Terrorismo en Paquistan

[Esteban]

Un buen portal de noticias sobre la inestabilidad en la zona surasiática

http://www.satp.org/default.asp

[Esteban]

Noticia extraña: un centenar de soldados paquistaníes secuestrados por los insurgentes tribales al interceptar un convoy de camiones militares

Fuentes oficiales cifran en más de 100 los soldados paquistaníes secuestrados por milicianos islamistas

ISLAMABAD, 30 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Más de 100 soldados paquistaníes han sido secuestrados por milicianos islamistas que tendieron una emboscada contra un convoy del Ejército en la conflictiva región del noroeste de Pakistán, fronterizo con Afganistán, según informaron fuentes oficiales.

Los militares gubernamentales viajaban en 16 camiones militares, realizaban tareas de escolta para garantizar la seguridad de varios camiones que trasladaban alimentos entre Wana, la principal ciudad de Waziristán Sur y Ladha, otra ciudad en la región, según confirmaron dos agentes de Inteligencia que pidieron el anonimato.

Uno de ellos aseguró que al menos 25 soldados fueron secuestrados según informes preliminares, cifra que, dijo, ha sido actualizada hasta alcanzar el centenar, mientras que el otro agente elevó la cifra a entre 100 y 120 los soldados capturados por milicianos islamistas.

Ambos coincidieron en que no hay ninguna prueba de que se produjera un enfrentamiento ni que nadie saliera herido del incidente, aunque subrayaron que los soldados han sido secuestrados y sus armas decomisadas por los milicianos.

Otro soldado del Ejército en Islamabad confirmó el incidente, pero no facilitó cifra de secuestrados. "Confirmamos que que varios vehículos militares han sufrido una emboscada, y que decenas de nuestros soldados están desaparecidos", sin dar más detalles.

Por su parte, otra fuente de Inteligencia en Waziristán Sur explicó que alrededor de 100 soldados partían de Wana por carretera cuando cientos de milicianos les sorprendieron y les atacaron. "Ya se han desplegado esfuerzos para localizar y rescatar a los soldados desaparecidos", aseguró.

Este secuestro se produce dos días después de que milicianos liberaran a 18 soldados del Ejército y un funcionario del Ejecutivo de Islamabad, secuestrados a principios de mes en la misma región.

pakistan, soldiers, kidnapped, world-newsMunir Ahmad, AP Writer

ISLAMABAD — Islamic militants ambushed a large convoy of military vehicles in troubled northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, kidnapping more than 100 soldiers after seizing their weapons, officials said.

The soldiers were traveling in 16 trucks and providing security for trucks carrying food between Wana, the main town in South Waziristan and Ladha, another town in the region, two intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity because of agency policy.

One of the officials said nearly 100 soldiers were kidnapped, while the other said there were between 100 and 120 soldiers taken. There was no indication if there was a battle or if anyone was wounded in the incident, they said.

"We confirm that several military vehicles were ambushed, and scores of our soldiers are missing, but we have no further details," said an army official based near the capital, Islamabad, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue.

The reports could not be independently confirmed because the is remote and dangerous.

A senior intelligence official in South Waziristan said about 100 soldiers were leaving Wana by road when hundreds of militants attacked them.

"Efforts are under way to trace and rescue the missing soldiers," he said.

The hostage-taking comes two days after militants freed 18 soldiers and a Pakistani government official who were kidnapped in the same region earlier this month.

Pakistan is a key ally of the U.S. and has deployed 90,000 troops to the region along the Afghan border, where American officials believe there has been a resurgence in al-Qaida and Taliban militants.

The kidnappings come as President Gen. Pervez Musharraf faces increasing pressure from Washington to do more to secure its borders from insurgents crossing into Afghanistan to launch attacks against Afghan and international troops.

[Esteban]

Noticias contradictorias; un senador dice que los soldados no están retenidos, sino bajo protección de las tribus

Security men protected by Mahsud tribes : Saleh Shah
Updated at 2345 PST
WANA: Senator Maulana Saleh Shah of South Waziristan said that about 150 soldiers, included in two contingents of the security forces going from Wana and Shakai to Ladha have been stopped due to damaged bridge on the way and the Mahsud tribes have provided them protection.

Senator Saleh Shah told Geo news that the Mahsud tribes have provided protection to about 150 security personnel in the area consists of wide forests.

He said that there were misunderstandings due to closure of the road at the damaged bridge in Sarwangai and the security men were not kidnapped or made hostage.
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/updates.asp?id=28384

[Esteban]

Con respecto a las tropas, parece ser que si que están de alguna manera retenidas y que están acordando liberar a milicianos a cambio de que se les permita regresar. Lo noticiable hoy son unos atentados muy selectivos en Rawalpindi contra funcionarios del sector nuclear según unas fuentes, y del ISI según otras y contra un vehículo militar que al parecer llevaría oficiales al Cuartel General en dicha ciudad.

RAWALPINDI: Two suicide bombings Tuesday ripped through a military bus and a market near the Pakistani army headquarters, killing 25 people and injuring over 60 others in the latest attacks aimed at destabilising President Pervez Musharraf.

The bombers struck minutes apart in sensitive areas of the garrison city of Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, a coordinated strike that officials said bore the hallmarks of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network and the Taliban.

The Pakistani military and the government have suffered a string of attacks since the raid of the pro-Taliban Red Mosque in Islamabad in July, deepening the pressure on key US ally Musharraf amid a mounting political crisis.

"Initial investigations show the two were carried out by suicide bombers,"
interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said. Army spokesman

Major General Waheed Arshad said 25 people were killed and 68 were wounded. The first bombing ripped apart a bus that was taking defence ministry employees to work during the morning rush-hour, leaving 17 of them dead, officials said.

"It looks like a man boarded the bus at the last minute and he was not a defence employee," who then appeared to have blown himself up, Interior Secretary Kamal Shah said.

The white 40-seater bus was almost completely destroyed by the blast, with its roof ripped open and windows blown out. Rescue workers cut open the wreckage to pull out injured people and dead bodies.

"There was a huge bang, then I saw the bus in a mangled heap. Body parts were scattered across the road and there was blood everywhere," witness Mohammad Tahir said.

A police source said the bus was carrying employees from Pakistan's premier spy agency in the fight against Al-Qaeda, the ISI or Inter-Services Intelligence, but this was not confirmed by other officials.

The second suicide blast about three kilometres (two miles) away in the city's crowded Royal Artillery bazaar was timed to target army officers who use the route to reach the military headquarters, security officials said. At least eight people were killed in that blast, but it was not clear if any military personnel were among them, Shah said. Other officials said the attacker might have been on a motorcycle. A burnt bike was found at the scene.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either blast. But at least 60 soldiers and 250 militants have been killed in Islamic extremist violence since the military's crackdown on the Red Mosque, which itself left more than 100 people dead.

Musharraf has been under mounting pressure to tackle Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants whom US officials allege have regrouped in Pakistan's troubled tribal areas bordering Afghanistan since fleeing there after 9/11.

The sophistication of Tuesday's near simultaneous blasts "shows an Al-Qaeda signature," a top intelligence official said on condition of anonymity, adding that the "perpetrators had good intelligence about their targets."

He said there was evidence of other Al-Qaeda plots in Pakistan, including two massive car bombs that were captured in northwestern Pakistan last month that were more high-tech than those normally used by their Taliban allies.

The army is still trying to secure the safety of more than 150 soldiers whom militants say they abducted late last week in the tribal area of South Waziristan.

The military insists the troops were "trapped" amid a dispute between the rebels and local tribesmen, but the insurgents say they will not be freed until Pakistan pulls all soldiers from the area.

Pakistan sent troops into the tribal zone to track down Al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels who fled the fall of the hardline Taliban regime after the US-led military response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Musharraf not only faces a fight against extremism but is also trying for a power-sharing deal with ex-premier Benazir Bhutto to end a political crisis sparked by his suspension of Pakistan's chief justice earlier this year.

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/updates.asp?id=28641

Govt frees 100 tribesmen, opens Wana-Tank highway

* Baitullah Mehsud puts conditions for release of abducted soldiers

Staff Report

WANA/GHALANAI: The government on Monday freed more than a 100 arrested tribesmen and opened the main highway to meet some of the demands made by the Taliban for the release of around 200 kidnapped soldiers in South Waziristan, but the soldiers have not yet been freed, officials said.

In Mohmand Agency, a government deadline for the release of 10 paramilitary soldiers held hostage by the militants passed without any significant response from the captors and a tribal jirga was still negotiating their safe return, Mohmand Agency Chief Administrator Dr Kazim Niaz told a news briefing in Ghalanai.

“We have no details whether the jirga has persuaded the Taliban militants to release the soldiers or not,” a senior government official in Wana told Daily Times asking not to be named.

Military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said there was no progress yet, but hoped that the Mehsud jirga would help secure the safe return of the soldiers who went missing on August 30. Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud claimed responsibility for their kidnapping.

A source told Daily Times that Baitullah had warned that he would behead five soldiers every day if his demands were not met.

The official in Wana said the release of the arrested tribesmen and opening of the highway had stopped Baitullah from carrying out the executions for the time being.

Dr Kazim Niaz told journalists in Ghalanai that the government would take action if the tribal jirga failed to secure the release of the 10 paramilitary soldiers.

Tribal sources said the Mohmand grand jirga experienced an internal rift with accusations against the Saafi tribe of “non-cooperation”.

Online adds: Mehsud has put forward four conditions for the release of the abducted security officials, Senator Saleh Shah told a TV channel.

He said the condition are the release of 15 to 18 Mehsud people arrested by the security officials; ban on any military convoy movement on the Jandola-Wana road until an atmosphere of confidence is restored; the withdrawal of the army from Mehsud tribe area and the release of 300 men, women and children arrested by the army; and that there will be no future disturbance of Mahsud tribe areas.

Shah said the political administration and security officials had agreed that the arrested people of the Mehsud tribe would be released.

The rest of the conditions will be considered after discussions with high officials, he said.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.as ... 2007_pg1_4

[Esteban]

Foto de los efectos de los atentados

[Esteban]

Atentado doble contra Benazir Butto a la llegada de ésta a Karachi; al parecer, un explosivo a distancia, y un suicida. El coche blindado la ha protegido, mientras que los muertos llegan ya a 70. En este enlace lo cuentan casi en tiempo real. (muy buen blog sobre Pakistán, por cierto)

http://pakistanpolicy.com/2007/10/18/br ... os-convoy/

[pagano]

Se habla ya de 139 muertos y más de 500 heridos.
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2007/10/1 ... 1192777411
Otros medios hablan de al menos dos explosiones contra la multitud que festejaba el regreso de la Bhuto.

[kilo009]

Miren lo que ha pasado en Swat, al noroeste de Pakistán:

Milicias afines a los talibán secuestraron esta madrugada dos comisarías de Policía en la provincia de Swat, en el noroeste de Pakistán, según informó un portavoz de los insurgentes, sin causar heridos ni víctimas mortales

Según informó Sirajudin, portavoz habitual de las milicias, los guerrilleros obligaron a los policías a abandonar la primera comisaría que tomaron. Horas después y 10 kilómetros al norte, los milicianos convencieron a otros 60 miembros de las fuerzas de seguridad a abandonar la estación policial.

De momento, ninguna fuente gubernamental ha confirmado la toma sobre las dos comisarías, que tiene lugar un día después de que los extremistas exhibieran imágenes de 48 hombres que presuntamente eran tropas del Gobierno que habían decidido rendirse.

[Esteban]

Es evidente que las tropas paquistaníes están muy desmoralizadas y que las tribus rebeldes controlan sin grandes problemas sus regiones autónomas. Esto puede provocar que EEUU se ponga nervioso y autorice alguna acción contundente (léase ataques aéreos) si localiza buenos blancos, sobre todo ahora, que hay un fuerte ataque general de los talibanes sobre el sur y oeste de Afganistán.

Según Bill Roggio, la situación es la siguiente en la FATA (rojo, zonas controladas por la insurgencia, en morado, zonas controladas prácticamente por la insurgencia, y en amarillo, zonas amenazadas por la insurgencia).

[Esteban]

Pues nada, ya lo tenemos aquí; Musharraf declara el estado de emergencia. Casualmente este lunes el Tribunal Supremo decidía sobre su candidatura a la presidencia.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiap ... emergency/