Pakistani Taliban buying children for suicide attacks

October 10th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistan intelligence agencies have warned that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) may carry out a series of suicide attacks across the country including Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Chaklala and Peshawar. An intelligence report said the Taliban may target important government installations and eminent personalities.

October 6th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistani Taliban Tuesday claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at UN World Food programme (WFP) offices in Islamabad. The Monday afternoon attack, which killed five employees of the WFP, prompted immediate closure of all UN offices across the country "until further notice".

September 22nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani security forces have nabbed a top commander of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Shura Nasim alias Abu Faraj from the Charbagh region in Swat. Sources said Faraj masterminded several suicide attacks which have rocked Pakistan in the recent past.

September 21st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A senior commander of the banned militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been apprehended in northwest Pakistan's Swat region, media reports said Monday. According to sources, Nasim alias Abu Faraj, who masterminded many suicide attacks in the country, was arrested in an operation by Pakistani security forces, GEO News reported.

September 2nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani security forces believe that new Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud is dead, a media report said Wednesday. A Pakistani TV news channel quoted intelligence sources as saying that the man died some time back and it was Hakimullahs look-alike brother who spoke to news channels recently.

August 24th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Sunday the security forces will continue their offensives against the Taliban during the holy month of Ramadan, the Online news agency reported. "We are not interested in a ceasefire," Malik said.

August 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Majority of Pakistanis are against the suicide attacks being carried out in the country by banned terror outfits in the name of religion, a poll has revealed. According to a poll conducted by Washington's Pure Research Centre, 87 percent Pakistanis did not support the suicide attacks.

July 8th, 2009 LONDON - Pakistan, for the first time has admitted that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud is virtually running a factory of suicide bombers, and using small children for the purpose. The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesperson, Major General Athar Abbas said that Mehsud buys and sells children as young as 11 years old to be used as suicide bombers to strike strategic locations across the country.

July 3rd, 2009 LOWER DIR - Pakistani residents in the Hamza Banda area of Lower Dir district have ordered Taliban commander Mufti Aftab to leave the area immediately, a media report said Friday. The Taliban commander along with his eight aides had entered the area some days ago, the Online news agency said.

July 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud is virtually running an 'assembly line' of suicide bombers to wreak havoc in the troubled nation. A report in The Washington Times quoted US officials as saying, that Mehsud is recruiting small children as young as six or seven, to serve as suicide bombers.

June 16th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Taliban is buying children for 500,000 to 2.5 million rupees to convert them into suicide bombers, and execute barbarous terrorist activities, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik has revealed. Speaking at an award distribution ceremony, Malik said Pakistan is determined to continue the war against terrorism till the Taliban are flushed out of the country.

May 18th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that the Taliban have spent huge sums of money to lure youths to carry out suicide attacks in the country. He said: 'They (Taliban) bought youths from the poor families in half a million to 2.5 million rupees (about $30,802) for suicide attacks.' The Taliban want to weaken the country, Malik told reporters after visiting relief camps in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

April 26th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Around 300 suicide bombers and terrorists led by five senior Taliban commanders close to Baitullah Mehsud are believed to be headed towards the Pakistani capital Islamabad as well as Rawalpindi and Lahore cities to carry out major terror attacks. The News, quoting interior ministry sources, said the terror operations were planned by Mehsud and the Taliban Himayat Tehrik (THT).

April 23rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Taliban is recruiting children and teenagers in Pakistan to transform them into suicide bombers to carry out deadly attacks across the country, in which scores of people have been killed in the recent past. According to a report in the Daily Times, at least 5000 child suicide bombers aged between 10 to 17 years have been trained by the Taliban till now, and are waiting to strike at the orders of their masters.

April 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The Taliban have threatened that they would 'carry out two bombings a week within Pakistan' in retaliation to the US drone attacks. Hakimullah Mehsud, a deputy to Baitullah Mehsud who is the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, said in a telephone interview Sunday that the Taliban were responsible for the suicide attacks in Pakistan's Islamabad and Chakwal, the New York Times reported.