Pakistani Taliban execute 15 Frontier Constabulary personnel

The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan claimed credit for executing 15 paramilitary Frontier Constabulary personnel who were captured two weeks ago.

The naked bodies of the 15 Frontier Constabulary personnel were dumped in the town of Shiwa in the Miramshah area of Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, according to The Associated Press.

The spokesman for the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, Ihsanullah Ihsan, said that the 15 soldiers were executed in retaliation for a Pakistani military operation in the Khyber tribal agency on Jan. 1 that killed 12 Taliban. Among those killed in Khyber was Qari Kamran, a senior commander in Nowshera who was responsible for the the murders of scores of Pakistani soldiers, policemen, and civilians in the northwest [see LWJ report, Pakistani troops kill dangerous Taliban commander].

The 15 troops were captured on Dec. 22, 2011 during a Taliban assault on a fort in the settled district of Tank, which borders South Waziristan. One soldier was killed during the assault. The next day, seven Frontier Corps troopers were killed in a suicide attack in the settled district of Bannu [see LWJ report, Taliban suicide bomber kills 7 Pakistani troops].

Ihsanullah Ihsan said the Dec. 22 and 23 attacks were carried out to avenge the death of Taj Gul Mehsud, a senior deputy to Hakeemullah Mehsud, the emir of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. Taj Gul was killed along with 12 other fighters in a US airstrike in South Waziristan on Oct. 26 [see LWJ report, Taliban avenge death of commander killed in October drone strike].

The execution of the Pakistani troops took place just days after four major Taliban factions joined a council known as the Shura-e-Murakeba [see LWJ report, Al Qaeda brokers new anti-US Taliban alliance in Pakistan and Afghanistan]. The new alliance consists of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, the Haqqani Network, and the independent Taliban factions led by Mullah Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadar. The alliance was brokered by al Qaeda’s Abu Yahya al Libi and Siraj Haqqani, the operational commander of the Haqqani Network. Mullah Omar, the head of all of the Taliban, pushed for the formation of the group.

According to a pamphlet released in North Waziristan that announced the formation of the Shura-e-Murakeba, the members would cease attacks on security forces, and end criminal activities such as kidnapping and extortion. But Ihsanullah Ihsan denied that the shura said that attacks on Pakistani troops must cease, and he vowed to continue to strike at security forces.

In the past, the Taliban have executed large numbers of captured Pakistani soldiers. The most infamous execution took place in early June 2011 in the Shaltalu area of the district of Dir in northwestern Pakistan, when the Taliban executed 16 Pakistani policemen. The execution was videotaped; the policemen were lined up and then gunned down by Taliban fighters wielding AK-47s. Those who survived the initial volley of fire were gunned down as Taliban fighters yelled Allahu Akbar, or god is greatest [see LWJ report, Video of brutal Taliban execution of Pakistani policemen emerges].

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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10 Comments

  • Civy says:

    Please send the Taliban a Christmas Card thanking them for their motivational training of the Frontier Corps. I’m sure next time they will fight to the last man.
    “Taliban” AKA “We never miss an opportunity to shoot ourselves in the foot.

  • BraddS says:

    Gee, are the Pakis going to burn Taliban tankers and demand that the Taliban vacate their bases too now?

  • Vimal Mohan, Former DIG, Border Security Force, India. says:

    Sir, revenges and attacks on security forces will continue as it had been in the past. These were present before the partition of India and these are still going on. If check the records of MI-5, you will find volumes on attacks by Pathans and other tribes. Our elders were in the British Indian army and have been dealing with these guys. I appreciate the difficulties being faced by Pakistan, but, it has to decide the manner in which it can riggle out from the situation.
    Best way is to isolate the AFGHANISTAN and apply sanctions in true letter and spirit. stop oxygen to douse the fire.

  • ArneFufkin says:

    Joe Biden remains supportive.

  • wallbangr says:

    One had to know it was not going to end well when captured by these kinds of savages. Again, better to have gone down fighting outnumbered 2:1 than to suffer this kind of fate. Goes to show that even if the Pak mil can somehow co-opt most of the militant factions, they are still going to face retribution from some of the extremists. That’s what you get for playing with fire…

  • Mr T says:

    Wheres the outrage? Murderers.
    Also sounds like 15 uniforms are going to be used for future suicide attacks.

  • mike says:

    Would this have been the act of “bad” taliban, I take it? Will the pakistanis make a big public scene and block taliban supply lines? I wonder..

  • Dave B says:

    Vimal Mohan, thank you for the insights from your perspective.
    I don’t see how the US can reach a positive outcome in Afghanistan with a Taliban sanctuary meters away in Pakistan …. not to mention the presence in the White House.
    For that matter, I don’t see how Pakistan can reach a positive outcome with a Taliban presence within their own borders, and in their own military.

  • Vienna,January 6,2012
    Assumptions apart, the New Year sings are that U.S.
    military leadership backed by the political has cornered
    Pakistan. Internal turbulance in Pakistan will keep it
    immobilized for long.With the Arab Spring,external
    support environment has disappeared. Civil-Military
    conflict appeares to be fuelled with the judicial split
    personality between juridical and religious. It will take
    long for that country to be able to project power abroad.
    Should be taken a welcome development for international
    community.
    Taravadu Taranga Trust for Media Monitoring TTTMM India
    –Kulamarva Balakrishna

  • Isolate Afghanistan?
    It is Pakistan that need to be isolated and defanged,
    cut their supplies, mine their harbours, blow up their runways and bridges and then, and only then will we see some peace in the region.
    They are morally corrupt to the core and live spiritually in the stone age, the only solution is to make them live physically like the animals they are…nothing good come out of this hell hole…may as well be the wafts of death that emanate from this satan’s abode.

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