Terror War Heats up in Pakistan

By Charlie

Two very interesting (and possibly interconnected) stories out of Pakistan today:

Pakistan deploys troops as tensions rise in Karachi
KARACHI (AFP) - The Pakistan government sent its army to Karachi after unrest broke out ahead of funerals for Sunni Muslim leaders who were among 57 people killed in a suicide blast two days ago, officials said.
Ten top leaders of Sunni Tehreek including its chief Abbas Qadri were among 57 people killed in the blast at Karachi's Nishtar Park during a ceremony to mark the birthday of Prophet Mohammed on Tuesday.

Police investigators have also released the photograph of the face of a suspected suicide bomber, but so far have not found any major clues in the investigation.

"We may still wait for one or two days if someone came to identify the suspect, a bearded man who looked like an ethnic Pashtun or an Afghan," chief investigator Manzoor Mughal told AFP.
Investigations so far revealed that most of the deaths were caused by fragments.

Pakistan says foreign militants killed in gunship raid

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistan's military said that a number of foreign insurgents were killed when it destroyed a suspected militant compound in a tribal region along the border with Afghanistan.

Wednesday night's raid, launched after what the military called "confirmed intelligence," was the latest in a series of army operations against suspected militants in lawless North Waziristan in the past few weeks.

The raid targeted a site in Nagar village, six kilometres (four miles) south of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, chief military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told AFP.

"We have conducted a sting operation with the help of Cobra gunship helicopters, which has resulted in the knocking out of a military hideout," Sultan said.

Pakistan has deployed 80,000 troops on the border to hunt militants who took refuge in the rugged tribal belt after the Taliban regime in Afghanistan was toppled following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
President Pervez Musharraf, a key US ally loathed by Islamic extremists for his ties to Washington, last month warned foreign insurgents to leave the tribal belt or be killed.

What to make of this? A suicide bomber, maybe of Afghan decent, attacks a moderate Sunni party, while a night-strike helicopter assault levels a remote compound packed with foreign fighters. What’s going on in Pakistan? I see this as good news/bad news. Obviously, the good news is that the fight is being pressed by the Pakistanis against the jihadists that are dug in along the border region of Waziristan. The bad news is that these tribesmen (probably AQ/Taliban) are now causing trouble INSIDE Pakistan, instead of Afghanistan or the border region. This is bad because the population of Pakistan is somewhat radicalized, and General/President Musharraf isn’t popular with the Islamists. Musharraf, therefore, has to keep the country under somewhat tight, autocratic rule to keep order, and more importantly keep the Islamists’ hands off his nuke. Perhaps now Musharraf realizes that the goal of radical Islamists is to topple regimes like his, and establish their Caliphate in its place. This suicide blast by an outsider made the Pakistani regime look weak, and the Sunni group, though moderate, represents a challenge to Musharraf’s rule if they legitimize the use of a religious posse to hunt down the bombers.

Musharraf needs to look strong, and how better to do that than by ordering Cobra attack helicopters to blow the crap out of the bad guys? I hope this galvanizes the Pakistani regime to support us further in the GWOT, now that they see that they are in the cross hairs of terrorists just as much as we are. Maybe, if Musharraf is sufficiently threatened, he may really turn up the heat and start coughing up the Al Qaeda bigwigs hiding in his country.

April 13, 2006 11:53 AM

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://op-for.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/14

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Terror War Heats up in Pakistan:

» Free Porn from Free Porn
Free Porn [Read More]

Comments

Another One Goes Ka-Boom

Cannoneer No. 4 · April 13, 2006 06:15 PM

Maybe, if Musharraf is sufficiently threatened, he may really turn up the heat and allow coalition special ops forces to help him blow the crap out of the bad guys.

Ed Nutter · April 14, 2006 08:32 PM