Pakistan Braces for Taliban Attacks as It Prepares Offensive

By:Salman Masood

The Pakistani interior minister said Tuesday that the government is expecting more attacks by the Taliban as the military prepares to launch a major offensive in South Waziristan the rugged northwestern tribal region considered a stronghold of Taliban.The minister Rehman Malik also accused the Taliban of orchestrating the suicide bombing of the headquarters of the World Food Program in Islamabad on Monday.The blast killed five people four Pakistanis and an Iraqi and led the United Nations to shutter its offices in Pakistan.
A Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq confirmed his group was behind the bombing in a phone conversation with The Associated Press.“We proudly claim the responsibility for the suicide attack at the U.N.office in Islamabad.We will send more bombers for such attacks ” he told The A.P.adding that the Taliban would not target Muslim relief groups.Speaking to reporters at an Islamabad hospital while visiting some of those injured in the bombing Mr.Malik said Taliban militants in the northern valley of Swat were waiting until after the Muslim holiday of Id al Fitr to launch their assaults.
He also said Taliban leaders in Waziristan had recently gathered to plan their attacks to avenge the death of their leader Baitullah Mehsud who was killed in August in a U.S.drone strike.Mr.Malik also cast doubt over a new video purportedly showing Hakimullah Mehsud the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban.He said the person in the video instead appears to be Hakimullahs brother who bears a strong resemblance to Hakimullah.
Pakistani government and intelligence officials believe Hakimullah a young and brash insurgent commander died in a power struggle among rival militant chiefs after the former leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed.Intelligence officers were surprised to learn of the video which was made during an interview that Hakimullah Mehsud if thats who it was apparently gave on Sunday to a small group of reporters.One of the reporters Anwar Mehsud who works with a Pakistani television channel Aaj TV said Monday that Hakimullah Mehsud had invited the group to dispel the reports that he had been killed.
Even as late as Monday however one Pakistani intelligence official said he had been told that Hakimullah Mehsud was confirmed dead.According to the television reporter Hakimullah Mehsud also used the interview session to dispel any notion of a split within the Pakistani Taliban.He appeared with his top lieutenants in a show of unity Waliur Rehman the head of the Taliban in South Waziristan Qari Hussain the organizer of the Talibans suicide bomb squad and Azam Tariq the new spokesman for the Taliban.
Reporters from Islamabad were also invited but declined to go because of security concerns something the bombing at the World Food Program in Islamabad underscored.Mr.Malik said the bomber was dressed in the uniform of the Frontier Corps a paramilitary unit assigned to guard diplomatic missions in the area raising questions of whether he had assistance from others working inside the compound.Mr.Malik said that the bomber asked for permission to use the bathroom entered the building and detonated about 16 pounds of explosives in the lobby just after noon when the compound was filled with people.
The police said the attack was especially worrisome because it occurred at the heavily fortified United Nations compound that was tightly guarded by private security officers.About 80 people work at the compound a three story building in an upscale residential neighborhood.The building is also equipped with video surveillance cameras motion detectors and explosives detection devices.The street was barricaded at both ends and vehicles and visitors were supposed to be allowed entry only after a thorough security check.The outer walls of the building were secured by barbed wire and a paramilitary post was located within walking distance.
It was the first direct attack against a United Nations agency here in the Pakistani capital and U.N.officials quickly moved to close their offices in Pakistan.“This is a temporary arrangement to ensure the safety and security of our staff ” Ishrat Rizvi the spokeswoman for United Nations operations in Islamabad said by telephone.A prominent international presence here the World Food Program says it provides food aid to as many as 10 million people across Pakistan including many of those displaced by the militarys operations against Taliban militants in tribal areas and the Swat Valley.
The United Nations secretary general Ban Ki moon in a statement from Geneva called the bombing a “heinous crime committed against those who have been working tirelessly to assist the poor and the vulnerable on the frontlines of hunger and other human suffering in Pakistan.”
Pir Zubair Shah contributed reporting from Islamabad Mark McDonald from Hong Kong and Sharon Otterman from New York.
Courtesy: New York Times