Terrorismo en Paquistan

[Esteban]

Este atentado contra el ministro paquistaní parece ser que fue del tipo cutre este puesto de moda ultimamente del terrorista suicida con su cinturón corriendo al objetivo hasta que lo consigue o lo abaten.

[Esteban]

Hay un excelente artículo en Asia Times donde destripan todos los trapicheos entre Musharraf y los talibanes. Básicamente, como hemos comentado en otras ocasiones, demuestra que el interés de Pakistán no está en acabar con los talibanes, ni mucho menos, sino con la insurgencia balucha y el terrorismo yihadista que tiene como objetivo al propio Muasharraf. Esto llevó a una serie de negociaciones con los talibanes para que éstos neutralizasen las intenciones de al Qaeda en el Waziristan a cambio de una especie de pacto tácito de no agresión mútua. De hecho, la captura de Abdul Hadi al-Iraqi parece ser que tuvo su origen en una colaboración de los talibanes con el ISI.

Es interesante que remarca algo que escuché hace tiempo de una persona conocedora de los entresijos paquistaníes; y es que, en contra de lo que muchos piensan, es el movimiento talibán el que ahora marca las normas y los límites a los resquicios de al Qaeda refugiados en las montañas de la zona tribal fronteriza entre Afganistan y Paquistán.

Muy recomendable http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IE01Df01.html

[Esteban]

Ampliando la información, hay un artículo sobre el movimiento neotaliban y los ´líderes emergentes, como Maulvi Nazir. Su lucha por el poder, las conexiones paquistaníes y la guerra contra los militantes uzbekos islamistas en el Waziristan.

http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IE24Df02.html

[Esteban]

Curioso. En las últimas semanas han aparecido informes referentes al reclutamiento de niños para grupos terroristas islamistas magrebíes, tailandeses, y paquistaníes.

Recruiting Taleban 'child soldiers'
By Syed Shoaib Hasan
BBC News, Tank

Children in Tank, a remote town at the centre of Taleban activity in north-west Pakistan, are going missing. It is a disturbing phenomenon that Tank shares with other towns on the edge of Pakistan's tribal belt.

Reports says the children - some as young as 11 - are being kidnapped by pro-Taleban militants. Most people in Tank are unwilling to admit it is happening and few will talk about it.

Pro-Taleban militants in the region deny they are recruiting children, blaming the region's troubles on government policy.

'Adventure'

When people in Tank can be persuaded to talk about the missing children, most appear to guard every word. If they open their mouths, the whole family would suffer the Taleban's wrath

Tank resident

"They don't really kidnap the children," says a local teacher. But he is hesitant and thinks his words through. "The Taleban convince them it is their duty to carry out jihad [holy struggle]."

But then he admits what he's left unsaid. "How much convincing does a child need? ... Especially when promised adventure."

The trouble is that in most cases, the "adventure" the Taleban offer usually results in no possibility of return. "They are being trained as fidayeen," the teacher half whispers. "Fidayeen" literally means "those who sacrifice their lives". In Afghanistan today, the term has a new meaning - suicide bomber.

The tale of a local school administrator in the town is typical of what is happening. "The purpose of their visit [in January] was clear from the start," he said. "The militants came to town with a mission, and wanted to convert us to their cause. "They said that jihad was obligatory and those who heed the call are rewarded," the principal said.

"As many as 30 students from each of the four government schools in Tank 'enlisted'. A similar number have also joined from private schools. The ages of those taken are between 11 to 15 years.

Battle for influence

Asked why the school administration has not simply refused, the staff appear flabbergasted. "Do you want me to lose my neck?" one asks bluntly. "The Taleban don't ask for permission - they just tell us."

Even so, not everyone has given way to the militants. At the private English medium school, Oxford High, an extraordinary battle for influence over the pupils was recently fought. "They came on 23 March but the children had left," said a school teacher.

"The Taleban said they would be back later."

They did indeed return three days later, while an exam was taking place. The militants agreed for the exam to finish before they tried to take them away. "They went outside to wait at 1000," the teacher said, "and an hour later all hell broke loose." Local police and security forces had been monitoring the militants' activities.

"The first sound we heard was of a helicopter flying in low and then a loud explosion," a local explained. This was at 1100. Over the next two hours the militants and security forces fought pitched battles.

The militants suffered greater losses in the earlier exchanges. But they were soon back in greater numbers, and rolled through the town attacking anything or anyone connected with the government.

Some of the fighters were children as young as 12, eyewitnesses told the BBC.

Hopes 'harboured'

The security forces were also attacked, and now keep a low profile. Since then, the militants have had a free hand in the town. But the authorities are not willing to admit anything is amiss. "I have been here just two months," says Muhammad Idrees Khan, the town's deputy chief of police.
He argues that the parents should come forward if there is a problem. But locals says that parents are extremely scared.

"They harbour hopes of their children returning if they keep quiet," explains one. "But if they open their mouths, the whole family would suffer the Taleban's wrath." On the streets of Tank, students coming out of the local college have ambivalent feelings about the situation.

"We are not extremists... we are liberal people," says a student who has just appeared for his physics paper. "But our identity is Islamic."



Others are highly critical of the government.

"They are the ones who should be protecting us," said one, "and yet there is not much sign that they are even half-prepared to do so."

[Esteban]

Reportaje en exclusiva de la cadena ABC. El pasado 9 de junio tuvo lugar una ceremonia de "graduación" de terroristas suicidas presidida por el hermano del finado Omar Dadullah. Su propósito, exportar terroristas a Europa y los EEUU, incluyendo niños, tal y como se ha venido detectando últimamente en las campañas de reclutamiento yihadistas. como mínimo, propaganda a base de bien.

Exclusive: Suicide Bomb Teams Sent to U.S., Europe
June 18, 2007 4:45 PM

Brian Ross Reports:

Large teams of newly trained suicide bombers are being sent to the United States and Europe, according to evidence contained on a new videotape obtained by the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

Teams assigned to carry out attacks in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Germany were introduced at an al Qaeda/Taliban training camp graduation ceremony held June 9.

A Pakistani journalist was invited to attend and take pictures as some 300 recruits, including boys as young as 12, were supposedly sent off on their suicide missions.

Photos: Inside an al Qaeda/Taliban 'Graduation' http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/200 ... suici.html

The tape shows Taliban military commander Mansoor Dadullah, whose brother was killed by the U.S. last month, introducing and congratulating each team as they stood.

"These Americans, Canadians, British and Germans come here to Afghanistan from faraway places," Dadullah says on the tape. "Why shouldn't we go after them?"

The leader of the team assigned to attack Great Britain spoke in English.

"So let me say something about why we are going, along with my team, for a suicide attack in Britain," he said. "Whether my colleagues, companions and Muslim brothers die today or tonight, every drop of our blood will invigorate the Muslim (unintelligible)."

Video: Watch the Taliban's 'Graduation' Ceremony http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3290535

U.S. intelligence officials described the event as another example of "an aggressive and sophisticated propaganda campaign."

Others take it very seriously.

"It doesn't take too many who are willing to actually do it and be able to slip through the net and get into the United States or England and cause a lot of damage," said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, the former White House counterterrorism official.

[ZULU]

Según fuentes de inteligencia, al menos 32 personas han muerto en un ataque con misiles contra un centro de entrenamiento de Al Qaida oculto al oeste de Pakistán, la misma fuente ha destacado que el ataque fue lanzado por tropas internacionales destacadas en la vecina Afganistán. Un portavoz del Ejército de Pakistán, no obstante, ha afirmado que las muertes ocurrieron por la explosión de un artefacto que los presuntos miembros de Al Qaida estaban montando en el interior del seminario de la ciudad de Ditta Khel, en la región de Waziristán del Norte. Según la fuente de inteligencia de Waziristán, ocho personas han resultado también heridas en el ataque aéreo con misiles lanzado por las fuerzas de la coalición que dirige EEUU en Afganistán. La fuente ha dicho que se han recuperado 32 cadáveres del lugar atacado mientras los ocho heridos han sido trasladados a un hospital local.El portavoz del Ejército paquistaní, el general Arshad Waheed, ha desmentido esta versión y ha mantenido que el seminario no fue atacado ni por tropas destacadas en Afganistán ni por fuerzas paquistaníes.
19-06-2007



El portavoz ha dicho que "según la información que hemos recabado, la explosión ocurrió cuando un artefacto explosivo estalló prematuramente", además añade que "nuestras fuentes nos dicen que el seminario religioso de Ditta Khel, ubicado dentro de un gran recinto de adobe en la localidad de Mami Rogha y donde la explosión ha tenido lugar, era usado por militantes respaldados por Al Qaida y los talibanes como un centro de entrenamiento terrorista".

La fuente local de inteligencia ha declarado que el ataque ha debido ser lanzado "con el consentimiento" del régimen del presidente y General Pervez Musharraf.

[Esteban]

Vistos los precedentes de otras ocasiones, como el ataque que lanzaron contra un grupo sospechoso donde se suponía que estaba al Zawahiri, se trata de ataques lanzados desde predator armados con hellfire. El tema parece estar pactado entre paquistaníes y la CIA. La presencia del almirante Fallon el otro día en Paquistán no debe dejar de tenerse en cuenta.

[Esteban]

Y ahora son los propios paquistaníes los que habrían detenido a unos sospechosos en la frontera con Irán. Ojo, que al menos dos contaban con pasaporte alemán

Terror Watch: The Pakistan Connection
The little-noticed arrests of three men allegedly planning U.S. attacks renews questions about the country’s tolerance of terrorists.
By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
Newsweek
Updated: 7:11 p.m. ET June 20, 2007
June 20, 2007 - The international media barely noticed when Pakistani authorities recently picked up three foreign jihadis, including two German passport holders, in the remote town of Taftan near the Iranian border. But the arrests are being taken seriously by Western intelligence agencies.

The suspects were allegedly carrying sophisticated satellite phones and traveling through a lawless region known as a hotbed of Islamic radicalism. That and other circumstances have touched off an international investigation into the backgrounds and prior travel of the suspects. The chief concern is that the suspects may have been planning to cross into Iran on their way to Western Europe—or even the United States—to act as potential “muscle” in possible terror attacks, a European intelligence official tells NEWSWEEK. (The official asked not to be publicly identified talking about sensitive intelligence matters.)

Although little hard evidence about the intentions of the suspects has surfaced, the interest in the three alleged jihadis—one of whom hails from Kyrgyzstan—reflects mounting worries among Western intelligence officials about developments in Pakistan's border regions. It also underscores concerns among U.S. officials that potential terrorists could take advantage of loose travel rules for European citizens to enter the United States on tourist visas.

Just this week, the Western media began publicizing an inflammatory new jihadi video, made in the same region, that purports to show a “graduation ceremony” of 300 aspiring suicide bombers headed for the West. According to an account of the tape on the ABC News web site, the ceremony was staged on June 9 at a training camp alleged to be operated by the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The video, recorded by a Pakistani journalist, shows groups of about 150 masked men—supposedly suicide bombers assigned to conduct attacks in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States. Some of the would-be bombers were speaking English. Emceeing the graduation ceremony was a Taliban commander named Mansoor Dadullah—allegedly the brother of Mullah Dadullah, a senior Taliban commander whose brother was killed by U.S. forces in May.

A senior U.S. official told NEWSWEEK that the video has been closely analyzed by the U.S. intelligence community. “It looks to be more a propaganda tool than real because of its obvious staging,” said the official about the graduation ceremony. Still, the FBI issued a bulletin to state and local officials this week. The bulletin downplayed the video as part of an apparent “propaganda operation,” but urged officials to “maintain their high level of vigilance.”

At the very least, the arrests in Baluchistan and the new Taliban videotape would appear to demonstrate that Pakistan and the tribal regions along its border with Afghanistan remain areas where Taliban militants—and what remains of their Al Qaeda allies—still operate with relative freedom and even openness. Indeed, the remote border areas of Pakistan—not Iraq—remain the prime point of origin for terror threats to Western countries, U.S. officials say.

Several of the best-publicized terrorist plots that U.S. and European authorities claim to have disrupted since 9/11 have connections to Pakistan or its border regions. These include the plot to launch multiple simultaneous attacks on U.S.-bound transatlantic passenger flights—and another to attack buildings in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. British authorities have said that some of the bombers who attacked London underground trains and a double-decker bus on July 7, 2005, spent time in Pakistan before the attacks.

Most U.S. and European counterterrorism officials still believe that what remains of Al Qaeda’s central command—including the terrorist network’s two most important leaders, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri—are still alive and hiding out somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistan border. Many officials believe that Zawahiri and bin Laden have now split up and are living in different locations. And while the Al Qaeda chieftains are thought to move around a lot, many U.S. and European officials believe that they spend much of their time on the Pakistan side of the border.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19339015/site/newsweek/

[Esteban]

detectado el primer niño bomba en Afganistán. Un crio de 6 años al que le habían colocado explosivos en el cuerpo y que fue enviado a inmolarse contra las tropas aliadas. Por suerte el niño pidió ayuda a militares afganos.

June 25, 2007
Taliban Puts Afghan Boy in Suicide Vest
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:36 p.m. ET

FORWARD OPERATING BASE THUNDER, Afghanistan (AP) -- The story of a 6-year-old Afghan boy who says he thwarted an effort by Taliban militants to trick him into being a suicide bomber provoked tears and anger at a meeting of tribal leaders.

The account from Juma Gul, a dirt-caked child who collects scrap metal for money, left American soldiers dumbfounded that a youngster could be sent on such a mission. Afghan troops crowded around the boy to call him a hero.

Though the Taliban dismissed the story as propaganda, at a time when U.S. and NATO forces are under increasing criticism over civilian casualties, both Afghan tribal elders and U.S. military officers said they were convinced by his dramatic account.

Juma said that sometime last month Taliban fighters forced him to wear a vest they said would spray out flowers when he touched a button. He said they told him that when he saw American soldiers, ''throw your body at them.''

The militants cornered Juma in a Taliban-controlled district in southern Afghanistan's Ghazni province. Their target was an impoverished youngster being raised by an older sister -- but also one who proved too street-smart for their plan.

''When they first put the vest on my body I didn't know what to think, but then I felt the bomb,'' Juma told The Associated Press as he ate lamb and rice after being introduced to the elders at this joint U.S.-Afghan base in Ghazni. ''After I figured out it was a bomb, I went to the Afghan soldiers for help.''

While Juma's story could not be independently verified, local government leaders backed his account and the U.S. and NATO military missions said they believed his story.

Abdul Rahim Deciwal, the chief administrator for Juma's village of Athul, brought the boy and an older brother, Dad Gul, to a weekend meeting between Afghan elders and U.S. Army Col. Martin P. Schweitzer.

Schweitzer called the Taliban's attempt ''a cowardly act.''

As Deciwal told Juma's story, 20 Afghan elders repeatedly clicked their tongues in sadness and disapproval. When the boy and his brother were brought in, several of the turban-wearing men welled up, wiping their eyes with handkerchiefs.

''If anybody has a heart, then how can you control yourself (before) these kids?'' Deciwal said in broken English.

Wallets quickly opened, and the boys were handed $60 in American and Afghan currency -- a good chunk of money in a country where teachers and police earn $70 a month.

Afghan officials described the boys as extremely poor, and Juma said he is being raised by his sister because his father works in a bakery in Pakistan and his mother lives and does domestic work in another village.

''I think the boy is intelligent,'' Deciwal said. ''When he comes from the enemy he found a checkpoint of the ANA (Afghan National Army), and he asked the ANA: 'Hey, can you help me? Somebody gave me this jacket and I don't know what's inside but maybe something bad.'''

Lt. Col. George Graff, a father of five who attended the meeting, also teared up.

''Relating to them as a father and trying to fathom somebody using one of my children for that kind of a purpose, jeez, it just tore me up,'' said Graff, a National Guard soldier from St. George, Utah. ''The depths that these people will go to get what they want, which is power for themselves -- it's just disgusting.''

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, denied the militant group uses child fighters, saying it has hundreds of adults ready for suicide missions.

''We don't need to use a child,'' Ahmadi told the AP by satellite phone. ''It's against Islamic law, it's against humanitarian law. This is just propaganda against the Taliban.''

However, a gory Taliban video that surfaced in April showed militants instructing a boy of about 12 as he beheaded an alleged traitor with a large knife. U.N. officials condemned the act as a war crime.

Fidgety but smiling during all the attention, Juma told the AP that he had been scared when he was surrounded by Taliban fighters. He cupped his hands together to show the size of the bomb, then ran his hands along his waist to show where it was on his body.

A fan of soccer, Juma said his favorite subject in school is Pashto, his native language, but he also showed off a little English, shyly counting ''1, 2, 3'' before breaking out in an oversize smile.

Raised in a country where birthdays are not always carefully tracked, Juma said he is 4. But he looks older and Afghan officials said he is about 6. His brother appears to be a year or so older.

Their village lies in Ghazni province's Andar district, a Taliban stronghold targeted this month in a joint Afghan-U.S. operation. The region remains dangerous and Afghan elders worry for Juma's safety.

Maj. John Thomas, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said he was ''a bit skeptical'' about Juma's story at first, ''but everything I've heard makes me more and more comfortable.''

Thomas said the case would force soldiers to think twice before assuming children are safe.

''This is one incident. We hope it doesn't repeat itself. But it gives us reason to pause, to be extra careful,'' he said. ''We want to publicize this as much as we can to the Afghan people so that they can protect their children from these killers.''

Col. Sayed Waqef Shah, a religious and cultural affairs officer for the Afghan army, wiped away tears after seeing Juma. ''Whenever I see this kind of action from the Taliban, if I am able to arrest them, I'll kill them on the spot,'' he said.

Haji Niaz Mohammad, one of the elders at the gathering, said he hoped ''God makes the Afghan government strong'' so it can defeat the Taliban.

''They are the enemy of Muslims and the enemy of the children,'' he said, shaking his fists in anger.

[pagano]

Atacado con misiles el avión que transportaba al presidente Musharraf.
http://www.libertaddigital.com/noticias ... 09021.html
Decir que estos días, las fuerzas de seguridad paquistaníes están dando caña a los talibanes y a los extremistas internos (especialmente a los que están refugiados en la Mezquita Roja).