Pakistan thwarts widespread terror attack

CNN:

Pakistani authorities have launched a massive crackdown on terror groups that they say were planning numerous suicide attacks, including in the country's largest city of Karachi.

At least 24 suspects were arrested Sunday and Monday, including three people carrying suicide jackets and explosives inside a bus station, a police official said. The three were seized early Monday after police raided a bus station in Sargodha, a city located about 190 kilometers (120 miles) south of Islamabad in Pakistan's Punjab province.

The suspects were plotting to attack two Shiite mosques, police stations, and a Norwegian telecommunications company in Punjab, according to district police officer Usman Anwar. Three other suspects linked to the plot were arrested hours later in Sargodha, he said.

The arrests come a day after the Pakistani Taliban's chief in Punjab was arrested, along with five others, according to Anwar.

The Taliban in Punjab have direct ties to Baitullah Mehsud, the former head of the Pakistan Taliban, and have been accused of sectarian murders in Punjab. Pakistan and U.S. officials contend Mehsud was killed in an August 5 drone attack in Waziristan at his father-in-law's house. The Taliban claim Mehsud is alive but ill.

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Pakistani authorities also said they thwarted planned attacks in the southern port city of Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and the capital of Sindh province. Five suspected members of the Pakistani Taliban were seized Sunday in Karachi, along with suicide vests and a large quantity of ammunition, according to the city's police superintendent Mohammed Fayyaz Khan.

Also, seven members of a banned militant group with strong ties to al Qaeda and the Taliban were arrested Sunday with explosives and narcotics in Karachi, authorities said.

The group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, was planning to conduct attacks in Karachi, according to Karachi Police Chief Waseem Ahmad.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is considered a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department, and was banned by then-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in 2001. It is described as Pakistan's "most extreme and feared militant group" by IHS Jane's, a provider of defense and security information. The banned Sunni militant group, which began in the 1990s, is a "key ally" of the Taliban and al Qaeda, according to Jane's.

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The recent arrests in Karachi and in Punjab are part of a broader crackdown on terror groups that have extended their reach outside Pakistan's volatile North West Frontier Province and adjacent tribal regions. That is where Pakistani security forces continue to battle a strong Taliban presence.

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These arrest suggest significant intelligence has been obtained from recent arrest of Taliban leaders. It appears to be having a cascading effect and we may see even more arrest as a result of these. The disarray of the Taliban in Pakistan appears to be growing.

I suspect that this disarray will eventually have an impact in Afghanistan as the Taliban there loses sanctuaries and support bases in Pakistan. It should give the US and its allies more opportunities to destroy the Taliban in that country.