Pakistan Continues the Battle Against AQ in Urban Areas

The government of Pakistan is now focused on following the leads gained through the Jundullah raid in Karachi and intelligence gained through other means. In the latest raid the terrorists held woman and children as human shields in a shoot out with authorities that killed 2 police and three terrorists. This occurred overnight in Mardan, which is 30 miles north of Peshawar, a former favorite haunt of Osama Bin Laden.

There is also this from the story:

In 2005, police arrested al-Qaida’s No. 3 leader Abu Farraj al-Libbi after a shootout in Mardan. Al-Libbi, who allegedly orchestrated two assassination attempts against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, was later handed over to U.S. authorities.

The latest fighting came just days after a U.S. missile strike killed Abu Laith al-Libi, a top al-Qaida commander in the lawless border regions. U.S. commanders in Afghanistan say the areas are being increasingly used as a safe haven by Taliban and al-Qaida guerrillas fighting the NATO-led international coalition there.

In other news from Pakistan three more TNSM followers from Swat were captured, but the 8 previously captured were let out on bail. On the political front authorities also released several of the oppostion lawyers who had been detained after demonstrations in favor of Iftikhar Chaudry, the detained ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

At the same time they’ve called a truce with the Taliban in South Waziristan, the Taliban’s strongest holdout, and they appear to be negotiating peace, as Bill Roggio reports at The Long War Journal.

There was a suicide attack in the frontiers, possibly a retaliation for Al Libi’s death, details below from Xinhua:

A suicide bomber on Friday attacked a security check post in northwestern Pakistan’s tribal region, killing three security personnel and injuring five others, an army statement said.

    A suicide bomber in car struck a joint check post manned by paramilitary “Frontier Corps” and local militia known as “Khasadar” at Khajuri in North Waziristan tribal region, said the statement.

    The injured were taken to hospital in Mir Ali, a major town in the region.

    Security forces blocked the main road between Miranshah and Bannu, a city at the edge of North Waziristan, local tribesmen said, adding that local people were asked through loudspeakers to donate blood to the injured as the hospital was running out of blood.

The big problem with Pakistan’s approach to fighting terrorism is that they never get the top leadership. They don’t have Baitullah, they don’t have Fazlullah, they don’t have Zawahiri or Bin Laden. They will continue to have terror, bombings, and assasinations in their country until they get serious. Any truce with Jihadis merely allows them to regroup, re-equip, and worst of all, recruit.

One thought on “Pakistan Continues the Battle Against AQ in Urban Areas”

  1. When bombing halts were used in Vietnam, the VC and NVA used them to regroup, train and rest. If we do not keep pressure on the Taliban it’s like
    giving them R & R….

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