US citizens warned not to travel to Pakistan

[Bengal_Tiger]

US citizens warned not to travel to Pakistan

Updated: 20:41, Friday, 09 August 2013


The United States has ordered the evacuation of non-essential staff from its consulate in the northeastern Pakistani city of Lahore due to the threat of attack.

The State Department has also warned US citizens not to travel to Pakistan.
The warning comes two days after the US evacuated some diplomats from Yemen and told its nationals to leave that country immediately.
The US shut nearly two dozen missions across the Middle East after a worldwide alert on 2 August.
It warned its citizens that al-Qaeda may be planning attacks in August, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa.
The Lahore warning noted that "several foreign and indigenous terrorist groups pose a potential danger to US citizens throughout Pakistan".
A US embassy spokeswoman said the closure was due to a specific threat to Lahore and that it was unclear when the consulate would reopen.
It was also unclear if the Lahore announcement was linked to the earlier US closures.
Tensions have also risen this week with Pakistan's neighbour India over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
Lahore is Pakistan's cultural capital but has also suffered from attacks by militant groups.
The number of attacks has risen since the landslide election of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in May elections.
Pakistan is home to a number of militant groups, including al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other sectarian groups.
The US State Department initially announced the wider embassy closures would be only for last Sunday, then extended the closures of some by a week and added Burundi, Rwanda and Mauritius to the closure list.
Yemen, one of the poorest Arab countries, is the base for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the most active branches of the network founded by Osama bin Laden.
Militants have launched attacks from there against the West.
US sources have told Reuters that intercepted communication between al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri and the Yemen-based wing was one part of the intelligence behind their alert last week.
Separately, nine people have been killed and 27 injured in the western city of Quetta.
Police said that gunmen fired on the vehicle of a politician driving past worshippers leaving a mosque on the Muslim holy day of Eid.
Quetta is the capital of eastern Baluchistan province, where several militant groups are active, including the Pakistani Taliban, who claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack that killed 30 people at a policeman's funeral yesterday.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0809/467195-pakistan-threat-lahore-us/

[Bengal_Tiger]

Something major might be brewing, especially given the TTP freed over 200 TTP militants last week, and the Pakistani authorities sealed Islamabad airport:

http://tribune.com.pk/story/586533/not-taking-chances-commandos-on-margallas-as-capital-put-on-high-alert/

Islamabad was on red alert and the Pakistanis were worried that the TTP were going to strike the Pakistani Air Force headquarters.

http://www.geo.tv/article-112391-Islamabad-on-red-alert-after-intelligence-warns-of-attack-on-PAF-HQ

If the TTP can go to a jail in army uniforms in big trucks passing all security and check points and then release 200+ prisoners, and if they are capable of taking out the airforce HQ of one of the largest militaries on earth, then.....well I'll leave you to fill in the blanks.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Pakistani Taliban build strength as the US prepares to pull out

Syed Fazl-e-Haider

Aug 8, 2013


The second jailbreak in a year in Pakistan last week raises questions about the competency of the Pakistani authorities to guard the country's prisons. It also raises concerns about the growing hold and influence of the Pakistani Taliban in the nuclear armed country at a time when the US forces are poised to withdraw from neighbouring Afghanistan next year.


At least 30 militants belonging to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and various banned sectarian outfits managed to escape when heavily armed Taliban fighters, including suicide bombers, attacked the central jail on July 31 in Dera Ismail Khan district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Militants carrying sophisticated weapons and firing mortar shells ultimately freed over 250 prisoners and killed more than a dozen people during the attack. Following the jailbreak, Interpol issued a global warning to increase the vigilance against attacks after a series of prison breaks in Iraq, Libya and Pakistan.
How did the Pakistani Taliban manage to achieve a second jailbreak? What have been the dynamics of the terrorist plot? In the Bannu jailbreak in which nearly 400 prisoners were freed last year, the attackers were reportedly helped by insiders in the security services. A subsequent inquiry revealed that there were far fewer guards with insufficient ammunition on duty than there should have been. Like the Bannu jail attack, the recent one on Dera Ismail Khan's central jail in the same province highlights the collusion of some elements within the prison's security system with Taliban fighters that allowed the attackers to free prisoners, including hardcore militants.
The episode of the storming of the jail reflects the enhanced capability of Taliban fighters to strike at the guarded building on one hand, and the incompetence and ill-preparedness of the security guards to face the raid. The incident raises fears about more attacks on the country's other prisons housing high-profile militants.
The militants who escaped from Dera Ismail Khan jail could be instrumental in launching attacks on targets inside Afghanistan. Last year, the militants who escaped from Bannu jail were reportedly involved in launching the Taliban's spring initiative in Afghanistan when militants attacked the diplomatic enclave in Kabul and tried to storm the Afghan parliament. Among the freed militants was Adnan Rashid, who was involved in the assassination attempt on former military dictator Pervez Musharraf.

The growing strength of the TTP along Pakistan's lawless border with Afghanistan continues to embarrass Washington in the run up to the Afghan war endgame. Currently the strongest militant group in the country's northwestern tribal areas, the TTP was formed in 2007. The group is believed to have a close association with the Afghan Taliban and an alliance with banned anti-Shia sectarian outfits.

TTP's growing operational capacity and reorganisation in border areas is likely to have implications for post-2014 Afghanistan. After the US withdrawal, a reorganised and strong TTP is likely to emerge as a threat to peace in Afghanistan. The group is likely to emerge as a grave threat to the US that wants to conclude the Afghan war on its own terms.

The TTP, which claimed responsibility for the jailbreak, also poses a challenge to the new government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Soon after he came to power in the May 11 election, Mr Sharif stepped up efforts to hold peace talks with Pakistani Taliban. The TTP, however, withdrew its offer of peace talks with the Sharif government following the killing of the TTP's key commander Waliur Rehman in a US drone strike on May 29 and vowed to avenge his death against the Pakistani government.

The US is against any peace deal with the Pakistani Taliban because it believes that the TTP used peace agreements with Islamabad in 2011 to join hands with the Afghan Taliban in launching attacks against western forces. The US firmly believes that the TTP wants to overthrow the Pakistani government and impose its theocratic version of Islam, and ultimately threaten to undo the US plans in neighbouring Afghanistan. The US believes that the TTP has been responsible for major attacks on US and Afghan targets inside Afghanistan. Washington's drone war in the country's tribal areas is mainly aimed at weakening the strike capability of the TTP.

How will the Sharif government tackle the TTP, which has become the gravest security risk? On June 23, Pakistani Taliban killed 10 foreign tourists at a base camp of Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain in the world, in the country's north. The TTP has also been responsible for launching devastating attacks on Pakistan's military and civilian targets across the country, killing over 5,000 security personnel and over 45,000 civilians.
As the government had already received an intelligence warning about the recent jailbreak, it was not an intelligence failure. It was simply a tactical failure. The security personnel guarding the prison were not well-trained, well-equipped and armed to thwart a raid by the organised, heavily armed and trained militants. Investments should be made in making the law-enforcers trained and prepared to tackle such jailbreak ventures by militant groups.
No lesson was learnt from last year's Bannu jail raid and the country is likely to witness more similar attacks.

Syed Fazl-e-Haider ( www.syedfazlehaider.com ) is a development analyst in Pakistan. He is the author of many books, including The Economic Development of Balochistan

http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/pakistani-taliban-build-strength-as-the-us-prepares-to-pull-out#page2

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

45.000 civilians? Who did the counting?

[Bengal_Tiger]

45.000 civilians? Who did the counting?

Good question.

However I am guessing it is relatively accurate, because each time there is a bomb or killing in Pakistan, in the news, they say the exact number dead.

Sometimes they even publish the names of the deceased.


* * * * * * * *


Terrorists killed 2,600 in seven months

August 09, 2013 Ashraf Javed 3



Terrorists killed 2,600 in seven months
LAHORE - Despite prior threats and intelligence inputs, terrorists successfully sneaked into the highly-guarded Police Headquarters in Quetta, the capital of the insurgency-hit Balochistan on Thursday.
The suicide bombing at the funeral for a policeman left more than 30 people dead, mostly police officers. A senior police officer, DIG Fayyaz Ahmed Sumbal was also killed in the terrible blast that shook the entire country a day before the Eid-ul-Fitr. Dozens of victims are battling for life in the hospital.
Thursday’s suicide attack in Quetta is said to be the 32 suicide bombing incident, which took place in Pakistan since January 2013.
According to statistics compiled from various sources, at least 590 people have been killed and more than 1100 are wounded in suicide attacks across Pakistan since January 1 to August 8, 2013.
During this year so far, at least 2600 people including 2109 civilians and 500 security personnel are killed in different terror attacks across Pakistan.
At least 513 people and 100 security personnel were killed in Balochistan in different terror strikes since January 2013. In the Sindh province, at least 887 people and 103 security personnel were killed in various attacks during the same period.
Similarly, at last 396 civilians and 124 security personnel were killed in Khyber PK province so far while 24 people including three security officials were killed in the Punjab province this year.
Following is the timeline of the major terrorists and suicide attacks that took place in Pakistan since January 1, 2013.

January 10: At least 105 persons were killed and over 169 persons were injured in two separate bomb blasts on Alamdar Road in Quetta. On the same day, at least 30 people were killed and more than 70 were injured in a suicide blast inside the Markaz located on the Takhta Band Road in Mingora city, Swat.

February 1: Twenty-eight persons were killed and 46 others injured when a suicide bomber struck outside a mosque just after Friday prayers in Pat Bazaar in Hangu Town.

February 2: Thirty six persons were killed when TTP suicide bombers attacked an Army Camp in Sarai Naurang area of Lakki Marwat District in Khyber PK. Thirteen soldiers and 12 militants were killed.

March 23: A suicide bomber rammed a water tanker bomb at a military check post, killing 17 security personnel, one civilian and also injured 25 others near Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan Agency.

March 29: Twelve persons including four security personnel were killed and 35 others were injured in a suicide bomber attacked on the vehicle of Commandant of Frontier Constabulary Abdul Majeed Marwat in the high-security cantonment area of Peshawar.

April 16: At least 9 soldiers were killed and eight others injured in a suicide attack on a military vehicle near a roadside checkpoint in Saidgai area of North Waziristan Agency.

On the same day, 16 persons, including SHO, were killed and more than 35 were injured when a suicide bomber targeted the senior ANP leader Ghulam Ahmad Bilour and his nephew Haroon Bilour in Mundabheri area of Yakatut in Peshawar.

May 12: Balochistan Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Sukhera narrowly escaped a suicide attack in the high security zone on Zarghoon Road in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan that killed at least seven persons and injured 45 others.

June 18: At least 35 persons, including a newly-elected MPA Imran Mohmand, were killed and over 57 others were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a funeral prayer in Shah Zaman Qala village of Shergarh town in Mardan District.

June 21: At least 15 persons were killed and 25 others were injured in a suicide attack at an Imambargah in Gulshan Colony on the edge of Peshawar.

June 30: At least 28 persons were killed and 60 others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near an Imambargah in Aliabad area of Hazara Town in Quetta.

July 10: President Asif Ali Zardari’s chief security officer, Bilal Sheikh, and two others, including his driver Irfan Sheikh and a fruit vendor Abdul Rehman were killed while over a dozen others were wounded in a suicide attack near Guru Mandir in Jamshed Town of Karachi. July 11: At least seven people were killed including an Afghan security guard and 10 others including four FC personnel sustained injuries in a suicide attack in Chaman Town of Qilla Abdullah District in Balochistan bordering Afghanistan.

July 24: Suicide bombers and armed militants mounted an attack on the local office of ISI in high security zone of Sukkur Barrage Colony in Sukkur town of Sukkur District, sparking a shootout that killed eight persons, including four terrorists, three ISI officials and a civilian, and injured 50 others July 26: At least 60 persons were killed and 180 others were injured in a coordinated twin suicide attacks at Parachinar in the Kurram Agency of FATA.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/national/09-Aug-2013/terrorists-killed-2-600-in-seven-months

[Bengal_Tiger]

PAKISTAN AT WAR!

1. If the Indian Air Force or their state terrorist wing (RAW) bombed the Pakistani Air Force headquarters, there would be war and we are even talking nuclear weapons.

The use of nuclear weapons would effect not just India and Pakistan but also Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Tajikistan, China all of whom have direct borders with these two states or (e.g. Tajikistan) very close.







2. However it is not the Indians the Pakistanis are worried about it is in fact the TTP.

If this is not war, if Pakistan is not in a state of war, then I do not know what would be.

If the Taliban can take out the most important air force installation in the country and possibly devastate the entire Pakistani air force system (though command centres are probably located in underground or covert bunkers), then they can definitely target nuclear sites.



Pakistani air force bases, the TTP were looking to destroy the very heart of Pakistan's air force command structure i.e. the PAF (Pakistan Air Force) Headquarters.


The TTP have sworn revenge for the deaths of their comrades and though they are militants following an extremist Deobandi ideology their Pashtun tribal background obviously plays a part, and as everyone knows in Pashtunwali, "badal" (revenge/avenging a killing) is very important.

The TTP are looking for revenge.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Due to this current situation the militaries of:

- Bangladesh
- Afghanistan
- Iran
- Nepal
- Bhutan
- Tajikistan
- China
- Sri Lanka
- Maldives

Should all be put on either red alert or at least orange alert.



Bangladesh Air Force.





Bangladeshi naval forces with US forces.

[Kushan Prince]

The banana republic seems to be on the verge of collapsation.

[Bengal_Tiger]

The banana republic seems to be on the verge of collapsation.

I don't care about the state of Pakistan i.e. the "federation of Pakistan", however I think it still has quite a lot of life in it, but so do its enemies ie. the TTP.

Let's hope that innocent people including women and children do not continue to die.

[Master Khan]

There have been fighting in Pakistan for a long time now and it look like it will never end.
Lets hope innocent people stay out of this.

[randolph85]

I knew that timeshare in wana was a bad idea.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Armed groups begin patrolling streets in Peshawar’s suburbs

PESHAWAR: After increasing influence in the limits of Badaber and Matani police stations, armed groups have started patrolling the streets in Sarband and Pishtakhara areas, which had set the alarm bells ringing in the provincial capital.

“A large number of armed people, suspected to be militants, have recently started patrolling the streets in the limits of Sarband and Pishtakhara police stations. Their movement has panicked the residents of the villages located close to the boundary with the Khyber Agency,” a source told The News. The source said the groups operating in the areas are also targeting Hayatabad and University Road where not only the incidents of kidnapping have increased but a few houses were also bombed and hit with rockets in the last few days.

The area is without a supervisory officer as its deputy superintendent of police (DPS) was transferred due to political pressure by a local politician for refusing his ‘illegal orders’. The militants have already increased their influence in the limits of the Matani and Badaber police stations, causing aserious threat to the towns on both sides of the Kohat-Peshawar Road. The towns in the two police stations have witnessed hundreds of attacks by the militants from the nearby Khyber Agency and Darra Adamkhel during the last several years.

There are reports that the activities of the armed groups have also increased in the urban areas, including Gulbahar, Faqirabad,Yakatoot, Bhanamari and Mathra. Kidnappings, calls for ransom, robberies and other crimes are on the rise in the limits of all these police stations as well as the rest of the city.

The city witnessed a large number of target killings in the past few months. However, the groups involved in these attacks were busted last month, bringing down the number of the targeted attacks.

Peshawar had witnessed a similar situation a few years ago when armed groups were active all over the provincial metropolis. They carried out attacks in the urban and cantonment areas of the city before making their escape back to the tribal areas.

The spokesman for the capital city police, Waqar Ahmad, rejected reports about the patrolling of the militants in the limits of Peshawar. “The Sarband as well as the Badaber and Matani areas are fully under the control of police,” said the spokesman.

About the crimes in the rest of the city, the police spokesman said a number of rings involved in calls for extortion as well kidnapping and robberies were busted recently. However, a late night attack on a masjid in Achini village in the limits of Sarband police station speaks volumes of the increasing influence of the militants in the area. At least three persons were killed and 20 injured when the armed men attacked the Pirano Masjid in the village with hand grenade and automatic weapons late Thursday night.

The FIR of the incident was lodged on Friday in the Sarband Police Station. There were reports that a search operation was also carried out in the area, during which over a dozen suspects were held.

The area is located close to the boundary with Khyber Agency. There were reports that the police were hesitant to reach the spot and rescue the wounded. The wounded were shifted to the hospital by the villagers.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-New...hawars-suburbs










1. Peshawar is the capital of 1 of the 4 provinces of what is the "federation" of Pakistan.

Peshawar is the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. If Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were to go then we could say that 1/4 of the country (Pakistan) has gone.

When east Pakistan gained its freedom in 1971 people say that 1/2 of the country was lost, so Khyber Pakhtunkhwa going would make it 1/4 of what is now "Pakistan" (land of the pure).


2. Militants do not control Peshawar and I doubt they will be able to capture it anytime soon. Most Peshawaris which is a multi-ethnic city of Pashtuns, Hindkos and others are loyal to the "federation" of Pakistan.


3. However this is an ominous development and if militants were to ever take control of one of the provincial capitals then there is no reason why they could not cross the Margala hills and capture the smaller city of Islambad.

Islamabad being the capital of the "federation".




Margala hills outside Islamabad, not too far from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a one hour drive from the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.




The TTP are believed to have a force of 10,000 fighters, which is the size of a small division.

In addition they could call upon sympathetic tribesmen, most Pashtun tribes hate the TTP but they could change if they feel that under Pashtunwali (Pashtun code of honour) and Islam they must support them.

They can also call upon manpower from Afghanistan itself.

Then there are their many supporters inside the Pakistan army who work for them, release information to them and help them to kill Pakistani soldiers and bomb Pakistani bases.

The TTP are probably not yet planning a ground offensive to take Islamabad, but in the future who knows.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Militants have in fact controlled parts of Islamabad before with the Pakistani army sending in troops to fight them, in the capital.



Militants fight the Pakistan army during the Lal Masjid massacre in 2007.




Militants defended themselves in a mosque against a Pakistan army operation in 2007.





Lal Masjid in Islamabad which was attacked by the Pakistan army.




Apparently some in the TTP have sworn revenge for the Lal Masjid operation and want to carry out "badal" (revenge) for this massacre.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Peshawar: twin suicide blasts leave 60 dead


September 22, 2013 - Updated 1350 PKT

Peshawar: twin suicide blasts leave 60 dead



PESHAWAR: At least 60 people were killed and more than 120 including women and children were injured in twin suicide blasts in Qissa Khawani bazaar of Peshawar, Geo News reported.

Sources said suicide bombers blew themselves up outside Kohati gate near the Pakistan Church.

Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) have cordoned off the area after the blast.

Chief Executive Leady Reading Hospital (LRH) has confirmed killing of 56 people in the blasts.

Emergency has been declared in the LRH.

The eyewitnesses said the worshipers were leaving the Church when the blast occurred. More than 500 people were present in the Church at the time of suicide attack.

Commissioner Peshawar Sahidzada Anees has confirmed the death toll in the suicide blast, adding 45 people were also injured. The condition of some is said to be critical, he said.

SSP City Police said a policeman was martyred and another wounded in the attack.

The dead also included four children of three to eight years of age besides six women.

Bomb disposal squad chief Abdul Haq said two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the church when people were coming out after Sunday mass.

Talking to Geo News deputy commissioner Zaheerul Islam said "Six hundred people were inside the church when the blast took place".

Council for International Religion has announced three days mourning and three holidays in the missionary schools and colleges in Peshawar.

Grieved relatives gathered outside the church and shouted slogans against police over the security lapse.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has expressed solidarity with the Christian community on lose of lives of their beloved.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-119340-Peshawar-suicide-blast-leaves-28-dead

THIS BOMB ATTACK IS TOTALLY AGAINST THE TEACHINGS OF ISLAM.

a: Murder of people at a holy place of worship.

b: Murder of civilians.



Normally I do not post news of terrorism or killing in Pakistan as it is almost a daily occurence but this atrocity is something else.

Anyway it shows that - excluding the terrorism - that many Christians generally live peacefully in Peshawar the capital of Pakhtunkhwa.

The situation in Peshawar and the north of Pakistan seems to be deteriorating. Many Pukhtoons had high hopes of Imran Khan and his PTI. I personally like Imran Khan and think he is a good man, but these problems are far greater than him.

People are dying nearly every day, militants have Pashtuns under a reign of terror in Pakhtunkhwa, something needs to be done!

My condolences to the families of the victims of this massacre.

[Bengal_Tiger]

LATEST NEWS:


- The Pashtun nationalist party, the ANP has declared 3 days of mourning in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at this outrageous attack.




*** PASHTUN NATIONALISTS CONDEMN ATTACK ***

- Pashtun nationalist, Ghulam Bilour has gone to the site of this barbaric attack to comfort victims.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-119345-Peshawar-Church-attack:-Bilour-arrives-on-the-spot-to-express-solidarity

Ghulam Bilour.

Ghulam Bilour's own brother was murdered by the Taliban after his brother Bashir vowed he would never be scared by terrorists and leave Pakhtunkhwa.





Bashir Bilour, after the Taliban bomb attack, the brave Pashtun nationalist leader died shortly after.


- Pashtun nationalist leader and former ANP minister, Mian Iftikhar has said 100 people have died and 150 injured.



Iftikhar has visited the church in Peshawar to console families of the murdered ones.


Mian Iftikhar's son was murdered by the Taliban.



Mian Iftikhar in mourning for his murdered son.