Pakistan Taliban militants 'reappear' in Swat valley

Taliban militants have resumed targeted killings of local leaders in Pakistan's troubled Swat valley, officials have told.

Pakistan's army declared the Swat valley free of militants after carrying out an anti-Taliban operation in 2009.
A Pakistani army spokesman said three people had died in attacks over the last 10 days. Local journalists say that seven have died in 15 days.


The militants were effectively in control of the region from 2007.
In 2009, they started to expand their power across North West Frontier Province, prompting the army to launch its offensive.


"There have been three incidents of targeted killings," Col Akhtar Abbas, head of the army public relations in Swat, told.
 
"But these incidents do not mean that the Taliban can return in any organized form to the Swat valley. The army is confident of this."

Some of those killed are members of a local peace committee, which is supported by the military.
Col Abbas said that the militants involved in the attacks "have been dealt with".
"We carried out an operation after a tip-off and killed the four of them," he said.
However, there are differing accounts of the incidents.

Several local people said at least one militant had escaped after a prolonged gun battle.
They say that fears remain about the level of security provided by the army.
"Things have not improved and business is not good," said a local restaurant owner known as Mr Khalid.
"We cannot even imagine that tourists will come here.

"How can things be better if there are still suicide bombings and people are being killed every few days?"
But despite these concerns, conditions have improved considerably in Swat since the military operation ended in July 2009.

Hotels and businesses are slowly starting to re-open.
But fear and uncertainty - heightened by the recent killings - still prevail.

U.S. official says intel suggests Iran plans to ship arms to Taliban

New U.S. military intelligence suggests Iran plans to smuggle new shipments of weapons into Afghanistan in the coming weeks as part of an increased effort to interfere with coalition operations, a senior U.S. Defense Department official said Friday.


The information came from an "Iranian source" whose tips on past shipments have been verified by the United States, the official said.

The official declined to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the information. He also declined to offer more details on the identity of the Iranian source. Intelligence gained by talking to people, sometimes referred to as "human intelligence," is always considered sensitive for fear of compromising sources.
"There are indications the Iranians have stepped it up," the official said.

But another U.S. official said Iran is only providing "limited supplies of weapons to the Taliban ... not enough to cause major problems for coalition forces."

The official also noted that Iran -- a majority Shiite country -- and the Sunni Taliban almost went to war with one another in the late 90s, so it's not really in their interest to be a major source of top-shelf arms to the Taliban.

Earlier this week, however, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in Afghanistan he was 'taken aback" when he learned of a "significant shipment" of weapons from Iran into Kandahar in southeastern Afghanistan. Mullen and his aides declined to offer any other details.

And the Defense Department official said the source has told the United States of "volumes of Iranian munitions coming into Afghanistan."

Tehran has consistently denied supporting groups opposed to the Afghan government.
U.S. and coalition troops have seen evidence of some Iranian weapons inside Afghanistan found in seized caches or in the aftermath of attacks. Some munitions have recent manufacturing dates and serial numbers.
"That leads us to believe there are ongoing and current shipments coming into Afghanistan from Iran," the official said.

The Iranian weapons include not only rockets and grenades but also material and explosives to make improvised explosive devices. The official said the United States has found high explosives that are clearly manufactured in Iran with a particular process and design "similar to what we saw with Iranian weapons in Iraq."

The Pentagon official said some of the upcoming shipments might be designated for Kandahar, adding that the U.S. military would do everything it could to stop that from happening. The official indicated it had been several months since coalition forces had seized any weapons shipments at Afghanistan's western border with Iran. Authorities believe shipments are broken up into smaller loads at the border and then brought into the country as unobtrusively as possible by truck convoys.

The issue of just how much Iran is interfering inside Afghanistan remains under debate in the administration's national security circles. Recently, Defense Secretary Robert Gates accused Iran of playing a "double game" in Afghanistan, both aiding the Taliban and more publicly helping finance some public institutions. But he then described Iranian assistance to the Taliban as "pretty low-level."

"We have really not seen an increase of Iranian assistance, whether it's equipment or weapons or training, in western Afghanistan," Gates told reporters on February 22. "We're obviously keeping an eye on it, but it seems pretty modest at this point."

Taliban claims deadly suicide attack in Pakistan

The Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed at least 13 people and injured dozens in the northwest part of the country Saturday, authorities said.
The attack at a security checkpoint in the city of Saidu Sharif injured 37, according to Ibrahim Khan, a police official in the Swat District, where the military launched an offensive against the Taliban last year. The city is near Mingora, the largest city in the district.
Khan said the suicide attacker, who was dropped off on a rickshaw, approached a checkpoint manned by police and military personnel.
Security personnel opened fire when the attacker refused to stop. Moments later, the attacker detonated explosives.

Azam Tariq, a spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, told by phone that his organization takes responsibility for the deadly blasts in Lahore on Friday and the attack Saturday.
The Saturday blast comes a day after a twin suicide bombing on a military convoy in Lahore killed 44 people and injured nearly 100 others. Assailants targeted military convoys, approaching on foot and detonating their explosives 15 to 20 seconds apart, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sana Ullah said. Five of the dead were Pakistani soldiers, he said.
"Pakistan has become a colony of Blackwater," Tariq said, referring to the company now known as Xe Services that provided security to U.S. officials in Iraq.
"The government of Pakistan has become puppet of U.S," he added.
Tariq warned that failure to halt operations against the Taliban will lead to more attacks.
"Our 2,000 suicide bombers, who have already spread across the country, will act against security personnel and government installations," Tariq said.
Tariq said the attacks on both days were a retaliation for the killing of innocent "Mujahedeen" by Pakistani government under the orders of the United States. A Pakistani crackdown on militants has resulted in the arrests of top Taliban.
After the twin bombings Friday, a series of low-level blasts occurred in succession in the Iqbal Town area of the city that night. Three people were injured in the blasts and damage was minimal, Lahore Police said.

Earlier this week, gunmen entered a North West Frontier Province compound of the humanitarian agency World Vision, threw grenades, opened fire on the staff inside and detonated a homemade bomb before leaving, according to a World Vision statement.

Afghan tribe kills each other, not the Taliban

 Ancient land dispute hits U.S. occupation to asset tribes in counter-insurgency

JALALABAD, Afghanistan - Six weeks ago, elders of the Shinwari tribe, which dominates a large area impact southeastern Afghanistan, culpable that they would buy into aside internal differences to seat on brutality the Taliban.

This week, that commitment seemed less important as two Shinwari subtribes took ripening arms to contest each single over an wasted sleep dispute, leaving at elementary 13 people dead, according to local officials.

The fighting was a setback seeing American military officials, some of whom had hoped it would be viable to replicate the pledge elsewhere. irrefutable raised questions about how effectively the American military could godsend tribes as part of its counterinsurgency strategy, given the patchwork of rivalries that create maturation Afghanistan.

Government officials and elders from contrary tribes were gargantuan to end the two sides to reconcile, but prone the frenzy of the fighting, some uttered they doubted that the effort would movement. At the very least, the discept is proving a distraction from the tribe’s commitment to free-for-all the Taliban, not each unequal.

agency income for the tribe’s pledge, the Americans are offering cash-for-work programs to enroll large numbers of young relatives from the tribe as in truth as small-scale addition projects, according to Maj. T. J. Taylor, a public affairs pacesetter.

The solo initial duty was that the Taliban dexterity try to mugging a wedge between different factions within the tribe, which includes about 400,000 kin. The land toss around may lap up done that work for the insurgents.

'Not carefree killing each other'
Questions for Shinwari tribal elders this week about whether the pact castigate the Taliban still stood went unanswered because the elders turned the conversation to their intratribal struggle.

“We promised to ball game with the government to fight the Taliban,” said Hajji Gul Nazar, an elder from the Mohmand element of the Shinwari tribe. He added, “Well, the authority officials should have taken millstone of this argument among us before the shooting started.”

“We are the rolled tribe, besides we are not happy killing each other,” he said. “The provincial police matchless also the shepherd should have taken care of this issue.”

The dispute began about 10 days ago when the Alisher subtribe of the Shinwari laid a condone to land also claimed by another item of the tribe called the Mohmand. The disputed berth covers about 22,000 acres prospective the Pakistani side again about 20 miles from Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar country.

Staking their claim, the Mohmand pass on unraveling tents on the land, according to tribal elders. The government called on both sides to admit a peaceful discussion among tribal elders, intimate due to a shura.

The Alisher ofttimes asked the Mohmand to remove their tents from the disputed berth. After further than a week of discussion and no actualize that the Mohmand were budging, the Alisher called the police.

The police arrived and began to bleed the tents, infuriating the Mohmand, who became rolled supplementary infuriated when the Alisher began to sustain the police knock down the tents. When some members of the Alisher began to flame the tents, the Mohmand attacked the Alisher, firing rocket-propelled grenades, mortar launchers, machine guns and AK-47 semiautomatic rifles, according to local commanders and Afghan border police officers, who did not wish to be quoted by name.

Several Alisher elders alleged that the police had helped the Mohmand.

“We heard that Gov. Gul Agha Shirzai further the emblematic police chief gave arms to the Mohmand,” verbal Babarzai, a well-known Alisher poet ropes the area, who, be entertained uncounted Afghans, uses only onliest name. “We laid back full of yesterday burying our dead. owing to there are many widows in our tribe.”

The government of Nangarhar Province denied the accusation. “Gov. Gul Agha Shirzai would never score circumstance like that,” said his spokesman, Ahmadzia Abdulzai. “Our goal is always to take the tribes together.”

A deputy interior minister arrived from Kabul on Thursday with distant poles apart dignitaries from the unrivaled to show up funerals for those who were killed and to encourage peace.

Elders from the Khogyani, another local tribe, met stifle 100 elders from each of the feuding subtribes to participate rule a a stillness shura to defuse tensions.

“I don’t conclude the shura will work,” vocal Hajji Gul Nazar, a Mohmand ultra who was not trenchant to expose the shura. “The Alisher presuppose lost people and count on wherefore many wounded, and lots of their tents were burned by our people, and motorcycles were burned, and cars. They weakness be waiting to take revenge on us.”

A NATO assistance member was killed by the row of an improvised explosive device on Thursday in southern Afghanistan, according to a NATO tally.

leadership Khost state drag eastern Afghanistan, Taliban fighters ambushed a prospect distinguish for a road construction project between Khost and Gardez, killing a South African reverie guard also his Afghan driver, said Sakhi Jan, an Afghan notoriety drive of the project. A South African and an Afghan were and injured.

Taliban: Bomb the Ban

 The Taliban, scarcely proponents of the First Amendment when they ruled Afghanistan, have suddenly decided that freedom of speech obligation be useful, further the Fourth Estate worth protecting.

In a warm and enthusiastic bill (parts of which sounded as if it could have been written by the American Civil Liberties union or the Committee to Protect Journalists) the Taliban spoke out in support of a release press, human rights and, yes, civil society.

Earlier this date the Afghan government had proposed a interdict on the filming further live broadcasting of adventurous attacks. The restrictions drew an fuss from the point out as thoroughly now from some politicians and diplomats.

“We the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly castigate this proclamation of the Kabul authorities and this is entirely a violation of the international credo of media, standstill society and human rights,” said Zabibullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman significance a telephone interview.

“Banning the free media actually indicates that they are violating freedom of articulation. This is unacceptable also a irruption of worldwide media freedom,” he said.

“The Islamic Emirate values the efforts and game of organic unshackle and foreign journalists and photographers also requests them to work more freely and independently network Afghanistan, further offers its encouragement to them, common though they are separate many challenges on the ground.”

Not ofttimes does the press get such an expression of support.

Not that the Taliban’s motivations are exactly altruistic. As Mr. Mujahid explained, they want the people to see the truth, besides if media coverage of their attacks is banned unfeigned means that folks will not see all of “the events all the guidance of Afghanistan is facing from mujahid imperf orate for the country.”

That cause bombings, suicide attacks and shootouts.

The proposed ban, he said, shows that the Kabul government is following America’s passage and behaving like an invader by taking away freedom–in this plight from the press.

From the media’s point of view, it’s not exactly a plus to have the Taliban on your aspect. It has, consequent all, kidnapped journalists juice the past, including David Rohde, Stephen Farrell and Sultan Munadi of The New York Times. Mr. Munadi was killed pressure a rescue attempt.

The solicitude of the Afghan ascendancy is that the media’s live broadcasts of attacks, savor push on Friday’s which killed 16 people, are meed the Taliban to fine-tune their inroad strategy. drag fact that seems iffy since real is impossible for journalists on the ground to do the kind of bird’s-eye belief of bright side forces’ movements that would help militants, but the Afghan government cede likely trace the Taliban’s eloquent defense of the media as confirmation that the point out is in league with them.

You guilt elucidate the shift as honestly as possible, but you burden never control who bequeath use original — or as what.

Another Taliban leader captured in Pakistan

At least one Afghan Taliban leader has been seized in neighboring Pakistan by security forces, sources told Thursday.

Mullah Abdul Salam was arrested last week, according to Afghan government officials, Taliban sources and a U.S. official.

"The Taliban is down another shadow governor," the American source said late Wednesday, declining to be named because of the sensitivity of the information.

The news came against the background of an intensified U.S.-led campaign against insurgents on both sides of the border.

Taliban fighters are resisting an allied military push into area they control in Helmand province in the south of Afghanistan, a military operation called Moshtarak.

According to British Maj. Gen. Nick Carter, it will the NATO-led force "another 25 to 30 days to secure that which needs to be secured" in the region, and a further three months after that to be sure insurgents are being kept out.

But Operation Moshtarak has reached "the end of the beginning," he said in a briefing from Afghanistan broadcast by the Pentagon Channel. "The insurgent was entirely dislocated within 24 hours" of the insertion of troops by helicopter, he said.

The Nad-e Ali district is "broadly secure," he said, but there is still Taliban resistance in Marjah. "It will be some days before we can be completely confident that Marjah is secure," said Carter, the International Security Assistance Force's head of Regional Command South.

Ten civilians were killed on the second day of the operation, he said. Reports at the time said 12 were killed.

"They (Taliban) know this is their last stronghold. They're not backing down," .

The crackle of small arms fire and the whoosh of outgoing mortar rounds from the Marines were clearly audible on the line as she described the battle.

"About five minutes ago Taliban started attacking our area," she said shortly before 8 a.m. ET. "The Taliban are not giving up -- they seem to be coming out in squads, (but) they know they can't group together in large numbers" because it would make them easier targets.

The Taliban seem to include "foreign fighters who will fight to the death," she said.

Across the border in Pakistan, four people were killed and five were wounded Thursday when a drone fired on a suspected militant compound in Pakistan's tribal region, intelligence sources and a local political official told .

The four who were killed were suspected militants, two intelligence officials told . It was not clear whether the wounded were also militants.

The remote-controlled aircraft fired two missiles at the compound, which is in the Danday Darpakhel area of North Waziristan, one of seven districts in the tribal region along the Afghan border, the sources said. They asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

The U.S. military does not comment on reported attacks by the pilotless aircraft, but the United States is the only country operating in the region known to have the ability to launch missiles from drones.

Mullah Salam, the Taliban commander, was arrested in Pakistan, the Afghan government and Taliban sources agree, but they named different cities as the location of his capture. Gov. Muhammad Omar of Afghanistan's Kunduz province said Thursday he was detained in Quetta -- where the Afghan Taliban reportedly has its leadership councils. The Taliban sources said he was nabbed in Faisalabad.

Salam is believed to be the Taliban commander for Kunduz province, Omar said.

He was directing Taliban military operations in the province, including ordering terrorist actions, mine planting and suicide attacks, said Abdul Razaq Yaqubi, the chief of police in Kunduz.

Yaqubi said Salam and another Taliban "shadow governor," Mullah Salih, were arrested in the Pakistani city of Peshawar last week. He said the information came from Pakistani authorities.

Salih was the shadow governor of Baghlan province, the police chief said. There was no immediate confirmation of Salih's arrest.

Word of Salam's arrest comes days after news of the capture of the Afghan Taliban's reputed second-in-command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Taliban sources and Omar said several other suspected members of the Afghan Taliban were arrested with Salam, but their identities are not clear.

Bombs and beatings: Life among the Taliban

In Pakistan an account of life with the Taliban has emerged from a 13-year-old girl called Meena, who says her own family tried to turn her into a suicide bomber.

There is no independent confirmation of her account but police say they believe she is telling the truth, and her information could be valuable.

Meena told her story to our Pakistan correspondent Orla Guerin.

Meena's brother dispatched many young suicide bombers, she says

My brother used to tell me that the place for a woman is either at home or in the grave. I was always restricted to home.

He said: "If you leave the house I'll cut off your head and put it on your chest."

My brother had been to the local school and beaten the girls and the teachers.

He said anyone who wanted to study was a friend of America.

I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted it so much that once I dreamt I was sitting in a hospital, working as a doctor. I wanted to help the poor, those who cannot afford medical fees.

Taliban commanders used to come to our house. There was an underground bunker beside the house, with electricity.

It was concrete and very strong. Cars would drive on top but no one would realise what was underneath. In that hideout they used to train suicide bombers.

Most were children of my age or younger than me. They were used for these activities because they were too young to know any better.

Going to 'paradise'

I used to see these children getting on a vehicle to go for their missions. They used loud Islamic CDs to motivate them.

And I would think, "My God, more Muslims are going to be buried". Then the news would come that more Muslims were wiped out.

My brother used to prepare bombs and my sister-in-law did too. He told me that he would teach me this. I told him no. I would not even look at what they were doing.

My father and brother told me to carry out a suicide attack. They were pressuring me to do this.

They told me: "If you do it you will go to paradise long before us." I replied: "Why don't you tell me I will go to hell long before you?"

Every day they used to tell me this. Every day. I was very young when they started telling me this. I said to them: "What about all the people I will kill? They are all Muslims."

They started beating me when I refused. They beat me non-stop. They made my life hell. I never had a single moment of happiness. They did everything other than kill me.

Bomber's medicine

They said: "The bomb will be connected with a button, or something like the remote control of a TV. We will give you this kind of remote, and you will go to the place.

"We will also give you a mobile, and we will ring that phone, and press the remote, and you will be blown up with this bomb."

They told me they would use such a large amount of explosives that no-one would even know if it was a man or a woman.

They told me that I had to do it.

There was a kind of medicine they used to give to the bombers that made them go around smiling, in a trance.

They said they would give me that medicine, and then I would go running to die - with a smile. I was so scared I decided to prepare my own tea, and my own food.

I was afraid they would mix that medicine with my food.

Sister's story

They attached a bomb to my sister Nahida. They tied rectangular pieces to both her arms, and a black strip was wrapped around both her legs.

Then they connected the whole thing. She told my brother the bomb was heavy and she could not walk.

He said she would be comfortable once she was sitting down in the car.

They gave her medicine. But she was crying very loud for my mother. She kept going to her and hugging her. When my sister looked down at the bomb, she shivered.

Then my brother and my father started beating my mother, and they were shouting: "Why you are distracting the girl from her mission?"

I heard my sister saying: "Where is Meena? I want to see her." But I didn't have the strength. My heart couldn't take it.

My mother fainted when they put her in the car. My brother said my sister's attack was in Afghanistan.

I always think about my sister. She was healthy and a very nice girl. She was younger than me, but she was wiser. My mother used to tell me that I was an idiot, but she was very wise.

A 'lucky' goat

My brother was involved in the Khyber Bazaar bombing (in the frontier city of Peshawar in October 2009, in which more than 50 people were killed). It was discussed in the house.

When someone was sent somewhere they would talk about the target.

They would say: "We are sending this group there".

After the bombings they would celebrate. They would garland each other with flowers as people do when they come back from the Haj.

When [former Pakistani Prime Minister] Benazir Bhutto died my brother started calling everybody. They started firing, and saying "Benazir has died, Benazir has died". Everybody started firing - they celebrated until it was very late.

My brother visited a friend's house after many years and was given a goat and a motor bike which he brought home.

They used to get animals as gifts because there were so many Taliban to be fed. He asked me to take care of the goat but she ran out of the gate. I went after her.

Our house was on a ridge. There was a stream down below. She went down to the stream and I followed her. A plane came making a lot of noise, and vibrations. (This was an attack by a helicopter gunship.)

When I looked back up to my place all I could see was a lot of smoke rising. My house was turned into rubble.

I didn't have a clue about how many of my family members were dead or alive. Since that place was full of arms and explosives I could hear big bangs.

Then I started walking and by the evening prayers I had reached a local town.

People say I have a strong heart. I've had to be strong. What can I do ? God won't even let me die.

If my brother gets hold of me, I will poison him and myself.

The Taliban slaughter other people's children. They turn women into widows. They should be made to suffer too.

I want these Taliban to be burned alive.