Courtesy of The Fourth Rail:

Baitullah Mehsud’s Taliban mass; 25 Taliban, 1 security officer killed after school principal kidnapped

The Taliban continue to challenge the Pakistani government’s writ in the Northwest Frontier Province. Taliban forces, estimated at “more than 200 Taliban soldiers” by Tank District Police Officer Mumtaz Zarin, massed and attacked the city of Tank on Tuesday night. “They attacked the city to avenge the killing of their colleague who died on Monday,” officer Zarin said. Twenty-five Taliban and one paramilitary officer were killed in the fighting, which included Taliban mortar and rocket attacks. The Taliban attacked two police stations and a paramilitary fort, and looted and burned two banks tot eh ground. The Pakistani Army was called in to quell the violence, provide security and establish a curfew. “Reinforcements have reached Tank to increase the security level. The militants want to destabilise Tank to spread out to other areas of the province,” said Zarin.

The Pakistani military appears to have only restored a semblance of order in Tank. “Witnesses said a strong corps of militants was holding positions in Wazirabad, Muhalla Mehsudan and Barkiabad localities, while security forces patrolled the cantonment area,” notes Dawn.

On Monday, the Taliban and local police battled after the Taliban were confronted while trying to recruit students from a local boy’s high school. Later the Taliban returned and killed a policeman and kidnapped Farid Mehsud, the school principal. “[The Taliban] were questioning the principal to determine whether he had alerted police about the presence of their associates at the school,” reports the Associated Press. “We will kill him if we find him guilty,” said a ‘militant’ associated with Baitullah Mehsud.

According to the same ‘militant’ who “has regularly provided information on behalf of [Baitullah] Mehsud,” the Taliban that attacked the city of Tank were “followers of Baitullah Mehsud.” A Pakistani intelligence officer agrees. “All clues in the kidnapping point to Baitullah, because the people who were at the school (on Monday) were linked to him,” the intelligence official told Dawn.

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