Ansarul Muhajideen, a group known to include Uzbek fighters, killed nine Pakistani Frontier Corps troops in an IED attack today on a convoy in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. The group’s spokesman said the attack was carried out to avenge a US drone strike that took place in the tribal agency just days ago.
The attack took place in the Boya area of North Waziristan, according to Dawn. The paramilitary troops were traveling from the Data Khel area, a known al Qaeda haven, to Miramshah when their convoy was hit by a remotely detonated IED. Twenty troops were injured in addition to the nine who were killed.
A spokesman for Ansarul Mujahideen who is known as Abu Baseer told Dawn that the Frontier Corps troops were targeted to avenge yesterday’s drone strike in the Mir Ali area that reportedly killed four members of the Turkistan Islamic Party, a terror group that is allied with al Qaeda, the Taliban, and a host of other jihadist organizations based in the area.
“This is a revenge for the attack the other day and such strikes will go on,” Abu Baseer told Dawn. He also threatened to expand activities outside of the tribal areas.
“In response to the drone strikes, we are now planning to extend our attacks outside the settled areas; [it is] all the Pakistan government’s responsibility as it is providing space for such drone strikes on the tribesmen,” he continued.
Ansarul Muhajideen has attacked Pakistani troops in North Waziristan in the past. In January, the terror group claimed credit for a roadside bombing on a Pakistani military convoy in the tribal agency that killed 14 soldiers. Ansarul Muhajideen said it executed that attack in response to US drone strikes in the tribal areas. The US strikes have killed dozens of top leaders of al Qaeda, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, the Punjabi Taliban, and other nonaligned Taliban groups such as the Haqqani Network, the Mullah Nazir Group, and the Hafiz Gul Bahadar Group.
Also, in July, Ansarul Mujahideen claimed credit for a double suicide attack in Parachinar in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal agency of Kurram that killed upwards of 57 people. The group said the attack was carried out to avenge Shia involvement in the Syrian civil war.
