Islamabad, February 04: The killing of three US soldiers involved in training Pakistan’s paramilitary troops on Wednesday, February 3, in a roadside bombing in the northwestern town of Dir, which borders Afghanistan, is seen as a moral boost to Taliban militants.
“This attack shows that the intelligence network of the militants is not merely intact, but they have managed to improve it,” Shamim-ur-Rehman, a Karachi-based veteran security expert, told.
The American troops were traveling with local troops, journalists and officials to the opening ceremony of a girls’ school in the Shahi Koto area of Lower Dir district of Malakund division, where the army launched a full-scale offensive against local Taliban militants last May.
Three US soldiers and six Pakistanis, including a girl student, were killed and over 60 injured in the attack.
The US Embassy in Islamabad and the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) has confirmed the death of US soldiers.
“These security personnel were going to attend the inaugural ceremony of a newly-renovated girls’ school in Dir,” the Embassy said in a press release.
“We condemn the vicious terrorist bombing that targeted personnel who were due to attend the inauguration of a girls’ school renovated with US assistance.”
The three soldiers were in the region as part of a small, little-publicized US mission to train members of the paramilitary Frontier Corps to better fight al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.
“The Americans were US military personnel in Pakistan to conduct training at the invitation of the Pakistan Frontier Corps,” said the Embassy.
The bodies of US soldiers and two injured were flown by a helicopter to Islamabad, from where they will be flown home.
US troops have been training Pakistan’s Frontier Corps since 2008.
The corps is a major force in the northwest, but they have long been under-equipped and under-trained, leaving them unable to fight more trained and equipped militants.
The training program was never officially announced, a sign of the sensitivity for the Pakistan’s government in allowing US troops on its territory.
New Trend
“This is certainly a new trend and a morale booster [for Taliban],” Shamim told.
This is the first such attack in which militants used remote-controlled bomb to target US personnel or officials.
Earlier, only suicide bombers were used to target American officials and personnel such as in the Marriott Hotel and PC Hotel bombings in Islamabad and Peshawar.
“This is certainly a new trend and a morale booster,” says Shamim, the security expert.
“They have hit their prime target (US soldiers) for the first time in line with Afghan Taliban. This will certainly leave the troops to be more careful and tense about their security.”
He questioned the official version that the American soldiers were only training Pakistani troops and were not involved in combat operations.
“If they were involved in training of troops, then why did they go to attend the inaugural ceremony in an area which is already disturbed, and a military operation is underway.”
Islamabad has, time and again, denied that US troops are involved in ground operation.
Shamim fears such attacks would increase in the days to come and Pakistani civilians would be the most affected.
“Their (militants) target was US soldiers, but innocent people, who have nothing to do with the war between militants and US, were also killed.”
He suggested that Pakistani and US troops should stay away from attending ceremonies in schools or other public places, especially in operation-hit areas.
“They have put the lives of civilians in danger because those who want to kill them are desperate and don’t care about collectoral damage.
“Pakistani authorities must keep them away from public ceremonies like this.”
-Agencies