The Pakistani military pounded Taliban positions Sunday during the latest round of fighting in the lawless tribal agency of Arakzai.
Pakistani Air Force attack aircraft and Army helicopter gunships hit Taliban training camps and safe houses in the Dabori, Mamozai, and Khadizai regions in Arakzai, killing 70 fighters, including three commanders, and wounding 50 more, Daily Times reported.
Over the past several months, Dabori has been the scene of major fighting. The Taliban overran a Frontier Corps base in Dabori for a short period of time on May 10, killing nine Pakistani troops, before abandoning the base during a counterattack. Two other Taliban attempts to overrun the outpost have since been defeated.
The Pakistani military has claimed that more than 910 Taliban fighters have been killed in Arakzai since March 21, while in fact, only 23 soldiers have been killed, according to Pakistani press reports compiled by The Long War Journal.
The military also claims to have destroyed more than 100 Taliban training camps, safe houses, and other facilities, according to Geo News. More than a month ago, the military said the Taliban was “fleeing” Arakzai and was on the verge of defeat.
US military and intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal are skeptical of the Pakistani military claims of success in Arakzai, and said the reports of Taliban casualties are greatly inflated.
The Pakistani military has targeted the Taliban in Arakzai, Khyber, and South Waziristan over the past several months, and claimed to have defeated the Taliban in Bajaur and Mohmand. The Taliban still control large swaths of territory in these tribal agencies, while al Qaeda and allied groups maintain a safe haven in North Waziristan. The Pakistanis have rebuffed US pressure to target the Taliban and al Qaeda based in North Waziristan.
Some of the most deadly Taliban groups operate from Arakzai, and many of the suicide and military attacks carried out in Pakistan have originated from this tribal agency [see list below]. The Taliban terror alliance in Arakzai has taken credit for some of the most lethal terror attacks inside Pakistan, including suicide attacks in Islamabad and terror-military assaults in Lahore and Peshawar. These groups often cooperate in attacks, and leaders and members may be affiliated with several groups.
Major Taliban groups based in Arakzai
Akhunzada Aslam Farooqui is the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in the Arakzai tribal agency. Farooqui took control of the Taliban after Hakeemullah Mehsud was promoted to lead the entire Taliban movement in Pakistan’s tribal areas and in the northwest. Farooqui was described as the “patron-in-chief” of the Taliban in Arakzai and a “close friend of Mullah Mohammad Omar” back in 2001. At the opening of Operation Enduring Freedom, Farooqui promised to have 12,000 tribesmen to battle US forces in Afghanistan and offered support such as sanctuary and weapons and ammunition. He claimed to lead 7,000 Taliban fighters.
Fedayeen-e-Islam: Formerly led by Hakeemullah Mehsud, the Fedayeen-e-Islam has taken credit for multiple terror assaults and suicide attacks throughout Pakistan. The group is made up members of the Pakistani Taliban, the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and other Islamist terrorists from Pakistan. It is based in Arakzai and South Waziristan. Senior leaders of the Fedayeen-e-Islam include Qari Hussain Mehsud, a former senior deputy to Baitullah who trains child suicide bombers. Qari Mohammed Zafar, who was killed in a US Predator airstrike in North Waziristan this year; Asmatullah Moaviya, another senior aide to Baitullah who was reportedly arrested in Mianwali in Punjab province; and Rana Afzal.
Lashkar-i-Jhangvi: An anti-Shia terror group that has integrated with al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan’s tribal areas, the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has an extensive network in Pakistan and serves as the muscle for terror attacks.
Commander Tariq Group: This group is considered the most powerful outfit in Arakzai and is based in Darra Adam Khel. Commander Tariq Afridi is the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in Khyber, as well as in regions in Peshawar, Kohat, and Hangu. Afridi was named the terror group’s commander of Khyber in November 2009. Afridi is also the leader of the Commander Tariq Afridi Group. The Tariq Afridi Group also conducts attacks on Pakistani security forces in Arakzai, Kohat, and Hangu. His fighters were responsible for closing down the Kohat Tunnel twice in 2008. In early 2009, the Commander Tariq Afridi Group claimed the murder and beheading of Polish geologist Piotr Stanczak. In early 2010, operating under the guise of an outfit named the “Asian Tigers,” the group was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of former ISI officer and jihadist sympathizer Khalid Khawaja.
Omar Group: Based in Darra Adam Khel, this major Taliban group has conducted attacks in the regions around Peshawar.
Ghazi Force: This group is named after Ghazi Abdul Rasheed, the brother of former Red Mosque leader Maulana Abdullah Aziz. Ghazi was killed when Pakistani troops assaulted the Red Mosque in July 2007. The Ghazi force runs a terror training camp in Guljo in Hangu and has conducted suicide attacks in Islamabad. The group is led by Maulana Niaz Raheem, a former student of the Red Mosque.
Abdullah Azzam Brigade: This shadowy group appears to be made up of Taliban members from the Commander Tariq Group who merged with some Arakzai-based elements of Ayman al Zawahiri’s Egyptian Islamic Jihad. A spokesman named Amir Muawiya, who is also a leader in the Commander Tariq Group, said that the Abdullah Azzam Brigade was behind a terror assault in Peshawar.
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The 18 killed last week in Afghanistan were the work of ISI, it appears, as expected…
A spokesman for Afghanistan’s intelligence agency on Monday accused Pakistan’s intelligence agency of involvement in the suicide bombing here last week that killed six NATO soldiers, including four colonels.
While Saeed Ansari, the spokesman for Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security, its spy agency, did not mention Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency by name, he left no doubt who he meant.
The remarks came in a press conference announcing the arrests of seven suspects as the organizers of the attack last Tuesday on a convoy of armored S.U.V.s by a suicide bomber in a minivan full of explosives. The blast killed 18 people, including a Canadian and an American colonel, two American lieutenant colonels and their two American drivers, as well as 12 Afghan civilians. They were also charged with involvement in a series of other suicide attacks in Kabul that killed another 25 persons.
“All the explosions and terrorist attacks by these people were plotted from the other side of the border and most of the explosives and materials used for the attacks were brought from the other side to Afghanistan,”