A fourteen year old boy, a suicide bomber in the making was captured after he failed to detonate his vest in an attack at the Sakhi Sarwar shrine in the district of Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab province on 3 April. On being interrogated, he divulged shocking information about hundreds of suicide bombers that are currently being trained at camps in North Waziristan.
The failed suicide bomber, was identified as Fida Hussain, a resident of North Waziristan. While he failed in his attempt, his accomplices succeeded in carrying out the attack at the Sufi shrine by killing around 44 civilians and wounding more than 60 others.
“We have three facilities exclusively for fedayeen (suicide bombers). Each one has more than 350 men being trained in it,” Shakirullah Shakir, a purported spokesperson for the little-known Fidayeen-e-Islam Group of the Taliban.
The day that followed, i.e. 4th April, saw yet another Fedayeen attack on a bus stand in the North Waziristan region of Lower Dir. As per the police officials, the incident claimed lives of seven people.
Substantiating the claims of the failed suicide bomber, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan have taken the responsibility of running three secret camps in South and North Waziristan tribal region close to the Afghan border, where more than 1000 potential suicide bombers are being trained.
“We have three facilities exclusively for fedayeen (suicide bombers). Each one has more than 350 men being trained in it,” Shakirullah Shakir, a purported spokesperson for the little-known Fidayeen-e-Islam Group of the Taliban, told the media.
“Fedayeen-e-Islam is a part of the overall chain of command of the TTP but it works separately and has its own structures,” Shakir said.
While Shakir admitted Mirali in North Waziristan, was home to one of the biggest and deadliest training camps, he refused to divulge any location details of the other two camps.
According to Shakirullah, of the many hundreds of suicide bombers who are receiving training in the three camps, some batches have already been sent out on fedayeen attack missions to Pakistan.
“They were trained in a religious school in Quetta which is run by Mullah Abdul Rahim. They were told they would make it to paradise if they blew themselves up”, Abdul Razaq, a senior provincial security official in Kandahar.
Although their targets remain under wraps, it’s only worth revisiting the public statement issued by a spokesperson for the Taliban, Ihsanullah Ihsan, where he mentioned that both governor and chief minister of Balochistan province were on the hit list of the group.
Three suicide bombers, aged around 15 years each were arrested by the Afghanistan Police, in Spin Boldak district of Southern Kandarahar on Tuesday. They were arrested when they were trying to cross into Afghanistan from Pakistan, said Kandahar Governor, Toryalai Weesa.
Of the three suicide bombers arrested, two were from Pakistan and one from Afghanistan. According to the police officials, they had received training in Quetta, Pakistan.
“They were trained in a religious school in Quetta which is run by Mullah Abdul Rahim. They were told they would make it to paradise if they blew themselves up”, Abdul Razaq, a senior provincial security official in Kandahar.
They passed through Chaman, the Pakistani border city, before entering Afghanistan. Chaman is a forward command and control centre for Mullah Zakir, who leads Taliban’s Military Council as well as Mullah Dadullah Front of Al Qaeda, responsible for conducting high-profile attacks in the South.
The detention of the suicide bombers who were trained in Quetta, and not North Waziristan, re-establishes the fact that the Taliban and allied terror groups have an extensive network throughout Pakistan.
The detention of the suicide bombers who were trained in Quetta, and not North Waziristan, re-establishes the fact that the Taliban and allied terror groups have an extensive network throughout Pakistan.
The US led drone strikes in North Waziristan, responsible for washing out the top militant leaders from the tribal area, were strongly critised post the 17 March drone strike that killed many innocent people in the region. Post this incident, Pakistan had demanded a suspension of the drone strikes and the two premier intelligence agencies of the US and Pakistan, CIA and ISI respectively has decided to revisit their ties.
In a meeting held recently, between the Chief of Pakistan’s main spy agency, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the C.I.A. Director, Leon E Panetta and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the joint Chief of staffs to resolve brewing tensions between US and Pakistan and the premier investigative agencies of the two countries, post the arrest of CIA contractor Raymond A Davis in Pakistan, Pakistan had made a strong attempt to set new rules for the game.
Pakistan had requested for an advance notice of C.I.A. missile strikes, for fewer strikes over all, and for a fuller accounting of C.I.A. officers and contractors working in Pakistan.
“The bottom line is that joint cooperation is essential to the security of the two nations. The stakes are too high”, said the American officials.
But as the US drone strikes resumed on Wednesday, the Pakistan establishment got agitated and threatened to disrupt American supply lines from Pakistan into Afghanistan, which it had done before as well.
Pakistan may have wanted to strategically blackmail America, but by carrying out a drone strike on Wednesday, America just proved a point that was well interpreted by Pakistans Spy agency ISI, as a deliberate attempt by Washington to embarrass Pakistan.
Pakistan may have wanted to North Waziristan blackmail America, but by carrying out a drone strike on Wednesday, America just proved a point that was well interpreted by Pakistan’s Spy agency ISI, as a deliberate attempt by Washington to embarrass Pakistan. “If the message was that business will continue as usual, it was a crude way of sending it,” a senior Pakistani intelligence official said.
Perturbed, Pakistan’s foreign minister filed an official complaint with the US ambassador over the April 13 Predator strike in South Waziristan that killed six Haqqani Network fighters.
According to a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad, the displeasure was conveyed to Cameron P. Munter, the United States ambassador there. It stated, “Pakistan strongly condemns the drone attack.” “We have repeatedly said that such attacks are counterproductive and only contribute to strengthen the hands of the terrorists.”
With such feelers being sent out by the Pakistani government, it establishes the fact that Pakistan is no longer willing to allow the Predator strikes without exacting a high cost from the US and pressing for a greater involvement of Pakistan in the US led operations in Afghanistan. The threat to shut down the supply lines through Pakistan into Afghanistan can be a big setback for the US, as it enters the final leg of it’s operations in Afghanistan.
Pakistan may detest the US drone strikes but the fact is that with US withdrawing it’s support to Pakistan for fighting terrorism, Pakistan will suffer immensely at the hands of the home grown terrorist network, spread across the length and breadth of the country. With Fedayeen-e-Islam expanding in North Waziristan, Pakistan may soon be subjected to numerous suicide bomber attacks. There already have been 31 Fedayeen attacks in Pakistan since 2007.
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