Pakistan Taliban kill 28 in attacks.

Afghan, Pakistan Taliban kill 28 in attacks on provincial police HQs.

Reuters | 17 Feb 2015 : : Four suicide attackers on Tuesday stormed a provincial police headquarters in eastern Afghanistan, killing 22 police, an official said. Taliban insurgents immediately claimed responsibility.

The attack in Logar province outside the capital, Kabul, was the latest to target Afghan security forces following the withdrawal of most foreign combat troops at the end of last year.

In neighbouring Pakistan, another Taliban suicide attack on a provincial police headquarters killed at least seven people in the eastern city of Lahore, in what militants called a revenge bid for the recent hangings of their colleagues.

The Afghan and Pakistani Taliban are separate groups that share the goal of establishing hard-line Islamic rule.

In the Afghan assault, the four attackers rushed the gates of the police compound in early afternoon, with one detonating his explosives-filled vest at the main gate and killing one policeman, Logar government spokesman Din Mohammad Darwish said.

The attack triggered a 25-minute battle with police, he said.

Another of the militants reached the station's dining hall, killing 21 police and wounding seven when he detonated his vest, said Abdul Wali Toofan, Logar's deputy police chief. The other two attackers were killed with no further casualties.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, claimed responsibility on his official Twitter feed.

Earlier on Tuesday, a bomb attached to a vehicle wounded one person in Kabul, police said, breaking a recent lull in attacks in the Afghan capital.

Kabul had been rocked by a string of bombings by insurgents late last year in the run-up to the withdrawal of most foreign combat troops from Afghanistan after 13 years of war.

A suspected magnetic bomb attached to a 4-wheel-drive vehicle exploded in the east of the city, Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said.

( Courtesy : Reuters )

New Leader Of Pakistani Taliban Could Splinter Group.

New Leader Of Pakistani Taliban Could Splinter Group.

Mullah Fazlullah, the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban 
 (AP Photo/SITE Intel Group)

WASHINGTON | 15 Nov 2013 :: The suspected U.S. drone strike that killed the leader of Pakistan’s Taliban (Tehrik-i-Taliban), Hakimullah Mehsud, has set off a power struggle within the militant group, and has exposed sharp divisions that analysts say could further destabilize the region as NATO combat forces leave neighboring Afghanistan in 2014.

Taliban sources and local journalists in turbulent North Waziristan and South Waziristan in Pakistan told VOA that the selection of hardline cleric Mullah Fazlullah as the new chief has left the group in disarray that may result in a splintering to smaller, difficult-to-control factions.

Fazlullah was selected by a council of Pakistani Taliban leaders after the death of its chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, November 1.  Fazlullah, who reportedly has the support of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, became known as ‘Mullah Radio’ for his fiery anti-Western and pro-jihadist speeches on FM radio in the Swat Valley of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province between 2007 and 2009   Exploiting anti-government sentiment in his home region and using brutal tactics, Fazlullah took control of the Swat Valley and instituted harsh Islamic rule that terrorized much of the population.

But in 2009, Pakistan's army launched an operation against militants in the area. Wounded in the fighting, Fazlullah managed to escape to Afghanistan, where analysts and journalists say he remains to this day.  In 2012 he claimed responsibility for ordering the failed assassination of the teenage activist, Malala Yousufzai, for her efforts to educate girls in Swat. (Source: AP/AFP).

Five killed in Pakistan market bombing.

Five killed in Pakistan market bombing.

QUETTA |Pakistan | 10 Oct 2013 ::  A bomb exploded outside a police station in a crowded market in southwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least six people, police said. 

The blast in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, also wounded at least 30, said police official Mohammed Mohsin.In a telephone call to an Associated Press reporter, a spokesman for a small separatist group called the United Baluch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the bombing. Mureed Baluch said the attack targeted the police station in retaliation for what he said was authorities’ restricting aid to areas of Baluchistan hit on Sept. 24 by a massive, 7.7-magnitude earthquake.

The earthquake killed at least 376 people. Aid efforts have been hampered by repeated attacks by militants against the Pakistan military as it carries out relief operations.

Baluchistan is home to separatists who have waged a decades-long insurgency against the government.

Also Thursday, a bomb exploded in a busy market in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, killing one person, said police official Raj Tahir. The bomb, which was planted in a restaurant in the market, also wounded 11 people, he said.

No one claimed responsibility for that attack, but suspicion will likely fall on the Pakistani Taliban and their allies.

Islamic militants have carried out scores of attacks throughout Pakistan, but Lahore has been relatively peaceful in recent years.

In the northwestern city of Peshawar, five members of a tribal police force were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded next to their vehicle on the outskirts of the city, said a police official, Mir Hassan Khan.

The officers were returning from protecting workers who were administering polio vaccinations, and Khan said he suspected they were attacked in retaliation for their anti-polio efforts.

Pakistan is one of three countries where polio is still endemic, and the government has carried out an intensive effort to eradicate the disease. But the vaccinators and those who are supposed to protect them have repeatedly come under attack.

Many militants have accused the polio campaign of being a cover for intelligence gathering efforts and say the vaccines are actually a western plot to sterilize Muslims.(Courtesy:The Washington Post)

Bomb Kills Dozens at Market in Northwestern Pakistan.

Bomb Kills Dozens at Market in Northwestern Pakistan.

A man carried an injured a child from the site of a car bombing
 on Sunday in Peshawar, Pakistan.

PESHAWAR | Pakistan | 29 Sep 2013 :: A powerful car bomb ripped through a busy marketplace in Peshawar, the regional capital of northwestern Pakistan, early Sunday, killing at least 38 people in the third major attack in and around the city in the past week.The explosion occurred in the historic Qissa Khwani bazaar in the old quarter of the city, roughly two miles from the site of a double suicide bombing of a Christian church a week earlier that killed dozens of people.

Experts said the blast was caused by homemade explosives and artillery shells that had been hidden in a parked car. The dead included 14 members of one family who had come to Peshawar from a nearby village to distribute wedding invitations.

Rescue workers cut through the smoldering wreckage of burning vehicles and destroyed buildings in an effort to find survivors. Television stations carried graphic images of the carnage, which underscored to Pakistanis across the country the continuing threat from the Taliban and allied militant groups.

“The people behind this are not human,” said Ghulam Mohammad, who was looking for the body of a close relative at a hospital. “This is the work of animals.”

The Pakistani Taliban, however, denied that they were responsible for the latest attack. “We have nothing to do with today’s bomb blast,” said Shahidullah Shahid, a Taliban spokesman. “We have made it clear several times that it is not our policy to target the general public. We condemn it and ask the government to ascertain its perpetrators.”

The attack came after a particularly bad week across Pakistan. An earthquake killed at least 300 people in a remote part of Baluchistan, the country’s largest but least populous province, and three major militant attacks in Peshawar killed at least 140 people.

Last Sunday, the suicide attack on the nearby All Saints Church killed 85 people, and a bombing on a crowded bus on Friday killed 21 government employees as they traveled home for the weekend.

“Collecting the dead and digging graves — this is unspeakable,” said the deputy city commissioner, Zaheerul Islam. “I don’t know what to say anymore.”

The attack on Sunday took place in the Qissa Khawani, or storytellers’ bazaar, which takes its name from ancient times when merchants and travelers from Central Asia stopped there to rest and share their stories. Some of the tea stalls from that time still exist.

Police officials said at least 440 pounds of explosives was used to make the bomb, which left a crater that was three feet deep. The explosion blew up storefronts, some of which caught fire, destroyed at least three shops and damaged dozens more. Traders announced three days of mourning.

The violence also came at a time of intense political debate over whether the government should hold peace talks with Taliban insurgents in a bid to end the bloodshed.

The opposition leader Imran Khan, whose party runs the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government, advocates peace talks and putting a halt to military operations in the tribal regions.(Courtesy:The New York Times)

Suicide attack on Pakistani church kills 75.

Suicide attack on Pakistani church kills 75.

A Pakistani man carries an injured Christian woman on her arrival
at the hospital after two suicide bomb attacks on a Church in
 Peshawar on September 22, 2013. Two suicide bombers killed at
 least 53 people and wounded more than 100 in an attack on a
 church service in the restive northwestern Pakistani city
of Peshawar, officials said.

PESHAWAR | Pakistan | 22 Sep 2013 :: A pair of suicide bombers detonated their explosives outside a historic church in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing 75 people in the deadliest-ever attack on the country’s Christian minority, officials said.

A wing of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing in the city of Peshawar, saying it would continue to target non-Muslims until the United States stopped drone attacks in the country’s remote tribal region.

The latest drone strike came Sunday, when missiles hit a pair of compounds in the North Waziristan tribal area, killing six suspected militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The attack on the All Saints Church, which also wounded 110 people, underlines the threat posed by the Pakistani Taliban at a time when the government is seeking a peace deal with the militants. It will likely intensify criticism from those who believe that negotiating peace with the Taliban is a mistake.

Taliban bomb kills top Pakistani general, officers.

Taliban bomb kills top Pakistani general, officers.

Islamabad | Pakistan | CNN | 15 Sep 2013 ::  A roadside bomb killed a top Pakistani general Sunday, just a day after officials announced plans to withdraw troops from a war-ravaged region near the border with Afghanistan.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed Maj. Gen. Sanaullah Khan, the commanding officer in Swat Valley. Two other officers were also killed, army officials said.

For years, troops have clashed with Taliban militants in Swat, which drew global attention last year when militants there shot teenager Malala Yousafzai point-blank in the head and neck after she defied the Taliban's ban against girls in school.

The Pakistani army has reclaimed control of the Swat Valley, where the Taliban held significant sway for years. But Sunday's attack was a troubling reminder of the region's volatility even as officials consider pulling out troops.

The roadside bombing occurred in the Upper Dir district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in northern Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan.

On Saturday officials in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa announced for a "phased withdrawal" of troops from Upper Dir, Lower Dir and Swat.

And last week the Pakistani government announced plans to pursue renewed peace talks with Taliban militants.

But a Taliban spokesman said Sunday that there is no ceasefire with the Pakistani government, warning that such attacks will continue.

"We have killed them," Pakistani Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said, "as they are killing us."

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif issued a statement expressing condolences over the slain officers' deaths Sunday.

"(The) Pakistan Army has made substantial sacrifices to protect the nation against the menace of terrorism," he said, "and such cowardly acts by terrorists cannot deter the morale of our armed forces."(Courtesy:CNN )

Army, Pakistani Taliban exchange prisoners ahead of likely talks.

Army, Pakistani Taliban exchange prisoners ahead of likely talks.

Pakistani policemen escort a suspected
 militant of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
. – File Photo by AFP

DERA ISMAIL KHAN | AP | 11 Sep 2013  ::  The armed forces of Pakistan and Taliban militants exchanged prisoners Wednesday as a confidence building measure ahead of possible peace talks, intelligence officials and a militant commander said.

The exchange included six militants of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and two paramilitary Frontier Corps soldiers, officials and the commander said.

It occurred in the Shawal area of the South Waziristan tribal region. The militants were subsequently taken to neighboring North Waziristan, the country's main Taliban sanctuary.

Militants fired in the air with joy when their colleagues were freed, the intelligence officials said. The officials and the Taliban commander spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.

The release occurred only days after Pakistan's main political parties endorsed peace negotiations with the Taliban and their allies Monday as the best way to end a decade-long insurgency that has killed thousands of people.

The exchange was meant to build confidence between the government and the militants before formal peace talks, the Pakistani Taliban commander said.

Senior Taliban leaders are currently discussing whether to take the government up on its offer to hold negotiations, said the commander and one of his colleagues.

The Taliban said they were open to talks at the end of last year but withdrew that offer in May after the group's deputy leader, Waliur Rehman was killed in a US drone strike.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif campaigned on a platform of holding peace talks and has maintained that line since he took office in June. He scored a victory when his stance was endorsed by other parties on Monday – a decision that was generally welcomed by the Taliban.(Courtesy:Dawn)

First batch of fighters reaches Syria, confirms Pakistani Taliban.

120 more fighters are on their way to fight Syrian
 President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, a key
 TTP commander told Dawn.com.

PESHAWAR |16 Jul 2013 :: The first of batch of Pakistani Taliban fighters has reached Syria and has established a command and control center to launch operational activities alongside Syrian rebels against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

A key commander of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Abdul Rashid Abbasi, confirmed the developments while speaking to Dawn.com on Monday. He also confirmed that “another batch of 120 to 150 fighters is on its way from different routes and will reach Syrian cities this week to join the force.”

“We shall be sending more volunteers, but can not give the exact numbers at this moment. We will provide whatever support is needed by our Syrian brothers,” Abbasi remarked.

A close associate of Taliban Amir (Chief) Hakeemullah Mehsud, confirming establishment of the Syrian base, said the TTT fighters had been sent upon the request of al Qaeda’s operational commander in Syria, Abu Omar Baghdadi.

He said Baghdadi had requested the Pakistani Taliban “to be part of a global jihad against the tyrant Syrian regime and we have agreed to send the fighters.”

The aide, who did not wish to be named, said: “Yes, the TTP has a global agenda of fighting jihad against the infidels and this movement of sending fighters is part of that spirit.”

“The Arabs had been here to support us against the Russians and the Americans and now we are going there to support them.”

The Pakistani Taliban have also asked its local chapters in Mohmand, Bajaur, Khyber, Orakzai and Waziristan Agencies to recruit fresh fighters who are willing to go to Syrian mission. Many of the youngsters have reportedly started registering their names to go on the foreign mission.(Courtesy:Dawn)