US offers up to $11 million as reward to capture al-Qaeda terrorists in Pakistan; Seven Arab militants killed in South Waziristan agency
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    • The US on March 25 offered up to $11 million in rewards to find and capture three al-Qaeda terrorists, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud, who had a $5 million bounty on his capture. The other two terrorists were Sirajuddin Haqqani and Abu Yahya al-Libi1. In a related development, seven militants believed to be Arab nationals, were killed and three others injured when they were attacked by US drones near the Makeen area of South Waziristan Agency (SWA) on March 252.

    The US Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen told CNN on March 27 that there were indications that elements of Pakistan’s intelligence service were supporting the al-Qaeda and the Taliban3.

    A top adviser to the US Central Command, David Kilcullen, meanwhile warned that the Pakistani State could collapse within six months if immediate steps were not taken to remedy the situation. Kilcullen urged US policymakers to focus their attention on Pakistan as a failure in that country could have devastating consequences for the entire region as well as the international community. In an interview to The Washington Post, Kilcullen pointed out that Pakistan “has 173 million people, 100 nuclear weapons, an army bigger than the US Army, and al-Qaeda headquarters sitting right there in the two-thirds of the country that the government doesn’t control. … The collapse of Pakistan, al-Qaeda acquiring nuclear weapons, an extremist takeover — that would dwarf everything we’ve seen in the war on terror today4.”

    The Taliban warned the Pakistani government to stop expanding the mobile telephone network in Waziristan, claiming it was an attempt to spy on their activities. Pamphlets were circulated in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan, warning authorities to stop the network expansion and ordering vendors to stop selling SIM cards. The pamphlet charged that a “Jewish, Zionist-backed company is setting up the mobile phone network in Waziristan, which would be used to spy on Taliban activities and for drone attacks. … This network is equipped with a global positioning system (GPS) and can give the location of a person even if his mobile phone is switched off … In Iraq and Afghanistan, such a system has been used to launch attacks against mujahideen5.”

    In other developments, quoting intelligence sources, Times of India reported that the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) was planning to infiltrate the country’s borders in Rajasthan and Punjab to carry out subversion during the general elections scheduled to be held in April and May 20096.

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