The Long War Journal: Taliban suicide bombing in Swat kills nine soldiers

Written by Bill Roggio on December 23, 2007 3:44 PM to The Long War Journal

Available online at: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2007/12/taliban_suicide_bomb_1.php

The Taliban continues to target military and police forces in the Northwest Frontier Province. The latest suicide bombing in Pakistan occurred in the settled district of Swat. A Taliban suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden car into a military convoy near the town of Mingora.

Nine soldiers were killed and 15 wounded. Fourteen civilians were also wounded in the attack.

The Pakistani military launched an offensive in November to drive out Maulana Fazlullah's local Taliban forces, who took control of the district and neighboring Shangla by force in mid-October. The government signed a peace accord with Fazlullah in May, but he failed to abide by the terms of the agreement. Despite committing tens of thousands of troops to the fight, the military has yet to advance far north of Mingora in central Swat.

Fazlullah has yet to be captured. Fazlullah, along with 20 local Taliban groups, was able to send a representative to attend the initial meeting of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan -- the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan -- on December 14. South Waziristan's powerful commander Baitullah Mehsud was appointed the leader of the movement.

Since December 13, Taliban and al Qaeda suicide bombings and conventional attacks have claimed the lives of 52 soldiers, paramilitary soldiers, and policemen, and wounded scores more. The Pakistani security forces are taking casualties at a rate far higher than US and Iraqi forces in Iraq.

Twelve soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing that targeted trainees at a soccer match in Kohat on December 17. Also, the Taliban beheaded a soldier in Khar, Bajaur. Four soldiers were killed during a suicide attack at a military base in Nowshera on December 16. A suicide bomber killed 11 security personnel at a checkpoint in Quetta on December 13. Fifteen soldiers were killed and 38 wounded in a series of Taliban ambushes on military convoys in North Waziristan.

The suicide bombing in Swat is the third such attack in the Northwest Frontier Province this past week. In addition to the Kohat suicide attack, a Taliban suicide bomber struck at a mosque in Charsadda while worshippers offered Eid prayers on December 21. The target of the strike was former Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao. Over 50 were killed and 200 wounded in the blast, but Sherpao survived the attack.