Taliban Suicide Bombers Attack Karachi Police Headquarters, 18 People Killed

I'm guessing this was some kind of "rescue" operation by the Taliban but it appears it ended up being nothing but a death mission as 18 people were killed as the Taliban sent a squad of jihadis into a police headquarters building in Karachi, Pakistan - when the armed assault didn't go quite as planned, they set off a VBIED in the compound which destroyed the building, killing 18 people and wounding 115 (I'm guessing the death toll will probably hit at least 40).

Here's some of the story from The Long War Journal:

The Taliban took credit for a deadly suicide assault on a police headquarters in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi today. Sixteen people were killed in the attack and more than 100 were wounded.

A Taliban assault team attacked the Crime Investigation Department headquarters in a secured area of Karachi. Taliban fighters armed with assault rifles attack the building and battled with police before a massive truck bomb was detonated inside the CID compound. The truck bomb, which is estimated to have carried more than 2,000 pounds of explosives, destroyed the building.

Police have confirmed that 18 people have been killed and 115 have been wounded. The death toll may rise as others may be trapped in the rubble of the building.

While the reason for today's attack in Karachi attack is not known, the Taliban may have been trying to free a senior commander, a local Taliban leader, and several allied Lashkar-e-Jhangvi fighters who are thought to have been in custody at the CID building. On Nov. 3, police arrested a Taliban commander named Yousuf, who is also known as Qari. Yousuf was described as "a senior member of the TTP [Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan] and was in contact with the top leadership of the banned outfit." He is said to have planned a suicide attack on a police training center in Mingora earlier this year, and is thought to have been plotting to carry out attacks in karachi.

The more I read of the story, the more it certainly appears to be a rescue operation - the Taliban rarely mix a vehicle borne explosive with small arms jihadis on an attack and it certainly sounds like they had a high value commander in that building.

What this does show that nothing will stop the brazen Taliban - remember, these are the same asshats that Obama and his civilian national security advisors want to sit down with in Afghanistand negotiate an end to the Afghanistan War.

Taliban kill 18 in suicide assault on police headquarters in Karachi


The Taliban took credit for a deadly suicide assault on a police headquarters in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi today. Sixteen people were killed in the attack and more than 100 were wounded.

A Taliban assault team attacked the Crime Investigation Department headquarters in a secured area of Karachi. Taliban fighters armed with assault rifles attack the building and battled with police before a massive truck bomb was detonated inside the CID compound. The truck bomb, which is estimated to have carried more than 2,000 pounds of explosives, destroyed the building.

Police have confirmed that 18 people have been killed and 115 have been wounded. The death toll may rise as others may be trapped in the rubble of the building.

While the reason for today's attack in Karachi attack is not known, the Taliban may have been trying to free a senior commander, a local Taliban leader, and several allied Lashkar-e-Jhangvi fighters who are thought to have been in custody at the CID building. On Nov. 3, police arrested a Taliban commander named Yousuf, who is also known as Qari. Yousuf was described as "a senior member of the TTP [Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan] and was in contact with the top leadership of the banned outfit." He is said to have planned a suicide attack on a police training center in Mingora earlier this year, and is thought to have been plotting to carry out attacks in karachi.

Also, yesterday, police arrested six Lashkar-e-Jhangvi fighters from the Asif Ramzi group and a Taliban commander known as Iqbal. The Taliban leader is said to be a "a close aide" to Faqir Mohammad, the Taliban's leader in the tribal agency of Bajuar. All seven terrorists were being interrogated by the CID in Karachi.

Pakistani military and police forces have been a major target of the Taliban over the past several years. The Taliban have conducted numerous attacks against heavily secured military, police, and intelligence compounds, as well as against other secured targets housing foreigners in Pakistan’s major cities. The most brazen was the assault on the Pakistani Army General Headquarters complex in the garrison city of Rawalpindi in October 2009.

The Taliban have been targeting the counterterrorism sections of the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency, the Pakistani Central Intelligence Agency, and the Federal Investigation Agency. The ISI counterterrorism branch is responsible for targeting the Taliban and is supported by the US. The Taliban destroyed an ISI counterterrorism section building in Peshawar on Nov. 13, 2009, as well as the Pakistani Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Lahore on Oct. 16, 2009. Also, on March, 8 2010, a suicide bomber rammed his car packed with explosives into a Federal Investigation Agency building in Lahore, killing 11 people. Four days later, on March 12, a pair of suicide bombers attacked Pakistani Army vehicles at a bazaar in a military cantonment in Lahore, killing more than 50 people.

Pakistani security forces have targeted the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan and allied groups such as the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi as they have conducted attacks against the Pakistani state. But Pakistani security forces refuse to move against Taliban groups such as the Haqqani Network as well as terror groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, despite the fact that the latter groups provide aid and shelter to the former.