, and operations are indistinguishable," a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal in October 2009. "Their goals are identical; they want to hit us here as well as carve out their caliphate there [in Pakistan and Afghanistan]."
Despite the growth of al Qaeda and its allies in Pakistan's tribal areas, the Pakistani military has stated it will not conduct further operations this year to root out the Taliban and al Qaeda safe havens. "We are not going to conduct any major new operations against the militants over the next 12 months," Major General Athar Abbas, the top spokesman for the Pakistani military told the BBC in an interview today. "The Pakistan army is overstretched and it is not in a position to open any new fronts," Abbas continued. "Obviously, we will continue our present operations in Waziristan and Swat."
Source: The Long War Journal
Monday, July 28, 2008
Al-Qaeda chemical expert 'killed'
Reports from Pakistan say a leading al-Qaeda chemical weapons expert, Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, has been killed in a missile strike. Taleban officials in the tribal area of South Waziristan confirmed to the BBC that he was killed in a missile strike that left at least six people dead. The US, which has a reward of $5m on his head, said it had no information. He was wrongly reported to have been killed in 2006 in a strike aimed at al-Qaeda deputy head Ayman al-Zawahiri. The pre-dawn strike targeted a house near a mosque in the village of Azam Warsak, 20km (12 miles) west of the main town in South Waziristan, Wana. It was suspected to be a strike by US forces, with residents saying they had heard US drones, but this has not been confirmed. Pakistani military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told the AFP news agency it was still awaiting "authentic information" from the area.
Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, 55, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, is an Egyptian national. The US government's Rewards for Justice website says he is "an explosives expert and poisons trainer working on behalf of al-Qaeda". It says he trained hundreds of militants in chemical and explosives operations at a camp at Derunta in Afghanistan.
The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says the militant was considered part of Osama Bin Laden's inner circle and was said to be in charge of efforts to gain access to, or develop, weapons of mass destruction. Local residents said the house targeted belonged to a local tribesman and suspected militants used to stay there. The US is reported to have carried out a number of drone missile attacks in the tribal regions. Pakistan has complained the attacks could damage bilateral relations. The latest strike came shortly before Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was due to meet US President George W Bush in Washington.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said she had no information about the incident. In recent months the US and its allies have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in military and other forms of assistance to help Pakistan's new government tackle militancy in border tribal areas.
Source: BBC
Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, 55, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, is an Egyptian national. The US government's Rewards for Justice website says he is "an explosives expert and poisons trainer working on behalf of al-Qaeda". It says he trained hundreds of militants in chemical and explosives operations at a camp at Derunta in Afghanistan.
The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says the militant was considered part of Osama Bin Laden's inner circle and was said to be in charge of efforts to gain access to, or develop, weapons of mass destruction. Local residents said the house targeted belonged to a local tribesman and suspected militants used to stay there. The US is reported to have carried out a number of drone missile attacks in the tribal regions. Pakistan has complained the attacks could damage bilateral relations. The latest strike came shortly before Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was due to meet US President George W Bush in Washington.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said she had no information about the incident. In recent months the US and its allies have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in military and other forms of assistance to help Pakistan's new government tackle militancy in border tribal areas.
Source: BBC
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