‘Anti-drone’ militant group claims Parachinar twin blasts

Published July 27, 2013
Residents gather at the site of twin bomb explosions in Parachinar, the main town of Kurram tribal region. — Photo by AFP
Residents gather at the site of twin bomb explosions in Parachinar, the main town of Kurram tribal region. — Photo by AFP

PESHAWAR: A new militant group by the name of Ansarul Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for the Parachinar attack which has left at least 57 dead and around 180 injured and says this is their first attack outside Waziristan.

Speaking to Dawn.com from an undisclosed location, a spokesman for Ansarul Mujahideen, Abu Baseer, said the group had been set up to respond to US drone strikes.

Baseer said the organisation was “very clear” about its mission, adding that “with each drone attack, we will be responding with a suicide attack…we have done it and shown it”.

He said the recent suicide attacks on Esha check post, Boya check post and Damdail check post were carried out by Ansarul Mujahideen in retaliation to US drone strikes, adding that these would continue.

Pakistan’s official position on drone attacks says these are counter productive and undermine government efforts to separate tribes from militants, violate Pakistan’s sovereignty, kill civilians and fuel anti-US sentiment.

Regarding yesterday’s twin blasts, Baseer said the attacks had been carried out in reaction to “the atrocities committed against the majority Sunni population in Iraq and Syria”, adding that the Ansarul Mujahideen would target “those who somehow support” these atrocities.

Parachinar is some 250 kilometres west of Peshawar and has a population of 50,000. In the wake of sectarian clashes in 2007, the army and paramilitary forces set up several checkpoints on roads leading to the town.

Kurram, the tribal region of which Parachinar is the main town, the only part of Pakistan's border region that has a significant Shia population, has been racked by sectarian violence.

Opinion

Editorial

Accruing more debt
Updated 28 Sep, 2023

Accruing more debt

We are in midst of the worst, longest economic crisis because of lavish lifestyles of powerful interests.
Israeli normalisation
28 Sep, 2023

Israeli normalisation

OVER the past few weeks, there have been many reports prophesising the impending normalisation of ties between Saudi...
Kandhkot tragedy
28 Sep, 2023

Kandhkot tragedy

THE tragic incident that unfolded yesterday in Sindh’s Kandhkot tehsil, leading to the deaths of at least nine...
More desecration
Updated 27 Sep, 2023

More desecration

Attacks on the Islamic faith are not motivated by an attachment to free speech but by raw hatred.
Worrying remarks
27 Sep, 2023

Worrying remarks

THESE are ominous words from Gwadar. Maulana Hidayatur Rehman, chairman of the Gwadar Haq Do Tehreek, has warned ...
Justice or vendetta?
Updated 27 Sep, 2023

Justice or vendetta?

ONE wonders whether all pretence of the state as a democracy has been whittled down to a point where it has simply...