Pakistan identifies al Qaeda and Taliban links to Marriot murders

Bill Roggio:

Two senior al Qaeda and Taliban-linked Pakistani terrorists are suspected of being behind the Sept. 20 bombing at the Marriott hotel in Islamabad. The deadly attack killed more than 50 Pakistanis and foreigners and wounded more than 270, and destroyed the once-popular hotel.

In recent press reports, Qari Saifullah Akhtar, the leader of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, and Qari Mohammad Zafar, a leader of the Laskhar-e-Jhangvi, have both been implicated as being the mastermind of the Marriott bombing. Both men have extensive ties to al Qaeda and the Taliban, and have been in Pakistani custody until recently.

Akhtar is believed to be behind the attacks because "the method of the bombing and the nature of explosives resemble four previous vehicle bomb attacks, carried out by suicide bombers [from the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami] in Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi" earlier this year, The News reported. Several of the bombing are thought to have been conducted to secure the release of Akhtar, who was in Pakistani custody at the time.

Zafar has been implicated by Pakistani intelligence after some of his operatives were detained in Punjab and interrogated. The connection to Zafar was established from phone numbers found on the mobiles of some of those arrested in Punjab,” Adnkronos International reported. "Zafar is behind the planning, arrangement of transportation and procurement of explosives for the attack against the Marriott Hotel on 20 September," an anonymous security official told the news service.

US intelligence believes both Akhtar and Zafar are involved in the operation. "Akhtar is the operational leader while Zafar is the tactical commander," a senior US military intelligence source told The Long War Journal on the condition of anonymity. "We believe Akhtar chose the target and provided the expertise for the bomb, while Zafar provided the muscle" to carry out the operation. US intelligence considers both men to be dangerous and effective leaders.

Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other Pakistani terror groups have used the Laskhar-e-Jhangvi to execute operations inside Pakistan for years, the source stated. "Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Laskhar-e-Jhangvi, and other Pakistani terror groups merged with al Qaeda years ago," the source stated.

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There is much more. Roggio appears to have good sourcing on this story. The real question is going to be whether Pakistan will take effective action against these people, They have been killing a lot of Taliban recently, but most of the hits on leadership targets have been by the US.