Washington, October 06: The latest suicide attack in Pakistan, killing five UN aid workers, shows that Pakistani Taliban can still hit soft target in relatively high-security zones despite indications that it has become weak, a prominent US think tank said on Monday.
“This attack — the first suicide bombing in Islamabad in months — shows that the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) can still hit soft targets in relatively secure areas. However, there are several indicators that the TTP is weakening,” Stratfor, an American global intelligence company said.
This attack, though low-intensity, is the first bombing in Islamabad since the suicide bombing that targeted an emergency response center on June 6. In fact, there has been a lull in urban suicide bombings till the death of Baitullah Mehsud on August 5, it noted.
Since then several key leaders of the Waziristan-based TTP have been arrested and the group has been struggling to go on the offensive, with attacks limited to the northwestern Pashtun areas of Pakistan, it said.
Stratfor said the attack’s location — in the upscale residential sector F-8/3, less than a mile from Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari’s private (albeit unoccupied) residence — is significant. “It says that even though the TTP faces intense pressure from the Pakistani security and intelligence campaign, the group can still hit soft targets in relatively high-security zones,” it said.
Shortly after the blast, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik, citing intelligence reports, warned of more such attacks in the coming weeks. The UN and other international organisations in Islamabad have shut down for a couple of days, and Pakistani authorities have asked international organisations operating in Peshawar to limit their activities and refrain from travel to districts in the NWFP, where the militant threat is high.
“Thus the attack — though far from a spectacular hit — served the TTP’s purposes: It put everyone on notice that TTP is not out of business, and by halting UN and international organisation operations (even for a few days), it will help the jihadists foster insecurity and instability,” Stratfor said.
Meanwhile, Stratfor said, a video has surfaced in Pakistani news media of new TTP leader Hakeemullah Mehsud and his main rival, Wali-ur-Rehman, giving a joint statement to a select group of journalists.
The appearances disproved Pakistani and US statements that at least one of the men had been killed in a shootout several weeks ago in a power struggle after Baitullah Mehsud’s death. The men denied reports of infighting within the TTP and said they would resist a major military offensive against their stronghold in South Waziristan.
However, they also expressed interest in peace talks with the government — an apparent attempt to stave off the coming military offensive, Stratfor said.
–Agencies