"Pakistanis arrest five CIA informants; Sources helped find bin Laden, US officials say" by Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti, New York Times / June 15, 2011
WASHINGTON — The Pakistanis have threatened to further restrict the drone flights.
It is the future of the drone program that is a particular worry for the CIA. US officials said that during his meetings in Pakistan last week, Panetta was particularly forceful about trying to get Pakistani officials to allow armed drones to fly over even wider areas in the northwest tribal regions.
The CIA is already preparing for the worst: relocating some of the drones from Pakistan to a base in Afghanistan, where they can take off and fly east across the mountains and into the tribal areas, where terrorist groups find safe haven....
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"Pakistan denies army major’s arrest for CIA links" June 15, 2011|Munir Ahmed and Kimberly Dozier, Associated Press
One of the issues that has caused tension between the two countries is U.S. drone missile strikes targeting militants in Pakistan’s tribal region near the Afghan border.
A pair of attacks targeted a suspected militant compound and a vehicle in the South Waziristan tribal area on Wednesday, killing at least 10 alleged insurgents, according to Pakistani intelligence officials. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said the vehicle that was hit turned out to be empty.
Pakistani officials often denounce the strikes in public, even though many are believed to support them in private. But that support has been strained in the wake of the bin Laden raid, especially since the strikes are very unpopular with the Pakistani public....
They are unpopular here, too.
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"Drones said to kill 15 militants in Pakistan" by Associated Press / June 16, 2011
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — Three American missile attacks killed 15 suspected militants on the Pakistan side of the Afghan border yesterday, Pakistani officials said, the latest in an uptick in such strikes that coincides with a chill in ties between Washington and Islamabad....
The frequency of attacks dropped earlier in the year but they have since resumed their normal pace....
The thought of whoooosh-bang mass murder being normal shows a sickness of mind.
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"Pakistani Army denies giving information to insurgents" by Nahal Toosi, Associated Press / June 18, 2011
ISLAMABAD —Also yesterday in Pakistan’s northwest, security forces backed by artillery killed 12 Islamist militants in a tribal region where insurgents have been mounting cross-border attacks from Afghanistan, a government administrator said.
The attacks have upset Pakistan, which says they are happening because US and NATO forces are not doing enough to protect the territory on the Afghan side. Western forces have had the same complaints about Pakistan’s activities on its side of the boundary.
The search operation yesterday took place in the Mamund area of the Bajur tribal region. It came a day after more than 200 militants launched a cross-border attack on the same area, killing five people....
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"Drones kill 12 in Pakistani tribal region; US may be going farther afield to reach militants" by Hussain Afzal, Associated Press / June 21, 2011
PARACHINAR, Pakistan — Suspected US drones fired missiles at a vehicle and a house in northwest Pakistan, killing 12 people yesterday in a rare attack in an area where some of NATO’s fiercest enemies have reportedly traveled, Pakistani officials said.
The first attack in the Kurram tribal area hit a vehicle, killing five people, said Noor Alam, a local government official. As tribesmen rushed to the scene, the vehicle was struck again, killing two more people, he said.
Minutes later, a suspected US drone attacked a nearby house, killing five people, Alam said.
Seven of the 12 people killed in the attacks were Afghan militants whose bodies were taken across the border to be buried, Alam said. The attacks were confirmed by two Pakistani intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
The Obama administration has dramatically stepped up covert CIA drone attacks against militants in Pakistan, but there have been only a handful of strikes by the missile-firing pilotless planes in the Kurram tribal area. Yesterday’s strikes could indicate an expansion of the program.
In a separate development, police said militants kidnapped a 9-year-old Pakistani girl on her way to school and forced her to wear a suicide bomb vest. Police said she managed to escape her captors as they directed her to attack a paramilitary checkpoint in northwest Pakistan.
CRAP!
Sohana Jawed, who is in third grade, said she was abducted near her home in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Saturday and taken to Lower Dir district, a four hours’ drive away, where she was found yesterday.
Most of the recent US drone strikes in Pakistan have taken place in North Waziristan, an important sanctuary for the Haqqani network, which American military officials have said is the most dangerous militant group battling foreign forces in Afghanistan....
Oh, the Haqqanis!
"Haqqani.... credited with introducing suicide bombing to the region.... cultivated as a "unilateral" asset of the CIA and received tens of thousands of dollars in cash for his work.... He may have had a role in expediting the escape of Osama Bin Laden.... In July 2008, CIA officials confronted Pakistan officials with evidence of ties between Inter-Services Intelligence and Haqqani. Haqqani has been accused of involvement in the 2008 Indian embassy bombing in Kabul.... The Haqqani Network is based in Pakistan and is believed to have links to Al Qaeda."
Local tribesmen said late last year that the Haqqani network cut a deal with Shi’ite Muslim militias in Kurram to allow the militants to cross through the area on their way to fighting in Afghanistan.
PFFFFFFFFFTTT!!
Right, they cut a deal with the shame Shi'ites they consider infidels worse than non-believers and have been slaughtering.
The route would help them avoid the drone attacks that have rained down on North Waziristan.
Drone attacks have generated tension between Washington and Islamabad, and strains increased following the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden last month and humiliated the Pakistani government. Around 1,000 tribesmen held a protest against drone strikes yesterday in Miran Shah, one of the main towns in North Waziristan. The rally was organized by a pro-Taliban political party, Jamiat Ulema Islam.
The United States refuses to publicly acknowledge drone attacks in Pakistan, but officials have said privately that the strikes have killed senior Taliban and Al Qaeda commanders. Pakistani officials regularly criticize the drone strikes in public, but some are believed to support them in private depending on which militants they target.
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And about that deal:
"Pakistan army questions 4 officers about extremist ties; Inquiry expands after the arrest of senior official" by Munir Ahmed, Associated Press / June 23, 2011
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan —Also yesterday, gunmen riding motorcycles opened fire on a bus carrying Shi’ite Muslim pilgrims in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan Province, killing four people and wounding seven others, said senior police officer Hamid Shakeel.
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Related:
[It is interesting (but very bizarre) to see how often the teams of motorcycle-riding hit teams target local police. From all available evidence (SEE: ISI sent 1000 motorcycles to Mawlawi Jalaludin Haqqani ; and Cards of Pakistani Intelgence Agencies Men Involved Attack on JSQM Rally), the ISI is behind these bike-riding assassins.
But, on the other hand, we have this (SEE: BLA Admits Motorcycle Riding Assassins Were Theirs). This incident took place in an area where a large number of these type motorcycle attacks have taken place, in Khuzdar. The victim was accused of spying for the Frontier Corps. Either both sides in Balochistan are using identical means for their target killings, or both the ISI and the Baloch Liberation Army are on the same side, or working for the same masters. A loyal reader has pointed-0ut the similarities between these attacks in Pakistan and previous similar attacks in Belfast, Ireland, which were attributed to the Irish Republican Army. Later investigations tied a lot of the murders and bombings in Ireland to British intelligence, MI5, who were pursuing a "Gladio" strategy in their counter-insurgency operations. It takes very little imagination to see a possible link between MI5 and the ISI, since the Pakistani organization was trained by British intelligence.
What we see today in Balochistan is a classic example of an active Gladio operation. The more the spook war unfolds in Balochistan, the more evident it becomes exactly who the spooks really are. America, England, Israel and Pakistan are putting-on an elaborate and very brutal show for our bewilderment....
The point remains very clear--British intelligence perfected the art of counter-insurgency at its most dirty level. Terrorism is a now the favorite tool in the toolbox of the black arts used by Western state intelligence agencies. Every allied agency has been infected with this anti-human virus, perpetuating the idea that terrorism, in the service of the state, is the most noble calling for all true "professionals."
It was quickly discovered by the evil state that the surest way to the top of a murderous organization, whether it is the IRA, or the BLA (very similary names), is to be the best killer. Reputation as a top terrorist is the shortest route for an ambitious federal agent intent on infiltration. Time after time, from New York to London, in every major successful terror bombing, the government agent either built or designed the bomb. We see from the hilarious string of underwear and shoe bombers exactly what would happen when the "terrorists" are left to their own skills.
The policy is always carried-out in the same manner, with government agents initiating terror attacks, or training the terrorists who commit the acts. Either the spooks create new terror outfits from scratch, or they initiate parallel operations meant to implicate the parent group. This way, the government agent sits atop the most violent faction of every group.
In Balochistan, the BLA is a terrorist outfit, but it is also a government front group. The question becomes, which government is the BLA fronting for? Pakistani, American, British, Israel, or "all of the above"? This is a question that real Baloch nationalists must answer for themselves.]
Anyone within the conflict zone should be on the lookout for any motorcycles carrying two men. Be ready to duck for cover, or to return fire. Anyone lucky enough to bag one of these guys will probably find them carrying one of the following forms of ID: --The Motorbike Murderers of Balochistan Strike Again
"At least 10 killed in police station attack
DERA ISMAIL KHAN — Two militants attacked a police station in northwest Pakistan yesterday, fighting gun battles before blowing themselves up during a five-hour standoff that killed at least 10 officers, authorities said. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was partly in revenge for the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden."
The propaganda reaches a new low:
"Pakistani Taliban use married attackers" by Associated Press / June 27, 2011
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — The Pakistani Taliban said yesterday that the group had sent a husband and wife suicide squad to carry out an attack on a police station in northwestern Pakistan that killed 10 people, a rare instance of militants using a woman as a bomber.
The pair entered the police station in Kolachi on Saturday and said they were there to lodge a complaint, said Imtiaz Shah, a senior police official. Once inside, the two attacked with grenades and machine guns, triggering a five-hour standoff with police. Both attackers, including the woman wearing an all-covering robe known as a burqa, eventually blew themselves up. They killed eight police officers and two civilians, police said.
“This shows how much we hate Pakistani security institutions,’’ a Pakistani Taliban spokesman, Ahsanullah Ahsan, said by telephone.
Ahsan said it was the first time the militant group had used a female suicide bomber.
However, Pakistani officials said a female suicide bomber wearing a burqa attacked a World Food Program food distribution center in northwestern Pakistan late last year, killing 45.
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Related: Missile Strikes Kill and Kill Again
Next Day Update:
"Gunmen kill Pakistani Taliban commander" by Associated Press / June 28, 2011
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — Gunmen yesterday killed a senior Pakistani Taliban commander who helped train and deploy the group’s suicide bombers, and suspected US drone missile strikes killed 20 suspected militants elsewhere in the northwest, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
Shakirullah Shakir was riding on a motorcycle near Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal area, when gunmen riding in a car with tinted windows shot him, the officials said....
No group has claimed responsibility for his killing....
That's because it was a government or intelligence agency assassination of some kind.
Elsewhere in the northwest, a senior Pakistani Taliban commander said he is splitting from the group to protest attacks against civilians, a rare criticism from within.
Fazal Saeed said he is forming his own militant group, Tehrik-e-Taliban Islami, and will focus on fighting NATO troops in Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, is focused on battling the Pakistani government.
Related: Kurram TTP Splitting Over UnIslamic “Islamists” Terrorism
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Also related:
[It is understandable that Parachinar is referred to as Pakistan's "Gaza Strip." It is also understandable that Pakistan would set-up the final confrontation with the West here, considering that it was here that the mission began under Zia's "Islamisation" program some thirty years ago (SEE: SHIA-SUNNI JIHAD IN KURRAM: IRAN BLAMED). The American "Taliban" under Mehsud vs the real Taliban under Haqqani will come to a head, with the accompanying Pakistani airstrikes on Mehsud's forces and American Predator strikes upon Haqqani's forces, with the innocent Shia, backed by Iran caught in the middle. Sure sounds like a formula for a great conflagration on Pakistani soil (SEE: The Real War –vs-- The Illusions ).] -- A community under siege in tribal Pakistan
[This short report outlines the whole problem and the main point of contention between US and Pakistani generals--plans for Pakistan's tribesmen. Pakistan is creating a legally binding arrangement with the tribes, where they police their own areas against the penetration of criminal foreigners, "anti-state or anti-social elements," as well as to protect "roads, government installations and officials." The tribal system will be advanced throughout the region, as the representatives of government in the now lawless region. America's problem with this is that it is the exact opposite of their preferred solution, the total militarization of the zone. To that end, US assets are continually deployed against these pro-government tribal leaders, in an effort to turn them against the government and to expand the insurgency.
You can put on some sunglasses for more updates.
