A Taliban suicide bomber killed 19 Pakistanis along NATO’s supply route in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of Khyber.
A suicide bomber targeted a police vehicle in the Jamrud region in Khyber, killing 11 Khasadar officers and eight civilians. Eight other Khasadars, the paramilitary tribal police, were wounded. Three other vehicles were damaged in the attack.
“It was a suicide attack,” the top administrative official in Khyber told AFP.
The Jamrud region in 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 also relocated to the Bara region and the Tirah Valley in the Khyber [see LWJ report, “Taliban escape South Waziristan operation”].
Also today, the Pakistani Army lost a Cobra Attack helicopter during an operation in the Tirah valley. The status of the pilot and co-pilot is not known, top military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP. It is not clear if the helicopter was shot down during the engagement.
A brigadier general was killed and two other officers were wounded during a rescue operation to recover the pilots. The Taliban ambush the brigadier’s column in the Tirah Valley.
The Taliban and the Lashkar-e-Islam, a radical Islamist group allied with the Taliban, have been noticeably active in Khyber over the past two weeks.
The attacks in Khyber have been led by Tariq Afridi, the Taliban’s commander in the agency. Afridi, who also directs attacks in the Matni region in Peshawar, was named the terror group’s commander of Khyber in November 2009, according to a report in The News.
Afridi is the leader of the Commander Tariq Afridi Group. This Taliban outfit is considered the most powerful terror group in Arakzai, and is based in Darra Adam Khel. The Tariq Afridi Group also conducts attacks on Pakistani security forces in Arakzai, Kohat, and Hangu. In early 2009, the Commander Tariq Group took credit for murdering and beheading Polish geologist Piotr Stanczak.
Afridi’s forces have reignited the Taliban insurgency in Khyber. Attacks on NATO supply vehicles, which have abated in Khyber since a campaign in 2007 and 2008 that led to the destruction of more than 700 vehicles and container trucks, have recently intensified. The Taliban bombed NATO oil tankers on Jan. 29 and Feb. 2.
The Taliban have also increased attacks against military and civilian personnel in the area, as well as infrastructure. On Feb. 3, two security personnel were wounded an IED attack in Khyber. On Feb. 5, the Taliban killed a teacher and attacked an electrical grid station in Khyber. The attack on the electrical station temporarily cut off power in the region. On Feb. 8, the Taliban attacked a military camp in Khyber.
The military responded yesterday by detaining the cousin of Mangal Bagh, the leader of the Lashkar-e-Islam.
The Pakistani military has been unable to fully secure Khyber. On several occasions since 2007, the military has claimed that Khyber has been cleared of the Lashkar-e-Islam and the Taliban. A total of five military offensives have failed to dislodge the terror groups, however.
The military last launched an operation in Khyber in November 2009 in yet another failed effort to secure the region. But the November offensive was limited in size and scope, and appeared to be punitive in nature. Only 200 troops were reported to be operating in the Landi Kotal region, far too few to secure the region. The military relied heavily on helicopter gunships, attack aircraft, and heavy artillery to pound Taliban fortifications.
