Can we stop this without cooperation with Afghanistan?
While Pakistan mulls leading an Islamic Military Alliance with a still undefined agenda, terrorists continue to target the country underlying the need to concentrate fully on national security. Within the last four months a third horrendous attack targeting the Shia community has taken place in Kurram Agency. At least 14 people including five women and four children died when their minibus collided against an anti-tank mine that had been buried on the road side. Nine others including four Khasadars are critically injured. There is a likelihood of the number of mortalities increasing as had happened after earlier attacks. Besides common commuters, civilians and paramilitary personnel conducting Census were also travelling in the van. ISIS Khorasan and TTP-Jamaat ul Ahrar have both claimed the attack.
It was claimed that Operation Zarb-e-Azb had broken the backbone of the terrorists. During its final stage the Operation was accompanied by intelligence based operations (IBOs) and combing operations. Early this year Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad was launched. While these operations brought down the number of attacks as well as the number of casualties in the rest of the country, tribal areas have seen a significant increase in both during the first quarter of 2017 compared to the last quarter of 2016. In terms of civilian casualties Kurram remains the worst hit. There is a need to realise the implications of the unending bloodletting in the Agency.
The Agency borders three Afghan provinces, Nangarhar, Paktia and Khost. Terrorist groups including Afghan Taliban, ISIS, Al-Qaida and TTP have presence in the adjoining provinces. What is worrisome is that the networks continue to operate inside Kurram Agency. Last month two Taliban activists including a senior commander were killed in a US drone strike, the first after Trump’s assumption of Presidency. About ten days back security forces recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition as well as communication equipment from Kurram and Orakzai agencies. That despite the big recoveries an anti-tank mine was used to target the van indicates that many more search actions are needed.
