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India-Pakistan
Pakistan kills wanted senior rebel commander
2018-05-18
More on yesterday's story.
[Al Jazeera] The Mighty Pak Army announced it killed a senior member of the rebel group Laskhar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) in a raid in the province of Balochistan...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
A senior military intelligence officer was killed and four soldiers were maimed on Thursday during the operation targeting Salman Baldeni, Balochistan regional chief of LeJ in the thriving provincial capital, Quetta.

According to the army, Baldeni was "involved in the killing of over 100 innocent personnel of the Hazara
...a grouping of Dari-speaking people of Sino-Tibetan descent inhabiting Afghanistan and Pakistain. They are predominantly Shia Moslems and not particularly warlike, which makes them favored targets...
community".

A front man for the group said Baldeni was no longer involved with LeJ. "He wasn't our member," Ali bin Sufyan said, adding Baldeni had joined Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).

ISIS did not immediately issue any statement about Badeni.

Revenge attack
The military said two would-be jacket wallahs were also killed in the raid, but gave no details.

Hours later, five suicide bombers tried to drive a vehicle laden with ammunition and explosives into a military facility in Quetta city, the army said in a statement.

Troops responded when one of the attackers detonated his explosive at the entrance, Khan Wasey, a local paramilitary front man said, and gunfire ensued.

All five attackers were killed, it said, adding the failed attempt
Curses! Foiled again!
was in Dire Revenge for the earlier operation.

Earlier this month, members of the Hazara community went on a hunger strike in Quetta to protest a spate of killings targeting them, and to demand greater protection in the resource-rich province that has been plagued by violence and insurgency.

A group that subscribes to the hardline Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
Deobandi school of thought, LeJ considers Shia Moslems apostates and has carried out a number of attacks against the religious minority, notably in the southwestern province.
Posted by:Fred

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