Pakistanis cast doubt on Taliban's role in bin Laden revenge attack

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The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings Friday morning in Pakistan's northwest that killed at least 80 people, saying they were meant to avenge Osama bin Laden's death.

“This was the first revenge for Osama’s martyrdom. Wait for bigger attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” said Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

But despite public anger over the US raid that killed bin Laden in his Abbottabad compound, the Taliban's purported revenge attacks today don't appear to have resonated with Pakistanis.

Local police told The New York Times that they doubt the Taliban is actually responsible for the attack, which they believe was a response to a Pakistani Army assault against Taliban militants in a nearby mountain region called Mohmand and was carried out by a splinter group that has been fighting the Army in the region.

Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao, a member of the provincial assembly of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, said the training facility has been a frequent target of militant attacks “Basically, the threat is from Mohmand Agency, where militants still have pockets and are active,” he said.

“I feel that this attack is not in retaliation to the Abbottabad incident. Basically, in the last one and a half months, a new military operation has been started in Mohmand as the army is going against militants,” he said. “So this attack can be seen as a retaliation to the Mohmand operation."

Indeed, the Washington Post said a Taliban source speaking on condition of anonymity had disputed his organization's stated reason for the attack, saying it was "intended to punish the military for the Mohmand offensive, not for bin Laden’s killing."

The bombings took place in Shabqadar Tehsil in the Charsadda district in Pakistan's northwest, a tribal region that is difficult for Pakistan to control and has become a haven for militant groups.

According to the Washington Post, US special forces were involved in training the paramilitary forces at the facility. Pakistani militant groups are vocally opposed to the cooperation between the US and the Pakistani government and security forces, and they frequently target security installations.

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