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| India-Pakistan |
| Al Qanoon may have links with Al Qaeda |
| 2002-06-16 |
| While a group calling itself Al Qanoon is stated to have claimed responsibility for Friday's suicide bombing outside the US consulate-general in Karachi, a newspaper said on Saturday the attack could be the work of a new coalition of militant groups. We guessed that. Any details? In a report from Islamabad, The New York Times quoted a senior Pakistani intelligence official as saying there was near unanimity of opinion among intelligence officials that the attack was carried out by a loose coalition of extremist jihadis, with possible links to Al Qaeda. The new coalition is said to be called Lashkar-i-Omar, after Omar Saeed Shaikh, the former leader of Jaish-i-Mohammad accused of masterminding the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. The grouping is said to have been formed by the survivors of three militant groups banned by Gen Pervez Musharraf - Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Jaish-i-Mohammad, and Lashkar-i-Jhangvi. These three groups, as well as stragglers from other militant organizations, have reached an "operational agreement" to pool their resources and launch joint attacks. Al Qaeda fighters fleeing from Afghanistan are believed to have mixed with home-grown Pakistani militants fighting Indian occupation in Kashmir. That's about like we guessed it's shaped up... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |