Taliban target tribal elders

Pakistani paramilitary soldiers stand behind recovered ammunition and blindfolded suspected militants who were captured during search operations in the area, as they are presented before the media in Tamirgrah, the main town of Pakistan's Lower Dir district, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Ruhullah Shakir)

PESHAWAR: To counter Taliban insurgency in the northwestern tribal and adjoining areas, Pakistani authorities have raised local militias, known as "Qaumi Lashkars" comprising of people of different age groups. So far, none of the group of volunteers of any "Qaumi Lashkar" was heard to have achieved any worthwhile success against the Taliban militants. Contrarily, the leaders and volunteers of these militias are becoming easy targets of Taliban militants who are far superior in the art of guerrilla warfare than the untrained and undisciplined militias.

Taliban insurgents on Thursday shot dead seven leaders of the pro-government tribal lashkar in the northwestern Bannu district in an ambush. The victims included the tribal chief Malik Sultan, who was active in raising a government-sponsored militia against militants in the area, said Iqbal Marwat, a local police official.

"All tribal elders were on the way to attend a meeting with security officials in Bannnu", he said Bannu borders the rugged tribal region of North Waziristan where Washington says al-Qaida and Taliban established bases after the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The ambush was followed by another militant attack on volunteers of peace committee in Swat when Taliban killed two members of the anti-Taliban committee. The assailants struck when members of the "peace committee" were sleeping in the Swat’s Sertelegram area, officials said.

Last month, Taliban killed nine members of a tribal volunteer force in Mohmand Agency while captured three tribesmen.

Earlier nine people, including Malik Rehmatullah, head of the Qaumi Lashkar, were killed and four others injured in a suicide attack on a mosque in Mamond area of the troubled Bajaur Agency. Rehmatullah was appointed as chief of the lashkar after militants had killed the lashkar’s chief Malik Fazal Mabood along with two tribesmen.

According to a report prepared by the "Pakhtun Amn Lashkar" (Pashtun peace force), more than 400 Lashkar members battling the Taliban in tribal areas, Swat, Dir and Buner regions have been killed during the past three months. Taliban squads are now targeting these Lashkars more fiercely than they used to attack army troops and police officials, the report said.

"If the trend of Lashkar leaders' murder continues, it might discourage the public and the police and armed forces' personnel," said Syed Kamal Shah, a convener of the Pakhtun Amn Lashkar. Link...