THREE COMPLEX ATTACKS IN NINE HOURS IN PESHAWAR ENVIRONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PESHAWAR 000127 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/12/2019 TAGS: PTER ASEC PGOV MOPS PK SUBJECT: THREE COMPLEX ATTACKS IN NINE HOURS IN PESHAWAR ENVIRONS REF: A) PESHAWAR 125; B) PESHAWAR 118 CLASSIFIED BY: Lynne Tracy, Principal Officer, U.S. Consulate Peshawar, U.S. Department of State. REASON: 1.4 (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Three complex attacks in and near Peshawar, occurring between 16:30 PM on June 11 and 01:00 AM on June 12, killed approximately six and wounded dozens more, including the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) Minister for Prisons. The attacks included the ambush of an armed convoy, a two-stage attack involving a suicide bomber, and an apparent attempt to launch an infantry-style assault on the residence of the highest-ranking military officer in the NWFP. They occurred at locations throughout the city and Darra Adam Khel despite the enhanced security measures that have been in place over the past two weeks (ref B),underlining the limitations of the NWFP government's ability to prevent militant assaults in the Peshawar area. End summary. NWFP Minister Ambushed -------------- ¶2. (SBU) At approximately 4:30 in the afternoon of June 11, NWFP Minister for Prisons Mian Nisar Gul Kakakhel was ambushed by armed gunmen while traveling to Peshawar from Karak district after attending a funeral there. The attack, which took place shortly after Kakakhel's vehicle exited the Kohat tunnel, occurred within sight of a Frontier Constabulary post in the restive tribal area of Darra Adam Khel. (Note: The Kohat tunnel, the northern entrance of which is close to the border of Peshawar district, has been a popular chokepoint for militant attacks over the last several years.) ¶3. (C) According to Kakakhel's nephew (an LES staff member at the Consulate),two of the minister's police bodyguards were killed in the attack; others were wounded and the minister is currently in critical condition at a hospital in Peshawar. The method of attack appeared to indicate that it was a kidnapping attempt. The attack on Kakakhel followed warnings to the Consulate from the FATA Secretariat and from USAID/OTI implementing partners that the Darra Adam Khel area - restive for years but cleared in an early-2008 Pakistani security forces operation - has become increasingly unsafe over the past months. Police Checkpoint Bombed -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Later that evening, at approximately 10:30 PM, militants attacked a police checkpost on the Grand Trunk Road on the northeast outskirts of Peshawar. The two-stage attack initiated when militants threw a hand grenade at a mobile police van forming part of the checkpost; a man wearing a suicide vest then approached the police and civilians who had congregated in the vicinity of the initial blast, killing two and wounding ten others. 11th Corps Commander's Home Attacked -------------- ¶5. (SBU) At approximately 01:00 AM on the morning of June 12, a pickup truck carrying a number of militants was stopped at a checkpoint outside of the residence of the commander of the Pakistani army's 11th Corps. (Note: The residence is located PESHAWAR 00000127 002 OF 002 next door to the Pearl Continental Hotel, bombed on the evening of June 9; security in the area had been boosted significantly in the aftermath of the attack - ref A.) The militants, who may have been disguised as soldiers in the Frontier Corps, fired on the personnel manning the checkpoint and were engaged by those personnel as well as the Corps Commander's personal security detail. Two soldiers and an unknown number of militants were killed in the exchange. Comment -------------- ¶6. (C) The events of the afternoon and evening of June 11-12 underline the continuing ability of militants to plan and execute complex attacks in and around Peshawar, despite the significantly enhanced security measures taken in the Peshawar district since the bombing attacks of May 28 on a marketplace and police checkpost. In Darra Adam Khel, the deteriorating security situation is making movement between Peshawar and the six southern districts of the NWFP more difficult and dangerous and has created a potential staging base in the south for militant attacks on the city of Peshawar. The attack on the police checkpost to the northeast of Peshawar is not far from the sites of previous bombings and on one of the two major routes connecting Peshawar with Islamabad and the Punjab. The attack on the Corps Commander's residence, inside the relatively high-security Peshawar Cantonment (which also houses the Consulate),is perhaps the most worrying of the three attacks, as it displays militants' ability to penetrate to the heart of the city and attack one of the most heavily guarded targets in Peshawar. TRACY