Al Qaeda, Taliban offensive heats up in tribal areas

NY Times:

In the deadliest suicide bombing in Pakistan since January, 24 paramilitary soldiers were killed and 26 other people were wounded Saturday near Miram Shah, the headquarters of the restive North Waziristan’s tribal region.

Rocket attacks on government and security installations surged Saturday in different parts of the North-West Frontier Province. An attempt to detonate a car bomb outside a bank here failed.

The deadly surge in violence occurred barely a day after the Interior Ministry in Islamabad announced the end of Operation Silence after a bloody raid to get at militants holed up in the Red Mosque, known here as the Lal Masjid, and the adjoining seminary.

A military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, said all those killed were from the paramilitary force, and five from the military were among those wounded.

He declined to speculate whether the attack had been linked to the end of the Red Mosque siege or to the military takeover of checkpoints that had been abandoned after an agreement with militants last September.

“It could be anything,” General Arshad said, adding that the cause of the spike in violence was being investigated further.

The suicide bombing occurred in the wake of threats by local militants of further attacks if the army does not vacate the checkpoints on Sunday.

In a brazen suicide bombing on Friday, a teenager posing as a tribal policeman entered the heavily guarded official compound of the administrator of North Waziristan in Miram Shah and blew himself up after having been stopped by local guards.

Three people died in that bombing, but the administrator survived.

The fate of the agreement reached last September between local leaders and the government of Pakistan now hangs in the balance. Under that deal, the Pakistani Army agreed to withdraw from the region and turn all control over to tribal elders. In return, Taliban and Qaeda forces sheltered in Waziristan were supposed to stay out of Afghanistan.

Members of the tribal peace committee set up to monitor the implementation of the agreement resigned in May. They have accused the government of violating the terms of the agreement after a raid on a suspected militant hide-out.

Local residents said that after the suicide bombing on Saturday, militants abandoned their office in Miram Shah and were no longer seen patrolling the local market.

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The fact is the bad guys used this agreement to increase attacks on Afghanistan and build up anti government forces against Pakistan. They operated in bad faith from the beginning and Pakistan was foolish to believe them to begin with. The army is going back in becasue the government uncovered evidence at the Red Mosque that the leaders of the uprising were acting on orders of al Qaeda from this region.

Bill Roggio who was one of the first to report on the enemy take over of the tribal areas has more on the recent enemy offensive against Pakistan.

The BBC say the tribal leaders have said the truce is off. This is pretty funny from a group who never horned it in good faith to being with.