Al Qaeda’s new South Asia branch on Thursday claimed responsibility for a weekend raid on a Karachi naval yard that left a sailor and three attackers dead, saying former military officers had helped in the attack.
It is the first attack claimed by the terror network’s new wing, whose creation was announced by chief Ayman Al-Zawahiri last week. The claims, made on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York, will likely add to concerns about extremist infiltration of the Pakistani military’s ranks after the Taliban, who also claimed to be behind the attack, said they received inside help. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had voiced concerns when addressing parliament on Wednesday, saying: “We cannot rule out the inside help in this attack because without it the miscreants could not breach security.”
Al Qaeda in South Asia was launched last week in what experts see as a bid to remain relevant in the face of rising competition by the Islamic State (IS). “The operation near Karachi shore was an attack by Al Qaeda in the Subcontinent,” an Urdu-language statement from the group sent to foreign news agency said. It claimed that the target of the raid was a “US supply ship” and said the dead attackers included former Pakistan navy officers. It was not immediately possible to confirm whether a US ship was present at the port. Commodore Nadeem Bukhari, a spokesman for the Pakistan Navy, said an investigation into the attack was under way. “It cannot be ruled out but it is still premature to say that it was an inside work,” he told France based news agency.
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