Attack Draws Attention to Quiet US Efforts in Pakistan

Taliban may have had intelligence from within the Frontier Corps
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 4, 2010 8:17 AM CST
Attack Draws Attention to Quiet US Efforts in Pakistan
Local residents examine a damaged school caused by Wednesday's roadside bombing in Shahi Koto, a village of Pakistani district Lower Dir, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010.   (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

The US had an uncomfortable light shined on its training operations in Pakistan yesterday, when three American soldiers were killed in a Taliban suicide bombing in Lower Dir. The soldiers were part of a Special Operations team training Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps, the New York Times reports, a program both the Pakistani and US militaries have tried to keep under wraps, for fear of stoking anti-American sentiment.

The attack may have specifically targeted the Americans as “payback for the mounting frequency of the drone attacks,” says one professor of international relations in Islamabad. But that would raise the possibility that the Taliban received intelligence from inside the Frontier Corps. The soldiers had been disguised in traditional Pakistani garb, and their vehicle was in the middle of the convoy for protection. (More Pakistan stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X