The Taliban and al Qaeda continue their relentless attacks against the Pakistani security forces. Since December 13, Taliban and al Qaeda suicide bombings and conventional attacks have claimed the lives of 43 soldiers, paramilitary soldiers, and policemen.
The numbers obtained are from open source reporting from Pakistani news outlets. The Pakistani military has proven to be unreliable with casualty numbers, and has repeatedly under reported the numbers of those killed, wounded, or captured during operations.
Twelve soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing that targeted trainees at a soccer match in Kohat on December 17. Also, the Taliban beheaded a soldier in Khar, Bajaur. Four soldiers were killed during a suicide attack at a military base in Nowshera on December 16. A suicide bomber killed eleven security personnel at a checkpoint in Quetta on December 13. Fifteen soldiers were killed and 38 wounded in a series of Taliban ambushes on military convoys in North Waziristan.
Many of these attacks are occurring inside or along the border of the Northwest Frontier Province. The Pakistani military has much of its nuclear weapons infrastructure in this region.
The Pakistani military is fighting an insurgency that is far more effective and violent than that being waged in Iraq. The Pakistani military is losing more troops in a single week than the U.S. military will lose in Iraq for the entire month, or more.
The Taliban have united under the command of Baitullah Mehsud, the able Pakistani Taliban leader from South Waziristan. Mehsud has beat off multiple military incursions into South Waziristan, most recently at Mir Ali this fall. Called the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan--the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan--this new organization unites the Taliban of the seven tribal agencies of North and South Waziristan, Khyber, Orakazi, Bajaur, Mohmand, and Kurram, as well as the settled districts of Swat, Bannu, Tank, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, Kohistan, Buner, and the Malakand division.
