Lahore Under Attack

There’s a big coordinated attack underway in Lahore, the cultural capital of Pakistan, far from the tribal areas where the Pakistani military is about to launch an offensive. Dawn reports that three locations, each housing elements of the security services, were struck, an attack reminiscent of the weekend’s assault on the military’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

Abu Muqawama’s friend Londonstani is in Pakistan and reports:

Dawn news channel, which is owned by the same group that owns Dawn newspaper, Pakistan’s oldest English language daily, had a retired brigadier general offering military analysis. With a hint of admiration the officer described the operation as “bold, accurate and precise”. He added that the attackers had been better trained and more effective than the Pakistani army soldiers assigned to guard the facilities.

The military analysis at the moment seems to have accepted that like the attack on GHQ last week these operations are beyond the usual huge-bomb-packed-with-nails style usually favoured by low-tech mountain fighters. The brigadier general described al Qaeda as a high tech and capable organisation that has definitely had a hand in improving the quality of training of Pakistani militants. However, it’s got to be said (and other military analysts have made the point) that the Pakistani army previously made sure these same sort of guys received pretty decent training. Londonstani remembers family members who served in the Pakistani army saying how ordinary Pakistani soldiers were pretty much always in awe of the dedication, quick wittedness, skill and resilience of the men they were training and sometimes serving with.

I don’t wish to say in the aftermath of such a horrible tragedy that perhaps that should serve as a wake-up-call about the wages of training terrorists, but I suppose I just did.