Pakistani general assassinated
Two men on a motorbike killed a Pakistani general and his driver in a drive-by shooting when they opened fire on an army jeep in heavy rush-hour traffic. Moinudin Ahmed’s assassination is believed to be the first targeted attack on a senior military officer in Islamabad and gives more than a hint of a new tactic in the ongoing war between the government and Islamist militants. The attack appeared to be a direct reprisal against the army’s current offensive against militants in the rugged tribal region of South Waziristan. Brigadier General Ahmed returned to the country from Sudan just a few days earlier. He had been heading the Pakistani contingent attached to the UN peacekeeping force in the African nation. Previously he had been part of the planning of military operations in Swat and Bajaur – areas of unrest in Pakistan – and was also part of the Red Mosque operation in Islamabad in 2007 when troops fought militants inside the mosque and madrasah (school) compounds. Read more: The New York Times
Become an Insider