Suicide bomber strikes at Pakistani tribal meeting in Bajaur

A suicide bomber struck at a tribal meeting in the insurgency-wracked agency of Bajaur in Pakistan’s northwest. Twenty-two members of the Salarzai tribe were killed, including the leader of the militia, and more than 45 were wounded after a suicide bomber detonated in the middle of a tribal meeting.

The Salarzai tribe has organized a militia to oppose the presence of the Taliban in their tribal areas in Bajaur. Tribal leaders claim to have raised more than 10,000 fighters to form a lashkar, or tribal militia. The Salarzai have been burning the homes of Taliban members and providing security for the region.

The Pakistani military has been battling the Taliban in Bajaur since August. The tribal area is a known command and control hub for al Qaeda’s operations in northeastern Afghanistan. The military has relied on airstrikes and artillery barrages to dislodge the Taliban from fortified positions.

Pakistani officials claim to have struck a crippling blow to the Taliban. General Tariq Khan, the Inspector General of the paramilitary Frontier Corps claimed more than 1,500 Taliban and foreign fighters have been killed in Bajaur since the operation began. Another 950 “militants,” including more than 300 are Uzbek, Tajik, Nuristani, Afghani and Hazara, have been captured. Only 42 paramilitary troops have been killed and 174 wounded, according to the general.

The government has courted the tribes in an effort to gain local support. But the groups that have joined the effort to fight the Taliban are marginal players in the tribal areas and the Northwest Frontier Province. The major tribes still back the Taliban. The anti-Taliban tribes have no organization and are often isolated.

The Taliban have ruthlessly targeted tribes looking to back the government, even while the military is active in some of the regions. Hundreds of tribal leaders have been found murdered, some are found beheaded.

The Taliban have attacked tribal leaders as they organized against the extremists. Several tribes in Kohat attempted to organize against the Taliban in January 2008. A suicide attack on a tribal leader’s meeting in early March killed 40 and wounded more than 40. Several senior tribal leaders were killed, and the organized resistance to the Taliban faltered.

On Sept. 10, the Taliban attacked a mosque filled with Ramadan worshippers in Dir in northwestern Pakistan, killing 25 and wounding more than 50. The attack came just one month after local tribes began to organize against the extremist group.

On Oct. 10, a suicide bomber struck at a meeting of Ali Zai tribal leaders, killing 55 and wounding more than 100. The attack occurred as the tribal leaders were in the middle of a meeting to discuss the formation of a militia to secure the region.

The last attack occurred on Oct. 26, when a Taliban forces assaulted a tribal meeting in Swat. At least seven tribal members and three Taliban fighters, including local commanders, were killed in the clash. The Taliban took more than sixty members of the tribe hostage. The military has been fighting the Taliban in Swat for one year, but has failed to secure the district.

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

Tags: Pakistan