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An emergency personnel checks an army jeep with bullet holes splattered on the windshield after it was attacked by gunmen in Islamabad. A brigadier general was killed in the attack. AP Photo. |
The Taliban have struck again in Islamabad, and have killed another senior Army officer. The BBC reports:
A Pakistani army brigadier and his driver have died in a shooting incident in the capital, Islamabad, police say. They were travelling in an army vehicle when it was attacked by gunmen. It is not clear who was responsible.
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Brigadier Moeenuddin and his driver Asghar have been killed in the attack which took place in the posh G-11 sector of Islamabad, the BBC’s M Ilyas Khan reports from Islamabad. At least one soldier has been injured in the attack.
According to reports, the vehicle was riddled with bullets, its tyres punched out and windscreen shattered as army and police commandos cordoned off the area. Police say two men, both 18 to 20 years old, carried out the attack.
Brigadier Moeenuddin was the chief of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Sudan and “former deputy director general military operations,” Dawn reported.
This clearly was an assassination, and while the Taliban have yet to take credit for the attack, it matches prior attacks. The Taliban are clearly attempting to intimidate the military’s senior officer corps and eliminate the anti-Taliban opposition in the ranks.
The Taliban also killed a brigadier general and a lieutenant colonel during the assault on Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi two weeks ago.
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4 Comments
So far these have only been brigadiers, but if they start moving up the ranks, I could see the Army start to splinter publically with those who would only be interested in saving the Army over those who would sacrifice for Pakistan.
And I’m not sure who would win in such a scenario.
So basically, AQ wanted this guy dead because they want to do something in the Sudan? ARE they in the Sudan for this to be necessary? Or will they be in the future? Or was it just because he was a general of the Pakistan Army
And was probably an inside job.
We simply call them Brigadiers.
They are not generals.