Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Remember hearing about that mystery Pakistani explosion yesterday?

Hah. It was a mystery all right. And I personally love their choice of target - (especially with our recent surge of smutty comments, possums!)

Target: The HQ of the forces for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

Choice of weapon: Pilotless drones.

At least three missiles struck the headquarters of Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Aneelmunkar (promotion of virtue and prevention of vice force) at Bara in Khyber Agency, where Pakistani security forces launched a crackdown against militants on Saturday.Here is the beginning of my post.

But they missed their chief target. Rats.

The missiles apparently targeted Haji Namdar, the head of the religious group, but he was safe, eyewitnesses told TV channels.

Unfortunately, he manages to get the last word about the attack....

Haji Namdar quoted witnesses as saying that missile attack was carried out by drones operated by the US forces in Afghanistan. The witnesses said they had seen drones flying overhead when the missile strike occurred at about three a.m.

Eyewitnesses sure seem to know a lot, don't they? I mean really, how would you know that a) it was a pilotless drone b.) that it was sent by the US and c.) launched from Afghanistan? Beats me. Be that as it may, it's now official! The much vaunted and often broken truce aka HUDNA between the Taliban and the Pakistan government is now over. (And this should make you laugh - the Taliban accuses the government of practicing taquiyah. Say it isn't so!

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Taliban movement has suspended peace agreements with the government in all parts of the country after a series of military offensives, a spokesman said on Sunday.

The announcement by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistan Taliban Movement) comes a day after its top commander, Baitullah Mehsud, announced that he was halting two-month-old peace talks in the South Waziristan tribal district."

The Taliban council in its meeting today approved the decision of Amir (leader) Baitullah Mehsud suspending all peace negotiations with the government and also suspended all peace agreements with immediate effect," Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Maulvi Omar told AFP.

He said the move applied to peace talks in Waziristan as well as in the troubled northwestern tourist region of Swat, he said."The reason is that government is deceiving us. It does not abide by the agreements and negotiations. This decision has been taken after security forces actions in Khyber, Jandola and Swat," he said.



Two things to note: 1.) No one has yet claimed responsibility for the Promotion of Virture/Prevention of Vice explosion. 2.) Interestingly enough, the Promotion of Virtue/Prevention of Vice outfit was one of three militant groups banned by Pakistan's interior ministry just yesterday.


If I were the other two groups, I'd be looking over my shoulder right about now.

-end-