Maj Gen, Lt Col martyred in Dir attack Lance Naik also among the victims; Taliban claim responsibility;

The News Delawar Jan Monday, September 16, 2013 PESHAWAR: A two-star general of the Pakistan Army, commanding the security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Malakand Division, was martyred along with one other officer and a soldier in an attack in Upper Dir on Sunday, military and police officials said. Major General Sanaullah Niazi was attacked with an improvised explosive device (IED) in the Gat Koto area when he was returning from a visit to border posts, officials said. The general was travelling from the border by road that enabled the militants to attack him. Lieutenant Colonel Tauseef and Lance Naik Irfan Sattar were also martyred in the blast. Two other soldiers, Yasir and Ghaffar, suffered injuries. This was the first high-profile attack in which a general was killed in the field. A former GOC in Malakand Division, Major General Javed Iqbal, was also attacked earlier in this border region when he was inspecting the area from a helicopter. He was injured but survived the attack. The army’s public relations wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations, confirmed the deaths. “Major General Sanuallah, General Officer Commanding, Swat Division, and Lieutenant Colonel Tauseef embraced shahadat in an IED blast today (Sunday) near the Pak-Afghan border in Upper Dir,” said an ISPR press release. “Major General Sanaullah was on a visit to a forward post near the Pak-Afghan border for the last couple of days. After completing visits, he was on his way back when an IED planted by terrorists at a roadside blasted which resulted in the shahadat of Major General Sanaullah and Lieutenant Colonel Tauseef,” it added. The attack cast a shadow over the prospects of peace talks with the militants that are yet to formally begin. Questions are also being raised about the Taliban’s seriousness to hold purposeful talks. The border with Afghanistan along Upper Dir, Lower Dir and Chitral has been volatile since early 2011 due to cross-border attacks by Pakistani militants hiding in the Kunar and Nuristan provinces of Afghanistan. Pakistan deployed thousands of troops along the border in September 2011 to stop cross-border attacks. The army has established over 50 posts on the border to prevent attacks by militants led by fugitive Swat Taliban chief, Maulana Fazlullah. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack and its spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told reporters in a phone call from an undisclosed location that the Swat Taliban had conducted the bomb explosion. The GOC was based in Swat, the valley whose control was wrested by the Pakistan Army from Fazlullah, and commanded troops in Buner, Shangla, Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Chitral and the Malakand Agency. Police officials in the border region said the device was planted in a dirt road that winds through mountains from the border to Shaltalo, a village the Taliban soaked in the blood of 34 people, 27 of them police and Levies officials, in an attack in June 2011. “The blast has destroyed the general’s vehicle and mutilated the bodies,” an official of Shahikot police station said. According to him, the attack was carried out some 13 kilometres away from the police station. “The attack took place between Sabir checkpost and the police station,” he added. Army troops rushed to the site and clamped a curfew in the area. Early reports suggested three suspected persons were arrested during the search operation. Locals said they heard firing in the area. The GOC visited Upper Dir on September 6 to kick off a 10-day sports festival in Dir. In his address, he promised the people that terrorists would not be allowed to strip them of their desire for peace. “The army has fortified the border along Upper Dir and would not allow terrorists to destroy peace in the district,” he had told the participants of the inaugural ceremony. The news of his martyrdom shocked everyone involved with the festival and the event was cancelled to mourn his death. His Namaz-e-Janaza was offered in Shahikot, according to police.Residents in Barawal, a major town in the border region close to the site of the attack, said the situation was normal there. “There is no unusual movement of the army in Barawal,” a resident said, adding the attack had saddened the people. The attack highlighted the ability of the Fazlullah group to launch devastating attacks and the military’s constraints to go after him. The troops had succeeded in warding off cross-border attacks during the last 15 months as no major attack could be launched. The last deadly attack that had killed 17 soldiers was carried out in June 2012. Upper Dir was never known as a sanctuary for militants and an attempt by the Taliban to entrench themselves in the remote Doog Darra area of the district was foiled by local people who fought and expelled them. Fazlullah kept quiet for almost a year after he sent gunmen to kill Malala Yousafzai, a young girl from Swat who is now famed for her bravery and struggle worldwide. After the attack on Malala, pressure mounted on the Karzai government to act against Fazlullah, but it proved useless. Pakistani officials believe the reclusive Taliban commander is supported by Afghan intelligence officials and the governor of Kunar. Our correspondents, agencies add: President Mamnoon Hussain, and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan expressed profound grief and sorrow over the martyrdom of the military officers and soldier in Upper Dir. In their separate statements, they paid tribute to the Pakistan Army officers and soldier for their services for the defence of the motherland and prayed for their eternal peace.They also expressed sympathy with the bereaved families. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif separately telephoned Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and expressed grief over the Upper Dir incident.They expressed solidarity with the Pakistan Army in their telephonic conversation with the army chief.