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India-Pakistan
Two policemen among four martyred in North Waziristan, Peshawar attacks Dawn Report
2023-08-08
[Dawn] Four people were martyred and two injured in separate attacks in North Wazoo and Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire...
on Monday, local officials and police confirmed.

In the first attack, a couple was martyred in a kaboom targeting security forces in Saidgai area of North Waziristan near the Pak-Afghan border.

A Bomb Disposal Unit was carrying out a search operation in the area when a jacket wallah, travelling in a vehicle let 'er rip. While the security officials remained unhurt, a husband and wife sitting on the roadside bit the dust.

"Said Muhammad and his wife Dilbar Jana were sitting on the roadside when the attack took place," local officials said, adding the couple was probably waiting for a passenger van.

Separately, a Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) constable was martyred and a Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam
...the political wing of the Pak Taliban...
-Fazl (JUI-F) activist sustained injuries in two firing incidents in the district.

According to local police, the CTD constable, identified as Taskeenullah, was going to his village when unknown Lions of Islam shot up him in the Tapi area. The attackers managed to flee as the police launched an investigation into the attack.

The injured JUI-F activist was identified as Javed Noor who was in charge of the party’s social media. He was immediately shifted to a hospital.

Meanwhile,
...back at the shootout, bullets whapped! around Butch as he tried to tie his scarf around his shoulder as a tourniquet......
in Badhber on the outskirts of Peshawar, one police constable was martyred and two sustained injuries in a late-night Death Eater attack.

According to Peshawar police, a police mobile came under attack on Afridi Road within the jurisdiction of Badhber cop shoppe. The three cops, ASI Farid Khan and constables Ghulam Hussain and Yar Muhammad, riding in the van sustained injuries.

"The area was immediately cordoned off and the injured police cops were shifted to the hospital," read a statement issued by the city police. Later, Constable Muhammad departed this vale of tears in the hospital.The funeral prayer of the martyred constable was offered at Peshawar’s police headquarters.
Related:
North Waziristan: 2023-07-15 Daily Evacuation Brief July 15, 2023
North Waziristan: 2023-07-11 Forceful Displacement Leads to Human Trafficking in Afghanistan, Says Afghan Envoy
North Waziristan: 2023-07-06 Suicide bombing claims four lives in North Waziristan
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India-Pakistan
2 killed, 33 injured in grenade attack on wedding in North Waziristan
2018-04-28
[DAWN] At least two people were killed and 33 others sustained injuries when unidentified miscreants hurled a hand grenade at a wedding ceremony in North Wazoo late on Thursday, the political administration said on Friday.

According to political administration, the incident occurred in Saidgai area of North Waziristan. The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital where one of them was stated to be at death's door.

The critically injured person was later shifted to Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
for treatment.

The political administration said that injured persons also included women and kiddies.
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India-Pakistan
Drone attack kills 9 suspect militants in NWA
2015-06-07
[NATION.PK] At least nine suspected snuffies were killed in a US drone strike in the remote Shawal Valley in Pakistain's North Wazoo tribal region today.

According to sources, the drones targeted a house in Shawal's Zoya Saidgai area, which is said to be a hideout of the Afghan Taliban.

The drones fired two missiles, killing at least nine Death Eaters, sources said, adding that all killed in the incident were associated with the Afghan Taliban.
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India-Pakistan
Air strikes in Shawal kill 35 suspects
2014-07-17
[DAWN] War planes bombed suspected myrmidon hideouts in Shawal mountains and eliminated 35 gunnies early on Wednesday morning, hours after local people said a US drone strike killed 20, mostly foreigners, in Dattakhel area
... which is owned and operated by Hafiz Gul Behadur...
of North Wazoo.

A security bigshot said the jets targeted gunnies in the forested Shawal Valley.

According to an intelligence official, 35 gunnies were killed in air strikes carried out in Degan, Saeedabad, Manzarkhel and Dattakhel.

He said the Shawal bombing had forced gunnies to flee their hideouts. Fifteen 'Punjabi' gunnies fleeing the bombing in pickup trucks were captured by security forces in Birmal and taken to Wana camp in South Waziristan.

"The bombing is having an effect. The gunnies are feeling the heat. These are the ones who fled the military operation in Miranshah
... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...
and Mirali," the official said. "It is a mixed bag of local and foreign myrmidons," he added.

Local residents said the US drone fired four missiles into a compound and a vehicle in Zoi Saidgai, about 45km west of regional headquarters Miranshah, killing 20 myrmidons.

They said that 12 of those killed were foreigners of central Asian origin and eight local myrmidons.

According to an official, the foreigners were members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

A security official confirmed the drone attack which, he said, was carried out close to the Afghan border.

There was, however, some confusion over the timing of the two strikes.

The area is a stronghold of myrmidon commander Hafiz Gul Bahadar, who once had a peace agreement with the government, but has now seen a spate of bombings by jets as security forces move towards Dattakhel.

Military officials said that 30 soldiers, including two officers, had bit the dust since the army launched the Zarb-e-Azb operation in North Waziristan on June 15. More than 400 gunnies were killed, the officials said, though there has been no independent confirmation about the claim.

Three soldiers died in an ambush near Boya on Tuesday and two others in a gunbattle with gunnies in Mirali on the first day of the ground offensive in what once was a myrmidon hotbed, a security official said.

The military claimed it had cleared Miranshah and was now clearing Mirali in a phased manner.

Most gunnies have fled the town but fire-raids, including rocket and mortar attacks, continued, the official said.

Security forces are now moving on two fronts — westwards on Dattakhel road and eastwards in Mirali.

Though Mirali, like Miranshah, is now deserted, it still has remnants of gunnies here and there, sniping and attacking security forces, an official said, referring to the attack on Tuesday which resulted in the death of two soldiers.

More than 900,000 people have left North Waziristan. Several thousand others have taken refuge in Afghanistan.

According to Rooters, a high-ranking military official denied that the United States was responsible for the drone attack. He did not elaborate.

Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said the Pak military had no confirmation there had been a US drone strike.

Pakistain publicly condemns the US drones strikes saying they often kill civilians and are a violation of illusory sovereignty.

But some officials, including a former president, have said the military has secretly approved them in the past.
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India-Pakistan
Zarb-i-Azb operation: 23 militants killed in fresh strikes
2014-06-20
[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: At least 23 more suspected snuffies were killed in the ongoing Zarb-e-Azb operation launched by the Pakistain Army in North Wazoo tribal region, according to a statement issued by the Inter Services Public relations (ISPR) on its website.

At least 15 suspected snuffies were killed in Zartatangi mountain heights, east of Miranshah
... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...
are in North Waziristan tribal region late on Wednesday when one of the main suspected communication centers of snuffies was targeted by Cobra gunship helicopters of the Pakistain Army.

Meanwhile,
...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout Montefiore's foot was still stuck and the hound had completely soaked his uniform with slobber...
eight Uzbek snuffies who were planting improvised bombs (IEDs) on Miranshah-Mirali road were also killed near Miranshah by military snipers.

Security forces were also cordoning off residential areas sheltering suspected snuffies in North Wazirstan tribal region.

The military also claimed that several attempts by snuffies to flee from the cordoned off areas were foiled.

The ISPR statement further said that the evacuation of civil population from Miranshah and Ghulam Khan areas of the region had begun today, adding that check points had been established at various places where internally displaced persons IDPs were being provided all administrative support incl food items and medicine by security forces.

Moreover, an IDP camp was established at Bannu while the number of registration points at Saidgai post were increased to 20, including 10 for men and women, for speedy and organised evacuation.

The army launched its long-awaited major operation 'Zarb-e-Azb' in the tribal region a week after an attack on the airport in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
, deploying troops, tanks and jets to the area in the crackdown on the Taliban and other bully boys.
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India-Pakistan
Flurry of officials startles many in N. Waziristan
2011-06-04
[Dawn] The visits of senior civil and military officials to different areas of North Wazoo Agency and inauguration of development schemes after a long period surprised local residents here on Thursday.

Sources said that the visits were meant to convey a message that situation was quite normal and the residents were living peacefully.
Not that anyone believes it, given the news reports of an imminent invasion by the army of the Land of the Pure, but at least it keeps the politicians busy and out from underfoot.
Political Agent Yahya Khan Akhunzada along with Brigadier Azam Tareen and officials of different departments visited Miramshah, Mirali and several main villages and participated in the functions held to inaugurate development programmes in the areas.

According to media reports government has planned a military operation against Taliban and Al Qaeda gunnies in the tribal region.

During the past couple of years, officials of political administration had confined themselves to their offices and avoided visiting public places owing to insecurity. The political agent himself could not travel by road since militancy plagued the agency.

Residents said that after four years they saw bigwigs walking around in bazaars and villages in a relaxed mode without security.

The political agent went to Ghulam Khan and Saidgai areas where he inspected the site specified for a road that would link Indus Highway with the Afghan border. The project will cost Rs5 billion.

Later, he visited Mirali Town where he held meting with elder at the residence of Malik Sher Khan. He also attended a jirga in Miramshah village and met journalists in press club.

Mr Akhunzada on this occasion ruled out military operation in the area and claimed that exemplary peace prevailed in North Waziristan. He urged elders not to pay attention to the media reports about military action, saying that opening of Cadet College Razmak proved that situation was normal. The college was reopened early this week after two years.
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India-Pakistan
Maulvi Noor Mohammad shot dead
2010-03-08
In a surprising move in the militancy-stricken North Waziristan Agency, unknown assailants shot dead a senior Taliban commander, Maulvi Noor Mohammad, near Miramshah.

Official sources told The News by phone from Miramshah on Sunday that Maulvi Noor Mohammad was travelling in a car near Gora Qabrestan when he came under attack.

According to sources, he died on the spot and the attackers managed to flee the area. Maulvi Noor Mohammad, 40, belonged to Saidgai town, located near the border with Afghanistan's restive Khost province.

He was associated with the Hafiz Gul Bahadur-led Taliban militants but at the same time kept close ties with the Afghan Taliban and was reportedly taking part in the fight against the US-led troops in Afghanistan.

"He is the first important militant commander shot dead by unknown assailants in Waziristan where over 300 tribesmen have been killed during the past few years by unidentified people," said a security official.

Pleading anonymity, the official said no one had so far claimed responsibility for killing Maulvi Noor Mohammad, who himself once led a group of well-trained armed militants. He said it could be a targeted killing, as the tribesmen in North Waziristan generally believe that militants operating there are involved in kidnappings and blind murders in the region.

The official said kidnapping for ransom was the major source of resource generation for the militants operating in the lawless tribal areas along the Pak-Afghan border.

Our Kalaya correspondent adds: The body of a pro-government tribal elder, kidnapped last week, was found dumped in the Ferozkhel Mela area in the Orakzai Agency, tribal sources said on Sunday.

The sources said unidentified armed men had kidnapped tribal elder Malik Taj Muhammad from the Ferozkhel area last week. The kidnappers killed and dumped his beheaded body in the Ferozkhel Mela area without making any demand, the sources said.

About 23 pro-government elders hailing from the lower parts of the Orakzai Agency have been killed so far by the militants. Nearly 500 elders have left the agency due to the fear of being killed.
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India-Pakistan
Drone attack leaves 12 dead in N. Waziristan
2009-09-10
[Dawn] A US drone fired missiles into a house in Tabi Saidgai area of North Waziristan on Tuesday night, killing 12 people, most of them suspected militants. Local people said the missiles damaged the residence of one Maulvi Taib Shah who hailed from Lakki Marwat. It was not clear if Maulvi Taib was among those killed. A number of adjacent houses were also damaged in the attack.
Alas, poor Maulvi Talib. Titzup in the prime of life...
Some of the bodies, local people said, were charred beyond recognition. Three children and two women were among the dead, they added. The family was suspected of having links with Taliban militants.
Comes as a surprise, huh?
This was the second drone attack in the area in 24 hours. Five people were killed in a similar attack in Machikhel area of Mir Ali tehsil on Monday night.

Reuters adds: Nine or 10 militants were killed in the attack, intelligence officials said. They said the target of the missile strike was the house of a cleric near the Afghan border used as a militant hideout.
The holy man being Maulvi Talib...
'Nine to 10 militants have been killed. They are locals affiliated with the Haqqani group,' an intelligence official in the region told Reuters referring to veteran Afghan guerrilla commander Jalaluddin Haqqani.
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India-Pakistan
'US poised to bomb Pakistan'
2008-07-16
LONDON / ISLAMABAD: US troops in Afghanistan are massing close to the border with Pakistan, poised to launch bombing raids on suspected terrorist bases in the North Waziristan region, British and Pakistani newspapers reported Wednesday.

The Times said troops have been airlifted from the village of Lowara Mandi and that heavy artillery and armoured vehicles were also being moved into position for possible cross-border attacks on Pakistan.

The paper said US Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during a visit to Islamabad at the weekend, had told Pakistan's top civil and military leadership that the US could take unilateral military action if Pakistan were unable to stop cross-border attacks in Afghanistan. Mullen also said some elements within Pakistani security agencies could be helping insurgents operate from their bases in the border region, the paper quoted well-placed sources as saying.

The Times quoted an influential Pakistani army official as saying there were strong indications the US was ready to launch bombing raids against suspected Al-Qaeda and Taliban camps inside Pakistan.

The Pakistani newspaper The News quoted official and tribal sources in the North Waziristan area as saying NATO troops had started arriving near the border areas on Monday night. "Some of them had been brought in choppers and others by armoured personnel carriers. The troops had also shifted heavy arms and ammunition including tanks, heavy machine guns and artillery to the border," Haji Yaqub, a resident of the border town of Ghulam Khan, said.

The NATO troops have been deployed near the border towns of Ghulam Khan, Saidgai, Shawal and Mir Safar. "They started setting up bunkers very close to the border while gunship helicopters are continuously hovering over the border," said a man named Roohullah, a resident of the border town of Saidgai.

He said he had never before seen such a large deployment of foreign troops near the border. "For us, it's unusual as they are on the zero point," Roohullah said, adding that the foreign troops had not crossed the border thus far.

The News quoted its sources as saying NATO troops had dug trenches at Mughalgai near Zhawar, the training camp of Afghan Mujahideen commander Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqqani, in Khost near Pakistan's Saidgai town.

Another bunker was established at Gurbaz near Tarkhobi area of Khost, close to Pakistan's Ghulam Khan town. Trenches were also dug close to Mir Safar and Shawal towns of NWA.

NATO forces had planned to set up four new military camps along the border in the Taliban-dominated provinces of Khost and Paktika in Afghanistan, The News quoted its sources as saying. "They planned establishing four new military camps along the border and this latest deployment of the foreign troops was first step of the future planning," the sources added.

Meanwhile, Pakistani Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar has said that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's recent statements have provided the US-led NATO forces with an opportunity to deploy near the tribal areas. "When a responsible person like the prime minister has himself said that foreign militants were hiding in Pakistani tribal areas and could cause another 9/11 like disaster, then who will stop American forces from invading the country?" Omar wondered.
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India-Pakistan
"More than 100 terror camps" in operation in northwestern Pakistan
2008-07-13
By Bill Roggio

Al Qaeda continues to grow its network and expand its capabilities in northwestern Pakistan, US military and intelligence officials told The Long War Journal. The peace agreements have given the Taliban and al Qaeda time and space to re-establish their networks, which pose a threat not only to Pakistan, but the West as well.

Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and allied terrorists groups, collectively called al Qaeda and allied movements, or AQAM, by some in US military and intelligence circles, has set up a series of camps throughout the tribal areas and in the settled districts of the Northwest Frontier Province. "More than 100" terror camps of varying sizes and types are currently in operation in the region, a senior US military intelligence official told The Long War Journal. As of the summer of 2007, 29 terror camps were known to be operating in North and South Waziristan alone.

Some camps are devoted to training the Taliban's military arm, some train suicide bombers for attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, some focus on training the various Kashmiri terror groups, some train al Qaeda operatives for attacks in the West, and one serves as a training ground the Black Guard, the elite bodyguard for Osama bin Laden. A US Special Forces raid against the Black Guard camp in Danda Saidgai in North Waziristan, Pakistan in March 2006 resulted in the death of Imam Asad and several dozen members of the Black Guard. Asad was the camp commander, a senior Chechen al Qaeda commander, and associate of Shamil Basayev, the Chechen al Qaeda leader killed by Russian security forces in July 2006.

The growth in the number of camps US intelligence officials said Pakistan is outpacing Iraq as the destination for recruits, The New York Times reported earlier this week. Iraq is now seen as a lost cause by jihadists while Pakistan is now seen as al Qaeda's main effort. Recruits from Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East are heading to Pakistan.

Al Qaeda has also reformed Brigade 055, the infamous military arm of the terror group made up of Arab recruits. The unit is thought to be commanded by Shaikh Khalid Habib al Shami. Brigade 055 fought alongside the Taliban against the Northern Alliance and was decimated during the US invasion of Afghanistan. Several other Arab brigades have been formed, some consisting of former members of Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guards, an intelligence official told The Long War Journal.

A strike in South Waziristan

The deteriorating situation in Pakistan's tribal agencies is highlighted by the increased incidences of cross-border attacks over the past several months. Today, 11 Pakistanis, including nine soldiers, were wounded in an attack launched from Afghanistan into the lawless, Taliban-controlled tribal agency of South Waziristan.

Conflicting reports exist on the nature of the attack, and there is no confirmation on who carried it out. An unnamed Pakistani official told Reuters that "about 60 rounds fell in Angoor Adda," a town near Wana in South Waziristan. BBC reported more than 10 "shells" landed near a military outpost just hundreds of yards from the Afghan border. Xinhua and The News reported that the attack was conducted by US aircraft. The US military has not confirmed conducting an attack, but it rarely confirms such incidents.

The attack inside Pakistan appears to be a response to a Taliban attack on a base in Barmal in Paktika province in Afghanistan, according to several of the reports. In the past, the US military has conducted hot pursuit of Taliban forces as they flee across the border to Pakistan.

Afghan and Coalition forces have fought a series battles with the Taliban along the ill-defined border as Taliban have been attempting to overrun military bases and district centers in the region. US and Afghan forces have killed more than 200 Taliban fighters in the lopsided battles. Many of the Taliban attacks have been launched from inside North and South Waziristan in Pakistan.

The most controversial counterattack into Pakistan occurred as US forces engaged a Taliban force as it retreated from Afghanistan’s Kunar province across the border into Pakistan's Mohmand tribal agency on June 10. The engagement sparked an international incident. The US confirmed it killed eight Taliban fighters, while the Pakistani government said 11 Pakistani paramilitary troops were killed. The Pakistani government expressed outrage over the strike. But the incident sparked suspicions that the Pakistani paramilitary Frontier Corps either aided the Taliban or were part of the attack force.

The security situation in Pakistan's tribal agencies has spiraled downward since the government negotiated peace agreements with the Taliban in North and South Waziristan in 2006 and throughout early 2007. The agreements gave the Taliban and al Qaeda time and space to consolidate their hold in the tribal areas and in some settled districts of the Northwest Frontier Province. The Taliban renewed their efforts to destabilize the Afghan government and boldly conducted a series of military attacks in northwestern Pakistan and a bloody suicide campaign in the major cities.

The new Pakistani government has reinitiated peace negotiations with the Taliban in the northwest. Peace agreements have been signed with the Taliban in North Waziristan, Swat, Dir, Bajaur, Malakand, Mohmand, and Khyber. Negotiations are under way in South Waziristan, Kohat, and Mardan. The Taliban have violated the terms of these agreements in every region where accords have been signed.
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India-Pakistan
Unconfirmed: Dr. Amin al-Haq. head of Bin Laden's "Black Guard" Reported Captured
2008-01-07
Until it's confirmed we get the accordion lady.
A senior al Qaeda commander has been reported to have been captured in the Pakistani city of Lahore, according to a Pakistani newspaper. Dr. Amin al Haq, the security coordinator of Osama bin Laden’s Black Guard, “was apprehended from Lahore couple of days back,” The Nation reported, citing “credible Afghan sources.” Al Haq is said to be “under interrogation” at an undisclosed location.

The report of al Haq’s capture has not been confirmed, a senior intelligence official told The Long War Journal. US intelligence agencies are aware of the report.

Al Haq has a long pedigree with both the Taliban and al Qaeda. He was born in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, was educated as a physician, and practiced medicine in Pakistan. “He was associated with Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan headed by late Maulvi Younas Khalis, which joined the Taliban Movement in 1996,” The Nation reported. He “was also part of the Afghan delegation flown to Sudan in 1996 to bring Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan.”

On Dec. 19, 2000, al Haq was identified as a senior member of al Qaeda per United Nations resolution 1267. He accompanied Osama bin Laden during the 2001 battle at Tora Bora in Nangarhar province, and helped senior al Qaeda leaders escape the US and Afghan militia assault on the cave complex. During renewed fighting at Tora Bora in the summer of 2007, al Haq was reported to have been wounded and fled across the border into Pakistan's Kurram tribal agency.

As security coordinator for the Black Guard, it is believed al Haq would be in close proximity to Osama bin Laden. US intelligence believes Osama bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan’s tribal agencies, a claim the Pakistani government has denied. Many of the senior al Qaeda leader captured in Pakistan since Sept. 11, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Musab al Suri, have been detained in Pakistan’s major cities.
The last I heard, which was awhile ago, Binny was holed up in Chitral. However, I also believe he travels with relative freedom throughout Pakistain and at any given time he's as likely to be in Lahore or Peshawar or Multan as he is to be in Chitral.
Several senior al Qaeda leaders -- such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Saif al Adel, and Walid bin Attash -- rose through the ranks in al Qaeda by serving in the Black Guard. A Special Forces raid against the Black Guard camp in Danda Saidgai in North Waziristan, Pakistan in March 2006 resulted in the death of Imam Asad and several dozen members of the Black Guard. Asad was the camp commander, a senior Chechen al Qaeda commander, and associate of Shamil Basayev, the Chechen al Qaeda leader killed by Russian security forces in July 2006.
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India-Pakistan
Mystery blast kills 3 in Pakistan
2007-04-27
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least three suspected Islamist militants were killed and two wounded by an explosion in a Pakistani tribal region regarded as a hotbed of support for al Qaeda and the Taliban, officials said. Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, gave starkly differing accounts of what caused the blast in a house in Saidgai, a village 15 km (10 miles) north of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan. A senior military official said the militants were killed while making bombs.
The old "Red Wire Syndrome"
However, an intelligence official said the explosion was caused by a missile fired from a pilotless drone aircraft operated by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. "The missile was probably fired by a U.S. drone," he told Reuters. The intelligence official said four people were killed, including two Afghans and two Pakistanis.
Good shooting, if it happened
If it was a U.S. drone attack, it wouldn't be the first time Pakistani military officials have stuck by a version suggesting bomb materials in a house used by militants had exploded. Pakistan's public stance is that it will not allow its territorial sovereignty to be violated by foreign forces stationed in Afghanistan.

The explosion happened in a house surrounded by a walled compound next to a religious school, or madrasa, run by a pro-Taliban cleric, Maulana Noor Mohammad. The intelligence officer said Mohammad used it as a "guest house."
So either a "work accident" or "Hellfire" is a real possibility
In January last year, a helicopter gunship attack killed eight of the cleric's family, and two months later Pakistani helicopter gunships and ground forces launched an attack in Saidgai, that killed around 45 militants, mostly foreigners.
So it's likely the targeting data on his home is well known. 50/50 on either option
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