Death from above: Unmanned war dents al Qaeda’s S Asia franchise

50 AQIS operatives killed in drone strikes since June; fresh missile attack leaves 4 militants dead

MIRAMSHAH/ ISLAMABAD: The South Asian franchise of al Qaeda has conceded that around 50 of its operatives – among them two senior cadres – have been killed in the CIA-led drone campaign in the North Waziristan tribal region where a remotely-piloted aircraft decimated a militant compound on Sunday.

In another development, Pakistani security forces fought off a cross-border incursion bid by militants in Mohmand Agency, killing at least 10 infiltrators.

The al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), which was unveiled in September last year, confirmed in a video message emailed to the media on Sunday that in recent months several senior and mid-level al Qaeda cadres had been killed in US drone strikes in North Waziristan where a Pakistani military operation, codenamed Zarb-e-Azb, has been ongoing since mid-2014.



AQIS spokesperson Usama Mehmood said in the video that the group’s deputy chief Ahmad Farooq and central council member Qari Imran were killed in separate missile strikes in January.

The longtime deputy of Osama bin Laden, Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri, who had taken over the command of al Qaeda following the death of his boss in May 2011, formed the AQIS on September 3, 2014.

A Pakistani radical, Maulvi Muhammad Asim, who has studied in Karachi and has authored several books on Islam, was appointed its chief.

The AQIS, however, has had little success in its terror campaign. It had claimed credit for a September 2014 abortive attempt to take control of Pakistan Navy frigate, PNS Zulfiqar, stationed at PNS Dockyard in order to launch a missile attack on US Marines warship in the Indian Ocean. The group is, however, loathed to the Taliban’s bloody campaign targeted at innocent civilians as it had come down hard on the TTP for the December 2014 deadly rampage at Peshawar’s Army Public School.

“Al Qaeda fighters have been the main target of drone strikes since the security forces launched the military operation in North Waziristan last June,” the AQIS spokesman said in the audio clip. “The Taliban have also come under attack but the real target has been al Qaeda,” he added. “Around 50 al Qaeda members and an equal number of their local cohorts have been killed in these attacks.”

AQIS deputy chief Raja Muhammad Salman, widely known by his nom de guerre Ahmad Farooq, was killed in a American missile strike in the Shawal Valley of North Waziristan on January 15. He was from Islamabad and had received Sharia education at the International Islamic University there.

Similarly, al Qaeda chief in Afghanistan Qari Ubaidullah, who used pseudonym of Imran, was killed along with six comrades in the Lwara area of North Waziristan, on January 5. He was from Multan district Punjab and had been associated with different militant groups for 20 years.

The AQIS spokesman said that Imran had supervised some suicide attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan. When Operation Zarb-e-Azb was launched, Imran was in charge of the AQIS in North Waziristan.

Four militants killed

In a fresh strike, a pilotless Predator or Reaper unleashed Hellfire missiles on a compound established by suspected militants in an abandoned house in the Shawal Valley of North Waziristan shortly before dawn on Sunday. Officials confirmed that the compound was decimated in the attack, killing four militants and injuring two others.

There was no official word on the identity of the slain militants but tribal sources said they were from the Khan Said Sajna-led faction of the banned Tehreek Taliban Pakistan. After splitting from the Mullah Fazlullah-led TTP, militants loyal to commander Sajna have been hiding in different parts of North and South Waziristan agencies, especially in the Shawal mountainous regions, which connect the two tribal agencies with Afghanistan.

Cross-border incursion

Separately, at least 10 militants were killed in a gunfight after their attempt to infiltrate into the Shonkrai area of Mohmand Agency from northeastern Afghanistan was foiled by security forces.

According to the military’s media wing, the ISPR, 10 to 15 ‘terrorists’ tried to sneak into Pakistani territory at 1:30am on Sunday. “Pakistani troops surrounded them. And an intense exchange of fire took place for about an hour,” the ISPR said in a statement. At least 10 terrorists were killed in the gunfight, it added. “The bodies of the slain terrorists are in the custody of the security forces.”

A political administration official said the bodies were shifted to the Agency Headquarters Hospital in Ghallanai in the morning. A medic said one of the militants appears to be in his forties while the rest are 25 to 30 years of age.

Mohmand Agency shares a border with eastern Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar. Pakistani militants based in these Afghan provinces have frequently launched cross-border attacks on Pakistani security forces and civilians.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th, 2015.