Fifteen Pakistani soldiers stood blindfolded, handcuffed to each other on a barren hilltop as one of their bearded Taliban captors held an AK-47 rifle and spoke with fury about revenge.
He left no doubt what would come at any second.
Pakistan’s Taliban abducted the paramilitary troops on December 23 from near the country’s Tribal Areas to avenge military operations.
Now they have released a video as a warning to Pakistan’s 600,000-member army, which has failed to break the back of the insurgents despite superior firepower and a series of offensives against their strongholds in forbidding mountain regions.
“Twelve of our comrades were besieged and mercilessly martyred in the Khyber Agency (area),” said the militant.
“Our pious women were also targeted. To avenge those comrades, we will kill these men. We warn the government of Pakistan that if the killing of our friends is not halted, this will be the fate of you all.”
Before death, one of the men described how dozens of Taliban fighters stormed their fort in the northwestern Tank district and kidnapped the soldiers.
“They attacked us with rockets, killed a sentry. One ran away. The Taliban entered the fort and captured us with our weapons,” he said, sitting in rows with other soldiers with their arms folded and legs crossed in front of Taliban banners.
“They tied our hands, put us in a Datsun and took us away.”
The video then shows the men standing quietly. Taliban chanting can be heard. “We will cross all limits to avenge your blood,” it said, referring to fighters killed by Pakistani security forces.
One of the men shoves a clip into his assault rifle and fires a few rounds into the back of the heads of a few of the soldiers. “God is greatest,” the Taliban yell.
Other fighters step up and take turns pumping bullets into the men, some wearing green military uniforms. Each time a soldier collapses, the man standing next to him is pulled in that direction by the handcuffs.
The Taliban and Pakistan’s military, one of the largest in the world, have entered exploratory peace talks that raised hopes that their conflict, which has killed thousands of people, could ease, or even end one day.
But the talks have faltered, a senior Pakistani security official told Reuters, and the video — copied to compact discs and distributed in street markets in areas near the porous border with Afghanistan — is likely to enrage the army.
Hey where is the 'Ghairat Brigade'. I dont hear any protests now. Or are such public murders by our own ex-pets to be taken as 'collateral' damage for their perceived benefits against our self-created enemies.
No wonder the entire world sees Pakistan as a nation bent on self destruction. Which other country will choose to demolish a long standing strategic partnership with a super power USA with its billions in aid, while simultaneously capitulating to the growing menace of AQ/Taliban terror groups who wantonly massacre Pakistani troops and routinely destroy the entire fabric of society. Yet this sad nation is still in a state of total delusion, self deception and hypocrisy. Soon the Pashto nationalism and freedom struggles for a free Balochistan and Sindh will each succeed while the dominaneering Punjabi oligarchs will be consigned to the dustbin of history.
The militants have been using force and spreading violence for a very long time and we have been unable to stop them. These militants have also been using IEDs in Pakistan.
The use of improvised explosive devices needs to be stopped asap.
Improvised explosive devices have put the whole region at the risk of terrorism.
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