(9)Taliban launch another attack from Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan
According to reports from the region, hundreds of Taliban fighters launched another attack from Afghanistan on a village in a remote area of northwestern Pakistan. From Dawn/AFP:
Scores of armed militants crossed the border from Afghanistan on Thursday and stormed a village in the country's tribal belt, killing five civilians, Pakistani officials said.The militants targeted Mamond village in Bajaur district, which borders the Afghan province of Kunar, despite the presence of Pakistani security checkpoints erected to check Taliban militants.
"Some 250-300 militants targeted civilians in Mamond. At least five civilians, including two women were killed," local government official Fazle Akbar told AFP.
Akbar said three women were also wounded in the attack, which took place about 65 kilometres northwest of Khar, the main town in Bajaur.
"We have sent army and paramilitary troops to the area as we got reports that militants are still present there," a security official told AFP.
"Some militants were also killed when troops in the area responded, but we do not know the number of casualties yet," the official said.
Since the end of April, the Taliban have launched two similar attacks. On April 22, a large Taliban force estimated at several hundred strong overran a Frontier Corps checkpoint in Pakistan's northwestern district of Lower Dir, killing 16 security personnel during a protracted battle. And on June 1, a large Taliban force attacked a police station in Upper Dir, sparking three days of heavy fighting that resulted in 40 security personnel and 45 Taliban killed.
The Taliban attacks from Afghanistan highlight the deteriorating security situation in northeastern Afghanistan, specifically in the provinces of Kunar and Nuristan. Qari Zai Rahman, the dual-hatted Taliban and al Qaeda leader who operates in Pakistan's tribal agencies of Bajaur and Mohmand, as well as in Afghanistan's provinces of Kunar and Nuristan, is likely behind these attacks.
READER COMMENTS: "Taliban launch another attack from Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan"
Posted by gerald at June 16, 2011 11:55 AM ET:
Pakistan had better wake up and realize that the Talibs are sizing them up to become their next base of operations. Afghanistan is becoming untenable for them as the ISAF/ANSF are getting stronger,Pakistan is becoming more and more vulnerable.
Posted by Charles at June 16, 2011 5:35 PM ET:
Doesn't sound like AQ/Taliban can tell which side the Pakistanis are on any better than the USA. So now their criteria for attack is...."where is the softest target."
Posted by naresh c. at June 16, 2011 10:36 PM ET:
This is looking like ghazwa-e-pakistan by the Afghans. Was ghazwa-e-pakistan predicted by Naematullah Shah Wali?
Posted by mike at June 17, 2011 9:07 AM ET:
How would Pakistan react if NATO forces crossed the border 300 strong? I wonder...
Posted by Charu at June 17, 2011 11:51 AM ET:
This could be the start towards the erasure of the artificial Durand line. The Pashtuns may finally be turning against their "black leg" overlords and taking care of the unfinished historical business of re-integrating Pashtunistan. We need to take a page from the Pakistanis in this matter; if the Taliban don't attack us, then they are not our problem.
Make them an offer that they can't refuse - a viable Pashtun homeland and economic aid in exchange for keeping al Qaeda out. Likewise, autonomy for the Pashtuns should include autonomy for the other ethnic groups in Afghanistan in order to preserve the peace and open up trade from Central Asia to the Arabian sea.
Posted by blert at June 17, 2011 4:10 PM ET:
Until the ISAF confirms it....
I regard all such assertions to be pure agitprop.
I seriously doubt any such operation occurred.
Posted by James at June 17, 2011 10:02 PM ET:
Pakistan is a failed state.
The solution to our 'Pakistan dilemna' is to just have (or allow) Pakistan to implode and destroy itself.
Let it become like the former Yugoslavia or Soviet Union.
Concerning their nuclear arsenal we'll just have to deal with that issue when the time comes.
Anyone foolish enough to try to support (or prop up) such a failed state is only setting the groundwork for their own failed state.
The 'key' to success in that region is none other than India (and always has been).
Posted by rana Muhammad Imran Khan at June 18, 2011 12:59 PM ET:
After, careful watching, revenges by Talibans, I have no doubts to say that " New generation of Islamic Fighters, is very cruel in acts, they revenge at every cost, they are not going to forgive any one opposing them". These attacks are carried out on "Shia" people.
Posted by Soccer at June 19, 2011 8:17 AM ET:
No offence Blert, but it's easy for you to sit where you live typing on your computer calling it "agitprop" and saying you seriously doubt it never happened.
Such attitudes are common amongst the Internet nowadays, where you can defy facts and reality simply by making a post with a little attitude and a lot of fancy words.
This incident happened.