Some 300 militants crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan's territory and stormed seven security checkpoints along the Durand Line Aug. 27. There were conflicting reports about the casualties suffered by Pakistani security personnel in the coordinated attacks by apparent Taliban militants. Pakistan's military put the figure at 25, while the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Malakand division, which claimed responsibility for the attack, claimed killing 80 troops and capturing another six. Islamabad said 16 of the dead belonged to the Chitral Scouts, a wing of the paramilitary Frontier Corps. (The News [2], Pakistan, Aug. 28)
Also Aug. 27, suicide bombers carried out three attacks in Afghanistan's Helmand and Kandahar provinces in advance of Id al-Fitr, the upcoming festival that celebrates the end of Ramadan. While Afghan security forces were the intended targets, civilians took the biggest toll—at least seven civilians were killed in the attacks, four of them children, and dozens more wounded. At least 17 civilians have been killed in the past three days in attacks across Afghanistan—including five in a NATO airstrike. (NYT [3], Aug. 28)
US officials say that Atiyah al-Rahman [4], al-Qaeda [5]'s second-in-command, was killed last week in Pakistan's North Waziristan border region. A Libyan national, Rahman took on the number-two position after Ayman al-Zawahiri [6] succeeded Osama bin Laden [7] as the network's top leader. (NPR [8], Aug. 27; CNN [9], Aug. 22)
See our last posts on Pakistan and the drone strikes [10], and Afghanistan [11].
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