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Scores of children train to become suicide bombers at a camp run by Qair Hussain in Spinkai, South Waziristan. Image courtesy of AfPax Insider. |
Qari Hussain Mehsud, the Pakistani Taliban commander and trainer of child suicide bombers, has threatened to step up attacks throughout the country if the military did not end operations in South Waziristan. According to Xinhua, he “challenged the government to stop the wave of suicide attacks if it can.”
He claimed responsibility for the Friday’s suicide attacks on the office of the intelligence agency ISI in Peshawar and police station in the city of Bannu. Up to 20 people were killed and 60 others were injured in the attacks on the ISI office and police station.
Hussain told the BBC Urdu service that the ISI office was targeted as secret agencies have a major role in the government policy-making.
“These attacks are reaction to the military operation in Waziristan and Pakistan’s help and joining the anti-terror campaign,” he said.
About the military operation in South Waziristan, the Taliban leader said that the fighters have retreated under a strategy. “The strategy is aimed at saving our manpower and weapons for guerrilla war in the region,” Hussain said. He said Taliban will soon launch guerrilla war against the Pakistan army in South Waziristan.
According to AKI, the Taliban leadership cadre has relocated to “their new base in the town of Shawal, located in neighbouring North Waziristan tribal area,” and will step up attacks against the Pakistani security forces nationwide.
My sources are saying that is correct, but they add that the Taliban have also regrouped in South Waziristan, Arakzai, and Khyber (I’ll expand on this and the state of the South Waziristan operation in the near future at LWJ). The short of it is that the narrow focus of the Pakistani military’s operation, absent action in the rest of the tribal areas, will deal only a tactical defeat to the Pakistani Taliban.
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7 Comments
Can’t wait to read your opinion about the ongoing situation in South Waziristan.
Hold the phone! All these depraved attacks in Pakistan were conducted by the Pakistan Taliban. Whoaa… did not the Pakistan Taliban say Blackwater (aka Xe) and the Crusader, Jew, Hindu Alliance was responsible??? Say it ain’t so….. At least they had the anatomy to tell the truth. And the proof is in the picture with this article. How many child suicide bomber academies are run by the Crusaders, Hindus and Jews? Frankly, I am not aware of any. If there are any, give me the coordinates (hrs, min, sec). The only religion that seems to be training child suicide bombers, women suicide bombers and male suicide bombers are the “Islamists”.
grh: Tamil Tigers…
grh: “The only religion that seems to be training child suicide bombers…”
There are a lot of ways to describe the Waziristan bombers: poor, uneducated, belonging to a society that regularly fails to provide justice, flush with weapons and prodded for a decade to fight as Mujahideen etc, and self-proclaimed muslims.
If it was Islam training suicide bombers, we’d have one in every 6 people blowing up left right and center.
Ali et al,
The LTTE did (past tense) run suicide academies. They were defeated by the government of Sri Lanka in the past several months. And yes, much terrorist technology was exported by the LTTE to other organizations looking to overthrow governments. Anyone else?
It is clear Salafist Wahabbi ideology is behind most or all (you pick) of the suicide training of men, women and children (read twice for effect). There are other strains of so called Islamists doing the same. They call themselves adherents to Islam. Not me. Check out their assertions. If you don’t like what they call themselves, how they act, and what they believe, then get after them. I am.
My only bone to pick is this:
Salafisim/Wahabism isn’t a religion, it’s an ideology strongly supported by Arab petrodollars. Most every one of these terrorists swears allegiance to that grouping, but please don’t equate them to Islam.
It’s equivalent to saying White Americans’ ideology leads to racist violence against Blacks because of the activities of the Klu Klux Klan.
Maintaining distinctions is critical.
That’s all I’m arguing. I agree with you fully in not considering them adherents of Islam.
Ali,
We both agree Salafist Wahabbism is bad, very very bad. It is not you or I that is saying they are adherents to Islam. It is the Salafist Wahabbis that claim the banner. They need to be stopped because they are terribly mistaken. We agree.
grh