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| India-Pakistan |
| Karachi is part of Pakistani Taliban plan to bring war to urban centers |
| 2013-04-30 |
| A spate of Pakistani Taliban bomb attacks on candidates campaigning for Pakistan’s May 11 general election in the coastal city of Karachi has signaled what people close to al Qaida say is a strategic shift by the country’s militant insurgency from areas bordering Afghanistan to major urban centers. Karachi, a chaotic mega-city of 18 million people, is the militants’ prime target, these people say. "The migration of TTP fighters to Karachi has been ongoing, in fits and starts, for several years, but over the last 11 months, the trickle has turned into a steady flow of men, weapons and explosives," an al Qaida operative code-named Okasha said, referring to the Pakistani Taliban by the initials of their formal name, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. “Their plan is to establish a headquarters in Karachi, and spread their network to adjacent cities from there," said the operative, who’s based in Karachi and declined to divulge his real name. The attacks in Karachi over three consecutive days last week, Thursday through Saturday, targeted candidates of two secular political parties: the United National Movement and the Awami National Party. The bombings killed 26 and wounded dozens, though the targeted election candidates survived. |
| Posted by:tipper |