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| India-Pakistan | |||
| Militants Attack Army Convoy, Killing 2 of Their Own | |||
| 2009-06-07 | |||
The prisoners were connected to the militant leadership in the Swat Valley, where the campaign is taking place. They were deputies of Sufi Muhammad, a religious leader with ties to the Taliban whose son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah commands the Taliban in the area. Mr. Muhammad leads a banned group called Tehrik-i-Nafaz-i-Shariah-Muhammadi, or TNSM, whose stated goal is the implementation of Islamic law and which is closely linked to the Taliban. His deputies who were killed were identified by the military and locals as Muhammad Alam and TNSM’s spokesman, Amir Izat Khan. A spokesman for Pakistan’s military, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, said by telephone that the attack happened at 5 a.m. near an area called Sakha Kot just north of Peshawar, the regional capital. A convoy of about six military vehicles hit a bomb in the road. Soon after, militants started shooting at the convoy, and soldiers returned fire. General Abbas said all the casualties were caused by the bomb blast. It was not clear whether the attack was an attempted effort to rescue the two prisoners. “This incident was the result of an I.E.D. attack,” General Abbas said, “which is a very usual affair in these areas.” The military has been clearing the valleys north of Islamabad since early last month, and appears to have made progress. Still, the attack on Saturday underscored the difficulty of their task. Refugees from Swat, who lived for the past two years under Taliban brutality, said the military’s capture of Mr. Khan and Mr. Alam, which took place several days ago, was an encouraging sign. But they said they would feel safe enough to return home only if the top leadership of the Taliban — Mr. Fazlullah and his spokesman, Muslim Khan — is killed.
General Abbas also said that the military was not yet moving into South Waziristan, the area in Pakistan of the most intense Taliban and Qaeda concentration that is expected to be the focus of the militaryÂ’s next effort against the militants. | |||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 TNSM bigwigs. Making sure they didn't talk. TNSM deputy and spokesman killed in Taliban ambush Muhammad Alam, the deputy leader of the TNSM, and spokesman Ameer Izzat Khan were killed along with a Pakistani soldier; five soldiers were reported wounded. No Taliban were reported killed in the ambush. The Taliban appear to have laid the ambush in an effort to free Alam and Izzat, as well as Maulana Said Wahab, a member of the group's ruling shura, or council, a Pakistani security official told The Long War Journal. There is no word on the status of Wahab. The three senior leaders were detained in Lower Dir on June 4. The government flatly denied reports that TNSM leader Sufi Mohammed and two of his sons were also detained. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-06-07 09:58 |