The Pakistani Taliban killed 14 paramilitary troops of the Frontier Corps during an ambush in the contested tribal agency of Khyber today.
According to reports from the region, Taliban forces ambushed a convoy of three Frontier Corps vehicles in the Atakhel area of Khyber. SAMAA and The Associated Press put the number of those killed at 11, but Pakistani officials told Dawn that 14 of the paramilitary troops were killed. A colonel and a captain were among the dead.
The Pakistani military has not officially acknowledged the ambush, but the Inter Services Public Relations, the military’s public affairs branch, told SAMAA that the troops were killed in an “accident” after returning from a military operation in the region.
Khyber agency is a terrorist haven
Khyber has become a hub of Taliban and al Qaeda activity since the Pakistani military launched an operation in the Mehsud tribal areas in South Waziristan in October 2009. Taliban forces have relocated to the Bara and Jamrud regions and the Tirah Valley in the Khyber agency [see LWJ report, Taliban escape South Waziristan operation].
Tariq Afridi, a powerful Taliban commander based in Darra Adam Khel, has taken control of Taliban operations in Khyber. The Taliban and the Lashkar-e-Islam, a local Taliban ally commanded by Mangal Bagh, have gained power in Khyber despite a series of Pakistani military operations that began in the summer of 2007 which were supposedly designed to relieve Taliban pressure on neighboring Peshawar. A total of five military offensives have failed to dislodge the terror groups.
Both the Taliban and the Lashkar-e-Islam are known to operate bases and training camps in the Tirah Valley as well as in Bara and Jamrud. These safe havens in Khyber enable these terror groups to launch attacks inside Pakistan as well across the border in Nangarhar province in Afghanistan. In November 2008, the US military attacked Taliban forces in the Tirah Valley after they retreated across the border from Nangarhar in Afghanistan. US strike aircraft and artillery killed seven Taliban fighters during the hot pursuit.
In 2009, US Predators killed Ibn Amin, a Taliban and al Qaeda commander, in one of four strikes between Dec.16-17 the Tirah Valley. Amin was the commander of the Tora Bora Brigade, one of six formations in al Qaeda’s Lashkar al Zil, or Shadow Army. He operated in the Swat Valley.
The Khyber Pass is NATO’s main conduit for supplies into Afghanistan; an estimated 70 percent of NATO’s supplies move through this strategic crossing point. Between September 2007 and April 2008, the Khyber Pass was shut down seven times due to Taliban attacks.
1 Comment
They are now saying it was friendly fire as a result of a mortar round that landed short during an ambush by the Taliban.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_pakistan