Taliban attack on Pak GHQ was planned in South Waziristan: ISPR chief

Rawalpindi, Oct.12 (ANI): The Director-General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) of the Pakistan armed forces, Major General Athar Abbas, said on Tuesday that the 18-hour-long Taliban attack on the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi on Saturday and Sunday was planned in South Waziristan.

Major-General Abbas told a press conference here that the Pakistan armed forces was now more determined than ever to go after the Taliban in South Waziristan in the wake of the attack that resulted in the death of 16 people, including eight militants

Major General Abbas's statement came even as Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik said in Singapore that a military offensive against the militants in South Waziristan, a Taliban stronghold, was 'imminent'.

"It has been decided, the civilian leadership has decided, the operation is imminent," Malik told a foreign news agency in Singapore.

Malik said initial investigations suggest that the GHQ attack was planned by the Taliban, but added that Al-Qaeda's hand could not be ruled out.

"The man who has been arrested, his name is Usman. He's a TTP (Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan) guy, but we have some indications he is also from al Qaeda," The Dawn quoted Malik, as saying.

In one of the most audacious terror strikes in Pakistan in the recent past, a team of commando-trained terrorists raided the Pakistan Arm's General Headquarters in Rawalpindi on Saturday and took several hostages inside one of GHQ buildings. (ANI)