Islamabad unfazed by nearby Taliban attack

A brazen Taliban attack on Nato supplies near Islamabad indicates the militants' growing confidence, but analysts say improved security in recent months has limited their ability to strike the capital itself. Western allies of Pakistan are concerned about a Taliban insurgency in the northwest, but attacks in Islamabad evoke worries of a return to the violence that drove out many aid workers and diplomats in recent years. Militants have previously targeted supplies bound for Afghanistan that pass through Pakistan's northwest and southwest, Tuesday's ambush, which killed seven people, was the first such assault near Islamabad. “It certainly does indicate a kind of an increase in the confidence level of extremists,” former Interior Secretary Tasneem Noorani said of the attack in Tarnol village, less than 30 minutes drive from the heavily guarded capital. “But Islamabad has been sealed off pretty effectively ...After security checkpoints at all entry and exit points coupled with increased surveillance, it is not so easy to get into Islamabad than it was a few months ago.” Militant attacks across Pakistan, including Islamabad, intensified after a military operation in July 2007 killed more than 100 people at a mosque in the heart of the capital. The last three years have seen major attacks in Islamabad, including a suicide bombing on the Marriott hotel in September 2008 that killed at least 53 people, including foreigners. After a suicide attack on an Islamabad office of the World Food Programme (WFP) in October last year, the United Nations relocated up to 15 percent of its staff outside Pakistan and restricted movement of staff within the city. Pakistan is also a non-family staff posting for US diplomats. But attacks have fallen in recent months after the military scored major gains in offensives in the northwestern Swat valley and the South Waziristan region. Troops have largely cleared militants from Swat and tribal regions on the Afghan border. IMPROVED SURVEILLANCE Since the WFP attack, the capital has mostly been spared. Police say this is the result of an improved surveillance and better counter-terrorism training. “As many as 104 terrorists have been arrested in the capital since March last year, which helped prevent many potential terrorist attacks,” a top police official, Bin Yameen, said. Roadblocks are a still common sight in the capital and most of the vehicles entering Islamabad are searched. But analysts say that while surveillance has improved, police still do not have proper training. “What you need is a dedicated anti-terrorism force which is different to common police,” Noorani said. China has promised a $184 million in soft loan to help Pakistan enhance the capacity of its police force, Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters after the Tarnol attack. “We're developing four safe cities where security checking will be done through electronic gadgets and CCTV and manual checking systems will be reduced,” Malik said, without naming the cities. Officials say they include Islamabad. For people like Ishrat Ahmed, a cab driver, the reduction in violence has given a sense of security and a boost to his income with more clients. Fear, however, lingers on. “We still don't know if it is over ... Look at what happened in Tarnol,” Ahmed said.