Pakistani Taliban Attack Rival Commander

Pakistani Taliban Attack Rival Commander

By SALMAN MASOOD 11:50 AM ET

The suicide attack in the country’s northwest killed at least 15 people, but left the commander only lightly wounded.

By SALMAN MASOOD

Published: October 3, 2013

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Pakistani Taliban on Thursday staged a suicide attack on a rival militant commander in northwestern Pakistan that killed at least 15 people but was reported to have left the commander only lightly wounded, Pakistani officials said.

Such infighting between militant groups is rare but not unprecedented. Most often, militants who have inched toward reconciliation with the government or form anti-Taliban militias with the Pakistani military’s support are attacked by hard-core elements within the Taliban.

Maulvi Nabi, the subject of Thursday’s suicide bombing, is a militant commander from the Orakzai Tribal Agency who has been fighting Taliban insurgents. Mr. Nabi survived an earlier assassination attempt by the Taliban in July 2012. He is thought to be close to the Haqqani network and the Hafiz Gul Bahadur militant group, seen as sympathetic to the government.

Thursday’s attack occurred at around 1 a.m., when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a compound in Speen Thal, a semiautonomous tribal region at the border of the Orakzai and Hangu regions.

The explosion destroyed the compound and was followed by a gun battle between at least two attackers and loyalists of Mr. Nabi.

“He survived the attack with minor injuries,” said a Pakistani security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Shahidullah Shahid, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, said that Mr. Nabi was targeted because he supported the Pakistani government and was working against the Pakistani Taliban and their allies.

“We will not spare him,” Mr. Shahid warned.

Meanwhile, Pakistani officials and rescue workers continued their efforts to provide aid to the victims of last month’s earthquake in southwestern Pakistan.

The 7.7 magnitude earthquake on Sept. 25 damaged vast areas of Baluchistan, the impoverished and remote province that has struggled with drought and continues to grapple with an insurgency by Baluch separatists.

The greatest damage occurred in Awaran, Baluchistan’s poorest district, near the deep-sea port of Gwadar, which Pakistan built with Chinese help over the past decade in the hope of stimulating regional trade.

A spokesman for the National Disaster Management Authority, the country’s official relief agency, said Thursday that the death toll from the earthquake stood at 376, with 824 people injured.

The remoteness of the region, which lacks basic infrastructure facilities, adds to the difficulties of aid workers to provide quick relief.

Security issues have further aggravated the situation, according to officials. Pakistani troops involved in the aid effort have come under regular attack, reportedly by Baluch separatists, particularly in Awaran. One Pakistani military official said that on Wednesday alone there were five separate attacks on troops, leaving one dead. No attacks were reported on Thursday.

Ismail Khan contributed reporting from Peshawar, Pakistan.copy  http://global.nytimes.com/