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    You are at:Home»American Blackwater staffers targeted in Peshawar hotel attack

    American Blackwater staffers targeted in Peshawar hotel attack

    2
    By Sarah Akel on 11 June 2009 Uncategorized

    LAHORE: The Pakistani intelligence sleuths investigating the June 10,
    2009 deadly suicide attack in Peshawar, which completely destroyed the
    Pearl Continental Hotel, say of the 17 people killed including
    foreigners, five were the members of the infamous American security
    agency, Blackwater Worldwide which has played a considerable role
    during Iraq and Afghan wars as a contractor for the United States
    government.

    The Pakistani intelligence sources involved in the investigations of
    the case said on condition of anonymity that a large number of the
    foreigners, especially Americans, had been staying in the hotel for
    quite some time now amidst reports that its third and the fourth
    floors had actually been rented out to the American security agency
    Blackwater Worldwide, five of whom were killed on June 10. On the
    other hand, however, the Pakistan government is not ready to confirm
    the death of the American security agents and the interior ministry
    sources still insist that all the foreigners killed, including a few
    Americans were the employees of the United Nations.

    The interior ministry sources in Islamabad deny that any of those
    killed belonged to Blackwater Worldwide, formerly Blackwater USA, a
    private military company founded in 1997 by Erik Prince and Al Clark.
    It has alternatively been referred to as a security contractor or a
    mercenary organization by international media. Blackwater Worldwide
    is currently the largest of the US State Department’s three private
    security contractors. Of the 987 contractors Blackwater provides, 744
    are U.S. citizens. At least 90 percent of its revenue comes from
    government contracts, two-thirds of which are no-bid contracts. To
    recall, four employees of Blackwater Worldwide, also called Blackwater
    Security Consulting, were killed in Fallujah on 31 March 2004 and
    their bodies were hanged on bridges.

    Interestingly, according to a report carried by Britain’s McClatchy
    Newspapers, the Peshawar Pearl Continental Hotel was at the centre of
    an American plan to establish a long-term presence in Peshawar. In its
    report which appeared almost two weeks before the June 10 attack, the
    newspaper quoted a senior US State Department official as having
    confirmed that the American plan for the consulate in Peshawar
    involved the purchase of the Pearl Continental hotel. The official
    spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to
    speak publicly. Peshawar is an important station for gathering
    intelligence on the tribal area that surrounds the city on three sides
    and is a base for al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

    Already, an al-Qaeda-linked militant group, Abdullah Azzam Shaheed
    Brigade, has claimed responsibility for the Pearl Continental Hotel
    bombing, saying the attack was in retaliation to the ongoing
    operations by the Pakistani armed forces at the behest of the United
    States in Swat district and other parts of the NWFP. A spokesman of
    the organisation, Ameer Muawiya, phoned reporters in Kohat city of the
    North Western Frontier Province to claim responsibility for the
    Peshawar attack, saying the prime target of the attackers were foreign
    security personnel from the United States who had been using the Pearl
    Continental hotel building as their headquarters.

    By naming the group as Abdullah Azzam Shaheed Brigade, its founders
    wanted to honour the late Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian from
    Jordan who was among the first Arab nationals who volunteered to join
    the Afghan jehad against the forces of the then Soviet Union in
    Afghanistan in the 1980s. He gave up his teaching job at the Islamic
    University in Islamabad and shifted to Peshawar to facilitate the Arab
    nationals who were motivated by him to wage jehad against the Russian
    occupation forces in Afghanistan. During the Afghan war, Azzam was
    financed by Saudia and other Islamic states to establish camps for
    Muslim militants who joined the fight against the Russian forces.

    Azzam was one of the inspirations behind the creation of the
    Palestinian militant group Hamas and once considered the religious and
    political mentor of Osama bin Laden. He is also credited with
    convincing Osama bin Laden, Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri, Sheikh Omar Abdur
    Rahman and others to come to Peshawar and take part in the Afghan war
    against the Soviet forces and Afghan communists. As a matter of fact,
    Laden’s Peshawar based Bayt-ul-Ansar (House of the Helpers), involved
    in work similar to that of Azzam’s group provided an opportunity to
    both Abdullah Azzam and Laden to work together, though Azzam was
    already a prominent figure then and Osama was not.

    During these times, Abdullah Azzam reportedly came into contact with
    Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and the two discussed the idea of establishing
    Markaz Dawa Wal Irshad. Hafiz Saeed was then tasked to draw up a plan
    to raise the centre at Muridke near Lahore, Pakistan. Azzam later
    became a co-founder of the Lashkar-e-Toiba which was later renamed as
    Jamaatul Daawa and is now headed by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed. To this day,
    the JuD uses Azzam’s speeches and publications to train and motivate
    its cadres.

    Also noteworthy is the fact that LeT, before it renamed itself in
    2002, had links on its website to the official Hamas website and the
    then English mouthpiece of al Qaeda, www.Azzam.com. Azzam was also the
    ideologue for the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, besides being the
    political mentor of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. But the moving
    spirit behind the military might of the Lashkar-e-Toiba had always
    been Commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the prime accused in the 26/11
    Mumbai terror attacks.

    amir.mir1969@gmail.com

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    2 Comments
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    kashif
    kashif
    16 years ago

    American Blackwater staffers targeted in Peshawar hotel attack
    its good that mujahideen targetted these american terrorists who are responsible for thousands of muslim deaths
    these american black water army guys are terrorists and terrorists needed to be eliminated.who knows how many innocent muslims were slain by these american terrorists

    0
    Andy
    Andy
    16 years ago

    American Blackwater staffers targeted in Peshawar hotel attack
    Is it Islamic to kill other people?These guys should be ashamed of themselves,what they doing is not Islamic at all,these guys are worst then animals.

    0
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