Terror at Islamic University
ISLAMABAD—Twin suicide blasts killed at least five four and injured at least 23 more than 40 at one of the largest Islamic universities in the world today, the seventh major terrorist attack in two weeks.
The attack comes as the Pakistani Army presses its assault on South Waziristan against Taliban militants, foreign fighters and al Qaeda.
Today’s attacks occurred […]
Pakistan’s 9/11
ISLAMABAD—Militants launched simultaneous attacks across Pakistan Thursday morning, hitting at least three police installations in Lahore, ramming a suicide car bomb into a police station in Kohat in the NWFP and attacking a school in Peshawar. At least 37 people were killed in the combined attacks.
The scene in Lahore was one of mayhem, where the Federal Investigation Agency, […]
Pakistan’s Civil War Heating Up
In the aftermath of this weekend’s assault on the Pakistani General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, the Taliban hit again in Alpuri, in the Shangla district east of Mingora in Swat.
According to military sources who asked to remain anonymous because they weren’t authorized to talk to the press, a 13– or 14-year-old boy walked up to an Army convoy in […]
Suicide bombing kills 5 at WFP in Islamabad
The bomb that blasted through the World Food Program’s lobby at its heavily fortified office in Islamabad on Monday, killing at least three five, and wounding at least six five, was a stark reminder that the Pakistani Taliban are still a force to be reckoned with.
The explosion occurred at approximately 12:15 p.m., on a leafy street in one of […]
Mingora Shrugs Over Rumors of Fazlullah Capture
MINGORA, Pakistan – The Swat Valley’s beleaguered capital was taking a wait-and-see attitude to the rumors that Maulana Fazlullah, head of the Swat Taliban which had terrorized the picturesque valley for five years, had been captured or killed by security forces this weekend.
The rumors first began appearing on Saturday night, when the NWFP governor, Owais Ghani, […]
Fazlullah may be captured
MINGORA, Swat — I’m filing this from my iPhone, as Internet is spotty up here, but reports are tricking out that Maulana Fazlullah, leader of the Swat Taliban and a close ally of the TTP, has been either captured or has surrendered near Gulibagh. This is as yet unconfirmed, however.
I will post more as I can, but […]
Afghan Elections: What's Obama to Do?
Dexter Filkins and Carlotta Gall of the New York Times have a thoroughly dispiriting story today.
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghans loyal to President Hamid Karzai set up hundreds of fictitious polling sites where no one voted but where hundreds of thousands of ballots were still recorded toward the president’s re-election, according to senior Western and Afghan officials here.
The […]
Swat Girls Get a Haven in Islamabad
Embedded video from CNN Video
My friend Shiza Shahid has spent this summer working on a retreat for schoolgirls of the Swat Valley after the Taliban prevented them from attending school. CNN has the report on it.
School-age girls are among the victims in the fierce fighting between government soldiers and Taliban militants in the Swat Valley. The […]
Why Pakistan's Delaying its Waziristan Push
Well, not to say I told you so, but …
Pakistan will need months to prepare for a ground offensive against the Taliban in their South Waziristan stronghold on the Afghan border, a senior army commander said on Tuesday, citing equipment shortages.
…
“It’s going to take months,” and possibly beyond the coming winter, [Lt. Gen. Nadeem] Ahmed said, when asked how long […]
A Pakistani Awakening?
Posted by Christopher Allbritton on September 11, 2009 at 7:12 pm +0000 · Leave a Comment
Some interesting news out of the Swat Valley yesterday:
TOTANA BANDAI: When a posse of Taliban fighters entered a mosque in this village during evening prayers last week to demand the allegiance of the congregation, long-suffering locals decided they had enough.
The villagers, of whom a majority had only just returned to their homes following the conclusion of major military […]
Filed under Commentary, Featured, Pakistan · Tagged with Army, insurgency, Pakistan, Swat, Taliban, Tehrik-i-Taliban, Tribal