Pakistan's Crackdown on Islamists Follows Devastating Marriott Hotel Bombing

Pakistani forces are busy going after Taliban and al Qaeda in the border regions, including FATA, Warizistan, and NWFP. More than 60 have been killed, and many others have been captured following the deadly Marriott Hotel bombing.

More than 50 of the alleged insurgents, along with one soldier, died in clashes since Monday in Kohat region, which borders Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal areas, army spokesman Maj. Murad Khan said.

He said the military had retaken control of key mountain tunnel from the insurgents.

In the nearby Bajur tribal region, security forces killed at least 10 militants during an ongoing offensive there, government official Iqbal Khattak said.

That operation, which began in early August, has won praise from U.S. officials worried about rising violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but has triggered retaliatory suicide bombings elsewhere in Pakistan.

The fact that the Pakistanis are cracking down against the Islamists in the wake of the deadly Marriott Hotel bombing in Islamabad should not surprise anyone. It fits a pattern we've seen from Pakistan in the past. Crackdowns against the Islamists - including al Qaeda and the Taliban, followed by appeasement and concessions. It's a recipe for a cycle of violence, and yet the Pakistanis keep falling into the same cycle at every turn.

President Zardari is doing exactly what President Musharraf did before him. He's cracking down against the Islamists following assassination attempts. I have no doubt that the Marriott bombing was an assassination attempt that was averted only when Zardari and other government officials switched locations for an Iftar dinner from the Marriott to another location mere hours before the bombing occurred.

So, who was responsible for the bombing? I've been suggesting Baitullah Mehsud was the primary culprit, and it looks like there's plenty of support for that proposition:

The official death toll stands at 53, but it is expected to rise as there are a number of persons unaccounted for. The majority of those killed were Pakistanis. So far, 21 of those killed are Westerners, including the Czech ambassador, two US Marines, and a Danish intelligence official. Scores more were wounded.

Pakistani officials have not directly implicated a group. But Rehman Malik, the adviser to the prime minister on security issues, said "all roads point to Waziristan," an obvious reference to Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.

"This incident has similarities with the attack on the ISI's Hamza Camp as well as with the two loaded vehicles caught from D I Khan [Dera Ismail Khan], and with the blast outside the Danish embassy," Malik said on Sunday. "The explosives used in this blast matched those of earlier explosions." The explosives used in the attack contained military-grade RDX and TNT, and mortar shells and other accelerants were placed in the bomb. Al Qaeda and Baitullah's Taliban use the same explosive formula.

A spokesman for Baitullah denied involvement in the attack, but a little known Pakistani terror group took credit. The Fedayeen-e-Islam, a group with direct links to Baitullah Mehsud and al Qaeda, claimed they carried out the Marriott attack. The group is believed to be comprised of members of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, a banned terror group that operates in South Waziristan.

Meanwhile, reports continue to circulate that Pakistani forces shot at US helicopters as the helicopters tried to enter Pakistani airspace. US air strikes have killed quite a few high and mid level Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists inside Pakistan's borders, which has brought great consternation to the New York Times, which outed a secret authorization by the Bush Administration to carry out special forces raids against al Qaeda and Taliban inside Pakistan and has created significant tensions between the US and Pakistan over how to deal with the lawless border regions.