The Pakistani Taliban has friends in high places, what with Pakistan’s spy service, the ISI, being implicated in involvement in the Mumbai jihad attack and other jihad plots. That may be one reason why it can act with increasing impunity. And why does it have friends in high places? Because there are people in the Pakistani government who share its understanding of Islam. But that is one fact that mainstream analysts are determined to ignore.
“More violence erupts near Pakistan’s busiest airport; Taliban vows ‘full-out war’,” by Holly Yan and Sophia Saifi, CNN, June 10, 2014
Karachi, Pakistan (CNN) — For the second time in two days, Pakistan’s largest and busiest airport was forced to shut down after militants launched a brazen attack on airport security forces.
Tuesday’s assault targeted the Airport Security Forces academy near Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport, the airport’s manager told CNN’s Saima Mohsin in Karachi.
Security forces told CNN that an unknown number of gunmen attacked the academy’s entrance and were met with an armed response. The attackers fled, and no one was killed in the attack, officials said.
Once again, the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility.
“This wave of attacks will be continuing in retaliation for the shelling and atrocities of the government,” spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said by phone Tuesday from an undisclosed location.
Ten militants stormed the same airport’s cargo area late Sunday night, leading to an hours-long siege that left 36 people dead, including the assailants.
The Pakistani Taliban also claimed responsibility for that assault, saying the attack was retaliation for the death of former chief Hakimullah Mehsud, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in November in North Waziristan.
The militant group, also known as the TTP, had warned of more carnage starting Tuesday.
Shahid said earlier this week that the Pakistani Taliban would engage “in a full-out war with the Pakistani state, starting on June 10.”…