Third Attack in Lahore, Pakistan - The Baitullah Connection
In today’s DailyBriefing, we included two reports on the bombings today in Lahore Pakistan that killed 28. Now the Pakistani newspaper DAWN reports that in addition to the two bombings in Lahore, Pakistan, multiple gunmen opened fire at a crowded train station in the same city, killing four more individuals in the day’s attacks.
Gunmen kill 4 people at Lahore railway station LAHORE, March 11: A local TV channel reported that at least 4 persons were killed near Lahore railway station when armed men fired at a train. The train was coming from Faisalabad on Platform Number 4. The railway station is usually crowded as it is a busy hub. There was panic among the people as the gunmen opened fire. The gunmen then disappeared in the melee. Officials said the victims were killed due to personal enmity. (First Posted @ 19:34 PST Updated @ 20:18 PST)
On the bombing of Pakistan’s FIA building in Lahore, former Indian intelligence official B. Raman adds the following.
2. The FIA is the Pakistani equivalent of India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). It is the principal agency for the investigation of all corruption-related cases. It also co-ordinates terrorism-related investigations.It is one of the three central police agencies of Pakistan—-the other two being the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Narcotics Bureau. The FIA is largely manned by police officers taken on deputation from the provinces and direct recruits. President Pervez Musharraf had inducted a number of serving and retired military officers into it to monitor the investigation of corruption-related cases against Mrs.Benazir Bhutto, Mr.Asif Zardari, Mr.Nawaz Sharif and other political leaders. Before the recent elections and thereafter, the investigations into all the corruption-related cases against Benazir and Zardari were discontinued on the orders of Musharraf, but not the investigations against Nawaz. Gen.Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani withdrew from it the serving military officers deputed for monitoring the investigations. [ … ]
6. They [Taliban/al-Qaeda] have also attacked provincial police units and officers. Many police officers performing physical security duties were killed when the jihadis attacked non-police targets. Now, for the first time, they have attacked an important office of a central police agency. Like the CBI in India, the FIA not only investigates cases of corruption, but also supervises the investigation by the police of important terrorism attacks. Where necessary, it investigates the terrorism cases itself just as the CBI investigated the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. It has been monitoring and co-ordinating the investigation of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto allegedly at the instance of Baitullah Mehsud, the Amir of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The attack on the FIA office came two days after the reported issue of a warrant by an Anti-Terrorism court for the arrest of Baitullah on a charge of masterminding her assassination.
More on the arrest warrants and Baitullah Mehsud below:
• Warrants for Baitullah, four others issued - DAWN• Pak police charge Mehsud with Bhutto assassination - Hindustan Times• Baitullah Mehsud: Scapegoat or Perpetrator in Benazir Bhutto’s Assassination? - Jamestown
By Steve Schippert on March 11, 2008 at 12:17 PM Permalink
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