Lashkar-e-Taiba founder had recently criticised Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan for killing civilians in suicide attacks
Pakistani authorities have arrested a Pushtun militant from outside the Muridke headquarters of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) near Lahore. The militant said he was on a mission to assassinate Jamaat-ud-Daawa (JuD) ameer Hafiz Mohammad Saeed.
Punjab police sources said the potential assassin-cum-suicide bomber was arrested last week by private security guards of the LeT, at the main entrance of the building. The arrested man was identified as a Taliban member from Waziristan who confessed having been dispatched to Muridke by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), led by Baitullah Mehsud, with the specific mission of killing Saeed. The sources said the authorities tightened security for Saeed after he was threatened by the TTP recently.
But why did Saeed invite the wrath of the TTP? Home department sources said the LeT founder had condemned suicide bombings conducted by the TTP, which led to the death of civilians.
Following the arrest, the home department directed the departments concerned to beef up security at the Muridke headquarters of the LeT, the Jamia Qadsia offices of Hafiz Saeed and his Johar town residence in Lahore.
Meanwhile, a volley of US missiles killed 15 alleged militants in an extremist stronghold in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, the second such strike in less than 12 hours, officials said.
The US regards missile attacks from drone aircraft as a key weapon against al Qaeda and the Taliban close to the Afghan border. Last month, al Qaeda’s reputed No 3 official, Mustafa al-Yazid, was reported killed in a similar strike in the North Waziristan region.
Six missiles were fired in Friday’s attack on a house in a village close to the border, two intelligence officers said. Yousaf Khan, a government administrator in the region’s main town of Miran Shah, said 15 alleged militants were killed. He said officers were still
gathering information about the identities of the victims.
Late Thursday, two people were killed in another strike in North
Waziristan. Officials did not say whether they were believed to be militants.
Pakistan is under pressure to launch a military offensive in the region, but the army says it is too stretched and committed to other parts of the border region to do so anytime soon.
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