What's new

Operation Zarb-e-Azb | Updates, News & Discussions.

"Modern arms used by NATO"

:omghaha:

Let paranoia and blameshifting be my best friend. Anything to try to save our former Jihadi friends from Madarsas or as some would say the angry brothers on the mountain. Hence it should be everyone from Americans, Indians to Martians, but not the hyper religious segment looking to reinstate true Islam here, no sir, that is out of bounds. You know the worst part? Most of the people doing it aren't even consciously aware of it, its just a defense mechanism at play seeing the stain on the religion and countrymen.
 
Let paranoia and blameshifting be my best friend. Anything to try to save our former Jihadi friends from Madarsas or as some would say the angry brothers on the mountain. Hence it should be everyone from Americans, Indians to Martians, but not the hyper religious segment looking to reinstate true Islam here, no sir, that is out of bounds. You know the worst part? Most of the people doing it aren't even consciously aware of it, its just a defense mechanism at play seeing the stain on the religion and countrymen.

It's aggravated by the personal affront these people feel when you put to them the possibility that the jihadis may have it wrong and that maybe, just maybe the Americans, the Indians and the Martians may have a point worth considering.

It's almost as if you've questioned their faith or robbed them of their honour. There's no having a healthy discussion with them. They're either right or they're insulted and therein lies our dilemma.

Imperceptive, sentimental dullards. The lot of them. The only way I see them contributing intellectually is by ceasing to exist, so that we have one less airhead to counter.
 
Last edited:
Drone Strike
  • On November 26, a U.S. drone strike killed at least six suspected militants and injured three others in the Kund Sar area of Shawal sub-district, North Waziristan Agency. The strike occurred in an area where militants affiliated with the Haqqani Network, the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, and Uzbek militants are known to operate.[1]
Militancy
  • On November 25, Pakistan military airstrikes killed 20 militants and injured eight others in the Doga Mada Khel area of North Waziristan near the Afghan border. According to an intelligence official, seven of those killed belonged to the Haqqani Network while the rest were affiliated with the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group. A local Haqqani commander was reportedly among those killed. According to a November 26 report in The News, TTP militants were also among those killed in the airstrikes. [2]
  • In an update to the November 24 drone strike in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province that narrowly missed TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah, a report in the The News on November 26 claims that five senior members of Pakistani Taliban close to Fazlullah were killed in the drone strike. The militants reportedly belonged to the Swat Valley. The report further claims that there was confusion on whether Fazlullah had actually survived the attack. According to a TTP Jamatul Ahrar militant commander, Mullah Fazlullah and his spokesman Mohammad Khurasani were present in the area for a few days before the strike and that unsuccessful attempts were made by TTP Jamatul Ahrar to contact Fazlullah and his spokesman after the drone strike.[3]
  • On November 25, militants opened fire at security forces during a search operation, killing one soldier and injuring another, in the Shahkas area of Jamrud sub-district in Khyber Agency.[4]
  • On November 26, unidentified gunmen killed four polio vaccination workers and injured three others near the Easter Bypass area in Quetta. Following the attack the Lady Health Workers association announced that they were boycotting the polio campaign in Balochistan.[5]
  • On November 25, unknown militants detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) and fired on a vehicle carrying police commandos with the Special Protection Group near Korangi Crossing, Karachi. The blast killed one person and injured five others. No security personnel were injured.[6]
  • According to a November 26 report in The News, the October 13 Karachi jailbreak attempt was planned by al Qaeda and Ansarul Aseer, the specialty jailbreak branch of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The report further claims that some jail officials were involved in the plan and that financial assistance of approximately $ 880,000 was transferred to the militants from Afghanistan to execute the plan.[7]
 
Drone Strikes
  • In an update to a story reported on November 25, two of the five Terhik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP commanders killed in a November 24 drone strike in Nazyan area of Nangarhar province have been identified as Zarqavi and Assad Mehsud. All five commanders were reportedly close to TTP chief Maulana Fazlullah. Fazlullah is believed to have been the target of the November 24 strike but was not killed in the attack, despite rumors to the contrary.[1]
  • In an update to a story reported November 26, The News reported that a U.S. drone strike killed at least eight suspected militants and injured two others in Kund Sar village, 40 miles south of Miram Shah, North Waziristan Agency. The strike occurred in an area where militants affiliated with the Haqqani Network, the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, and Uzbek militants are known to operate.[2]
  • kill them all by any means.....
 
Militancy
  • On November 28, Pakistan security forces killed 11 militants and destroyed five hideouts in airstrikes in the Tor Darra, Sur Kas, Sra Vela, and Wacho Wany areas of Kuki Khel in the Tirah Valley, Khyber Agency. According to official sources, eight of the militants killed belonged to the Tariq Afridi militant group.[8]
  • On November 29, security forces killed two TTP commanders in a clash in the Lashora area of Jamrud sub-district, Khyber Agency. TTP sources denied claims that one of its commanders, Wajid Abu Bakr, had been killed.[9]
  • On November 28, Jundullah claimed responsibility for a November 26 attack near the Eastern Bypass of Quetta that killed four polio vaccination workers and injured three others.[10]
  • On December 1, security forces seized a truck carrying around 5,000 kilograms of explosives attempting to enter Quetta, Balochistan. Separately, security forces also conducted raids in the Quetta, Panjgur and Zhob areas of Balochistan and recovered weapons including landmines, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), rocket launchers, mortars and rifles.[11]
  • On November 30, militants ambushed Frontier Corps (FC) personnel, killing one and injuring two others, in Kech district, Balochistan. Militants used an RPG in the attack.[12]
  • On November 28, a roadside IED killed two FC personnel and injured three others in Phase-3, Hayatabad, Peshawar.[13]
  • On November 28, a remote controlled IED was detonated, targeting an anti-Taliban militia chief from Tank, Gul Islam, at the Tank-Wana road intersection near Gara Mhito, Tank district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Gul Islam’s bodyguard was injured in the attack but Gul was himself unhurt.[14]
  • On November 29, unknown attackers injured three Pakistan Rangers in a grenade attack at a Rangers check post in Kamaila Stop, Lyari, Karachi. Security personnel believe the attackers were gang members from Lyari.[15]
  • On November 29, unidentified attackers killed a child and injured five others in a grenade attack on a police vehicle in Hyderabad, Sindh.[16]

Drone Strike
  • On December 2, a U.S. drone strike killed six militants in the Renay-Parchao area of Afghanistan which borders Pakistan’s Khyber Agency. According to sources, some key militants belonging to the Swat chapter of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were among those killed.[1]
Militancy
  • On December 2, Pakistan military airstrikes killed at least 17 militants in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan. According to intelligence sources, some foreign militants including five Uzbeks, and two Haqqani Network militants were among those killed.[2]
  • On December 2, militants attacked a security checkpost in the Aka Khel area of the Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency. Security forces killed four militants and injured six others in a retaliatory attack. The militants reportedly belonged to the Lashkar-e-Islam group.[3]
  • On December 2, security forces repulsed an attack by militants on a checkpost in the Shirin Dara area of Orakzai Agency. Twelve militants were killed in the attack and several injured.[4]
  • On December 2, an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated as an elected legislator’s vehicle passed by on Joint road in Quetta. The legislator was unhurt but two bystanders were wounded.[5]
  • On December 2, police forces conducted a raid and recovered 100 kilograms of explosives in Orangi town, Karachi. The police also recovered mobile phones, police uniforms, batteries, suicide jackets, hand grenades, pistols, government number plates and remote detonators.[6]
 
The terrorists have caused enough chaos and damage throughout the Af/Pak region in the last decade. The terrorists take full advantage of any miscommunication between our nations (Pakistan, Afghanistan, and U.S.) and continue to press ahead with their radical agenda. The recent meetings between our officials focused on the importance of shared cooperation and coordination between our nations. We firmly believe on the importance of working together to negate the common threat of terrorism. We have been able to capture and kill some of the top terrorist leaders through each other's assistance. It is no secret that the terrorists' chain of command runs across the borders, and they feel the impact of counter terrorism simultaneously. On that note, we restate what Commander of the ISAF Force Joint Command (IJC), Lieutenant General Joseph Anderson, said recently: "That has [referring to the effectiveness of Operation Zarb-e-Azb] very much disrupted their efforts here [in Afghanistan] and has caused them to be less effective in terms of their ability to pull off an attack in Kabul."


Ali Khan
Digital Engagement Team, USCENTCOM
 
Militancy
  • According to a December 3 Express Tribune report, U.S. authorities have reportedly agreed to increase airstrikes and drone attacks on Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants sheltering in Afghanistan. Pakistani officials claim that TTP militants use the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan as launching pads for attacks on Pakistani security forces along the Pak-Afghan border. Pakistan Army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif reportedly discussed the issue with senior American military and administration officials during his visit to the U.S.[1]
  • On December 3, the Pakistan military killed 15 militants in airstrikes the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan. Two TTP commanders were killed in the airstrikes.[2]
  • On December 2, security forces killed 11 militants in clashes in the Aka Khel area of Khyber Agency and Kalaya area of Orakzai Agency.[3]
  • In an update to a story reported on December 2, The News reported that security forces killed 13 militants during a militant attack on a security checkpost in the Dars Jumaat area of Aka Khel, Khyber Agency.[4]
  • On December 2, Levies Forces recovered eight bullet-ridden bodies of suspected Lashkar-e-Islam militants from the Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency.[5]
  • On December 3, militant gunmen killed two policemen in the Shalkot area of Quetta.[6]
  • On December 3, an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated at Kahi Bazaar in Hangu, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. No casualties were reported. [7]

Militancy
  • According to a December 4 Reuters report, Pakistani Taliban militants hiding in Afghanistan are being weakened by an increase in targeted U.S. drone strikes and a nascent rebellion by tribesmen against the Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan’s Kunar province. The report further claims that drone strikes and tensions with tribesmen have forced Pakistani Taliban militants to move from small Afghan towns to seek refuge in mountainous border areas. [1]
  • On December 2, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Muhammad Khurasani posted a message on Facebook in Urdu, addressing the people of Gilgit-Baltistan in Azad Kashmir. Khurasani claimed that the recent statement by Pakistani Information Minister Parvez Rashid stating that Gilgit-Baltistan is legally not a part of Pakistan, reflects the mentality of the Pakistani elite. Khurasani further declared that the people of the region would never be able to enjoy the same rights as the people of Punjab and Sindh and encouraged them to reject the government. [2]
  • On December 4, Pakistani Air Force airstrikes killed 18 militants in the Mada Khel area of Datta Khel sub-district in North Waziristan.[3]
  • According to a December 4 report in The News, six Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) militants were killed and ten Tauheed-ul-Islam (TI) anti-Taliban militiamen were injured in clashes in the Nari Baba area of the Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency. According to the report, LI and TTP militants jointly attacked members of Tauheed-ul-Islam. [4]
  • On December 4, an improvised explosive device (IED) killed at least one person and injured 13 others near a market in the Satellite Town area of Quetta.[5]
  • On December 3, gunmen on motorcycles killed one policeman and injured another in the Hazarganji area of Quetta.[6]
  • On December 4, an IED detonated near a Frontier Corps (FC) convoy in the Sangani Sarmin area of Turbat district in Balochistan. No casualties were reported.[7]
  • On December 4, gunmen shot dead a school headmaster in Gwadar district, Balochistan.[8]
  • On December 4, FC personnel foiled major terror bids during two different raids in the Mastung and Chaman areas of Balochistan. Security forces conducted a raid in the Rehman Kahol area of Chaman and recovered over 1000 kilograms of explosive materials during the raid. The forces also conducted a raid in the Kanak area of Mastung and recovered thousands ammunition rounds, a motorcycle and a laptop.[9]
  • On December 4, a remote controlled IED killed one and injured two others in the Karkanri area of Nawagai sub-district in Bajaur Agency.[10]
Foreign Affairs
  • According to a December 4 Associated Press report, Pakistani authorities are digging a trench along the Pak-Afghan border in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. FC personnel claim that the 10-foot wide, 8-foot deep trench will control the smuggling of drugs, arms and ammunition across the border, in addition to stopping the infiltration of militants and illegal immigrants. Afghanistan has never accepted the 2,640-kilometer-long border with Pakistan and neither have the tribal communities that inhabit the region.[11]

Drone Strikes
  • According to a December 5 report in The News, the U.S. has reportedly intensified drone strikes against Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Mullah Fazlullah after the TTP chief was recently tagged as a “common enemy” of the U.S. and Pakistan. Fazlullah had escaped to Afghanistan in 2009 and has been carrying out operations against Pakistani forces from Afghanistan’s Nuristan province since then. A December 5 report in AP further claims that an increase in drone strikes targeting militant groups like the TTP is an indication of improving relations between the two countries which had suffered following the 2011 U.S. raid that killed al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden.[5]
  • On December 4, Pakistani foreign office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam condemned the U.S. drone that took place on December 3 in the Madda Khel area of North Waziristan. Aslam also reiterated Pakistan’s position that drone strikes are counterproductive and a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan.[6]
Militancy
  • In an update on a story reported on December 4 by The News, a remote controlled IED killed three people in the Karkanri area of Nawagai sub-district in Bajaur Agency.[7] As reported by The News on December 5, security forces arrested 155 suspects along the Afghan border in the Ash Khel area of Bajaur Agency.[8]
  • On December 4, an IED exploded killing two members of Tauheed-ul-Islam (TI), an anti-Taliban militia, in the Narai Baba area of the Tirah Valley, Khyber Agency.[9]
  • On December 5, a militant rocket attack killed one soldier and injured six others in the Orakzai Agency headquarters of Kalaya.[10]
 
Adnan el Shukrijuma was a member of the core Al Qaeda leadership killed on Saturday.. (ISPR)
6/12/2014
5482ba9607ddc.jpg
 
i just watched that taliban video ambushing Pak Army,many soldiers are lying red and dead in blood.Why on the face of earth would our soldiers be moving in those naked pick ups in such dangerous areas to be slaughtered.This need to be addressed,atleast they should be provided some Humvees type alternative.Of Billions wasted in fat generals vellas and allowances,some sum could be allocated to save the lives of ground soldiers.If this is how we take care of our soldiers,they will loose all their morale.
 
Top Al Qaeda leader killed in South Waziristan: ISPR

Dawn.com | Zahir Shah Sherazi
Updated about an hour ago
5482ba9607ddc.jpg

Al Qaeda leader Adnan el Shukrijuma. - Photo courtesy: Wikipedia
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan army on Saturday said a top Al Qaeda leader Adnan el Shukrijuma was killed early morning in the Shinwarsak region of South Waziristan Agency.

A statement issued by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said Shukrijuma had moved in this area to hide in a compound from North Waziristan Agency due to the ongoing Zarb-i-Azb operation.

"His accomplice and local facilitator were also killed in the raid," the statement added. Shukrijuma is the most senior al-Qaeda member ever killed by the Pakistani military.

The statement says Adnan el Shukrijuma was a member of the core Al Qaeda leadership and was in charge of all external operations of Al Qaeda. During the raid, a soldier was also killed and another injured.

The Pakistan Army had launched Operation Zarb-i-Azb in June against foreign and local terrorists who were hiding in sanctuaries in North Waziristan.

The comprehensive operation was launched a week after militants made a brazen insurgent attack on the country's busiest airport in Karachi.





Adnan el Shukrijuma


According to a Reuters report from 2010, 39-year-old Shukrijuma was among the five men charged with plotting to bomb New York City's subway system and attack an unidentified target in Britain under orders from Al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan.

Adnan El Shukrijumah, Adis Medunjanin, Abid Naseer, Tariq Ur Rehman, and a fifth man known as "Ahmad," were charged in July 2010 with 10 counts, including conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and to commit murder in a foreign country.

The indictment said Shukrijumah, who is accused of being an Al Qaeda operations leader, and Ahmad "recruited and directed ... Adis Medunjanin, Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay to conduct a terrorist attack in the United States."

The New York plot was linked to the British plot by Ahmad, prosecutors said. Ahmad, an accused Al Qaeda facilitator in Peshawar, communicated with Zazi about the New York plot and with Naseer about a British plot, they said.

The FBI has long said that Saudi Arabian native Shukrijumah, who has a Guyanese passport, was a threat to the United States and there is a $5 million reward for his capture.

Shukrijumah has also been linked by US authorities to other terrorism suspects, including a group of men accused of planning to bomb fuel pipelines at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

A report in the Washington Post from 2003 quotes a senior law enforcement official describing him as a possible terrorism organiser in the style of Mohamed Atta, the suspected ringleader of the Sept 11, 2001, attacks. But authorities said they have no details on what kind of plot he might be involved in.

The report also said El Shukrijumah may have traveled on passports from Guyana, Trinidad, Canada or Saudi Arabia, the FBI said. He last entered the United States before the terrorist attacks in New York and on the Pentagon and left later that year, a law enforcement official said.

The El Shukrijumah family moved to Miramar, a suburb north of Miami, in 1995, according to Neville and Una Khan, who live in the same neighborhood and have known the family since the 1960s.

The Khans said that El Shukrijumah's father is a prominent Muslim leader in this suburb north of Miami and is the head of a prayer center, Masjid al Hijrah, next door to the family home.

Una Khan described Adnan El Shukrijumah as a devout student of the Holy Quran who worked with children at the prayer center. He tended to be modern in his thinking, she said. "He never indicated in any way that he was extremist. This is such a shock; this is something I don't understand. I can't believe it."

The Khans in 2003 said they have not seen El Shukrijumah for several years. They believe he is doing Islamic missionary work, though they don't know where. He was also earning money by selling Islamic books, they said.

Security man killed, 7 injured in gunbattle in Wana


A security man was killed and seven others were injured Saturday in a clash with militants near the town of Wana in South Waziristan.

Official sources said that after receiving reports about the presence of militants in Amaz Warsak and Sheen Warsak areas, forces launched an operation.

During the operation, security forces came under fire. Subsequently, one security man was killed and seven others were injured in the gunbattle.

There were also reports of militant casualties but the exact number could not be ascertained.

The information, however, could not be independently verified as journalists have limited access to the tribal agency.

South Waziristan is among Pakistan’s seven tribal districts near the Afghan border which are rife with insurgents and are alleged to be strongholds of Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, among others.

The tribal region was once the main stronghold for the Pakistani Taliban. The military launched a large offensive against militants there in 2009 but insurgents still operate in the area and periodically stage attacks
 
Al-Qaeda chief Adnan el Shukrijuma 'killed in Pakistan'
_79550947_79550946.jpg
The FBI called Shukrijumah a 'most-wanted' terrorist
A senior al-Qaeda militant, accused of planning to bomb trains in New York and London, has been killed in Pakistan, the country's military says.

Adnan el Shukrijumah was killed in a raid in north-western Pakistan, near the Afghan border, the military said.

The FBI describes him as al-Qaeda's global operations chief, a post once held by the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Shukrijumah was born in Saudi Arabia and lived for several years in the US.

He was named in a US federal indictment as a conspirator in the case against three men accused of plotting suicide bomb attacks on New York's subway system in 2009.

He is also suspected of having played a role in plotting al-Qaeda attacks in Panama, Norway and the UK.

_75306515_line976.jpg

Analysis: M Ilyas Khan, BBC News, Islamabad
The killing of Adnan el Shukrijuma is the first major militant casualty since June when the Pakistani military launched a major operation to clean up the largest militant sanctuary on the country's soil.

It comes days after Pakistani army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif returned from a week-long visit of the US, the first by an army chief in four years. On Thursday, the US Congress extended a $1b operational support to Pakistani army despite recent tensions and mistrust.

The killing also puts the spotlight back on the Western half of South Waziristan, the first militant sanctuary in Pakistan where al-Qaeda and Taliban groups fleeing American bombing in October 2001 took shelter. Shukrijuma's killing in an army raid in this region shows that it is now being used as a hideout by militants fleeing the military offensive in North Waziristan.

Local militant groups still control territory here, and are still considered largely friendly to the army, but now there may be more persistent questions over this relationship.

_79551359_pakistansouthwaziristannorthwaziristan4641214.jpg

_75306515_line976.jpg

Pakistan's military said two other militants were killed in the raid on Saturday. One soldier was also reportedly killed, and another was hurt.

A military statement said the "intelligence-borne operation" took place in the Shinwarsak region of South Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan.

The region is a base for the Pakistani Taliban and its allies.

Pakistan's military launched an offensive in June against militants in neighbouring North Waziristan.

Shukrijumah is alleged to have been in charge of planning al-Qaeda attacks outside Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A Saudi national, he spent more than 15 years in the US, moving there when his father took up a post at a Brooklyn mosque. The family later moved to Florida.

In the late 1990s, he is thought to have left for militant training camps in Afghanistan.

Pakistan's army kills al Qaeda commander who grew up in U.S.
By Sophia Saifi, Ben Brumfield and Susan Candiotti, CNN
December 6, 2014 -- Updated 1007 GMT (1807 HKT)
131008135841-07-most-wanted-story-top.jpg


Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan's army said it killed an al Qaeda operative, who grew up in the United States and was on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists.

Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, 39, was once indicted for his alleged role in a terror plot to attack targets there and in the UK.

He was killed in a raid in South Waziristan on Saturday, Pakistani army spokesman Asim Bajwal said on Twitter.

Shukrijumah, a senior commander, is thought to have served as one of the leaders of al Qaeda's external operations program,according to the FBI, hatching plots to attack the West.

He was indicted by New York authorities in 2010 over an alleged plot to have two men blow themselves up in the city's subway system.

The FBI had placed a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

Lived in NYC, Florida

Shukrijumah was born in Saudi Arabia, the eldest son of a Saudi Imam, and came to America as a young child.

His family settled in Brooklyn, New York, where his father preached at a mosque. They lived at a nearby house before moving to Florida in the mid-'90s.
His father, who is now dead, opened a small mosque near Fort Lauderdale.

Shukrijumah worked at odd jobs, including selling used cars and took classes information technology and chemistry, at a small college in South Florida. He also took classes to improve his English.

Then he disappeared.

The FBI says that after he left America, Shukrijumah started off as an al Qaeda dishwasher, doing menial tasks at training camps. But he rose in the ranks to a key leadership position.

An FBI counter-terrorism agent linked Shukrijumah to the thwarted New York subway suicide mission in fall of 2009 in the biggest post-9/11 terror investigation.

Two men admitted they planned to blow themselves up using homemade bombs.

Prosecutors say it was Shukrijumah who called the shots at the time -- probably from somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistan border.
 

Pakistan Affairs Latest Posts

Back
Top Bottom