Vengeful new terrorist group emerges in Pakistan

Authorities now believe a dangerous new militant group, out to avenge a deadly army assault on the Lal Masjid in Islamabad three years ago, has carried out several major bombings in the capital previously blamed on the Taliban. The emergence of the Ghazi Force was part of the outrage among many Pakistani Muslims over the July 2007 attack. The fierce attack inspired a new generation of militants who have turned against a government they felt has betrayed them and, to their dismay, backed the US role in Afghanistan.

The brief but bloody history of the Ghazi Force illustrates the unintended results of Pakistan’s policy of promoting extremists to fight India in Indian-held Kashmir. The new group is made up of relatives of students who died in the Lal Masjid assault. It is named after their leader, Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was also killed. The mosque’s adjacent madrassa had been a sanctuary for militants opposed to Pakistan’s support of the war in Afghanistan.