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2009-03-05 India-Pakistan
Suspicions grow that attack was 'inside job'
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Posted by john frum 2009-03-05 05:40|| || Front Page|| [2 views ]  Top
 File under: Govt of Pakistan 

#1 Suspicions? When you have a firefight for half an hour, that this firefight takes place not in the desert of Gobi but in the centre of Lahore and in half an hour no reinforcements reach the scene, the only possible explanations are abject cowardice or the soldiers and policemen nearby having orders to look the other way.
Posted by JFM">JFM  2009-03-05 06:44||   2009-03-05 06:44|| Front Page Top

#2 Another thing. A 30 minute attack? They had to be utter incompetants OR were making a largely noisy symbolic attack. Guys, it does not take long for ambushers to effectively engage their target. Ambushes cause the majority of their casualties in the first minute. The fact that the players were not slaughtered means, to me, that they were not the target and were not intended to die. The police escort died, not the players or the umpires. So the target was likely the police. Put those pieces together.
Posted by Whiskey Mike 2009-03-05 07:21||   2009-03-05 07:21|| Front Page Top

#3 Occams Razor says the reason none of the Sri Lankans were killed was spray and pray marksmanship.

Also the Sri Lankans had had briefings or training on what to do in this kind of situation
Posted by phil_b 2009-03-05 08:07||   2009-03-05 08:07|| Front Page Top

#4 The police escort died, not the players or the umpires

I too found that funny. Why not fire at the player's bus first? Why didn't they use RPGs to set it afire? Also despite not being pursued and being able to calmaly withdraw they let lots of weapons behind them.
Posted by JFM">JFM  2009-03-05 08:52||   2009-03-05 08:52|| Front Page Top

#5 Maybe they _wanted_ to kill some cops.
Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-03-05 09:58||   2009-03-05 09:58|| Front Page Top

#6 Asia Times says terrorists wanted to capture cricket team and exchange them for prisoners.

The militants, working directly under the command of a joint Punjabi and Kashmiri leadership based in the North Waziristan tribal area and allied with al-Qaeda, planned the Lahore operation. The object was to hold the cricketers ransom in exchange for jailed militants and the safe passage of their colleagues to North Waziristan.

Inspector General Khawaja Khalid Farooq of the Punjab police said the militants were carrying sufficient weaponry to fight for many hours. They also had plentiful supplies of food, such as almonds and mineral water.

Video footage of the incident shows the gunmen as ... dressed in urban attire, including running shoes - nothing like the rustic mountain-dwelling Taliban fighters who invariably wear traditional clothing such as turbans, long robes and sandals.

All indications are that the militants are ... trained by Pakistan's premier secret service, the Inter-Services Intelligence's India cell to fight against the Indian security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir.

These "Kashmir" militants are mostly ethnic Punjabis.

The attack on Tuesday is most likely related to events in the Swat Valley, where the government last month signed a peace treaty with militants after several years of fighting. ... The government accepted all of the demands, but it refused to release those prisoners who were not from Swat.

The Punjabi militants were clearly upset at having their demands rejected, while the Pashtuns got what they wanted. The attack in Lahore was meant to redress the "injustice".
Posted by Frozen Al 2009-03-05 11:22||   2009-03-05 11:22|| Front Page Top

#7 Everyone go read the article at Frozen Al's link. Lots of red meat in there.
Posted by Seafarious 2009-03-05 11:44||   2009-03-05 11:44|| Front Page Top

#8 Pakistan has become the center of focus for all the terrorist-related sh$$ anywhere in the world except Somalia, and I wouldn't be surprised to see their hand in the piracy there.
Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot  2009-03-05 13:46|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]  2009-03-05 13:46|| Front Page Top

#9 Memo to self: Read Asia Times regularly.
Posted by phil_b 2009-03-05 21:32||   2009-03-05 21:32|| Front Page Top

23:49 rwv
23:44 rwv
23:36 Anguper Hupomosing9418
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21:55 Thing From Snowy Mountain
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20:57 regular joe
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