The Most Dangerous Place: Pakistan's Lawless Frontier by Imtiaz Gul

Author:Imtiaz Gul [Gul, Imtiaz]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2010-05-31T06:00:00+00:00

The Bomber Who Wavered

“We receive funds from Arab countries, therefore, we cannot carry out any attack there, and if we commit any wrong there, they will stop supply of funds to us.” This was the response of Abu Nasir al-Qahtani, a suicide bombing trainer, when one of his disciples, twenty-one-year-old Mansoor Khan Dawar, asked him through his local teacher whether suicide bombing was Islamic and why only Afghanistan and Pakistan were the targets of such attacks.

Born in Hurmaz, a small village near Miranshah in North Waziristan, Mansoor was picked up by Taliban recruiters from a village mosque in the spring of 2006. “After several sessions at an isolated compound in Hurmaz, my teacher took me to Spinkai Raghzai for special training,” Mansoor told one of my close friends based in Miranshah, whom I had sent in to interview youngsters who had undergone training for suicide bombing.

The camp was led by Qari Hussain, the TTP master-trainer of suicide bombers. If Mansoor Khan was to be believed, al-Qahtani, a Saudi national who had escaped from the Bagram prison north of Kabul during the summer of 2005, was staying with Hussain at that time.

After his escape from Bagram, al-Qahtani fled to North Waziristan. He joined forces with Abu Wafa, an expert in militant activities, and soon became active in the Afghan provinces of Khost, Paktika, and Paktia. “A recently released CD shows al-Qahtani imparting military training, guiding the fighters with the help of computerized maps to attack enemy bases and delivering a lengthy speech to wage jihad against ‘infidels’ in Afghanistan and Iraq,” the Pakistani News reported shortly before al-Qahtani was recaptured in early November 2006 by Afghan and coalition forces in Khost.10

“When I met al-Qahtani, he soon impressed me with his thoughts on Islam and America and I decided to become a suicide bomber,” Mansoor recalled. Mansoor was either unable to identify or perhaps did not want to name the place where he got his training. His description of the place, however, suggests the camp was located somewhere in the Shawal Mountains that form a natural border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“I completed my training in the mountains in twenty days. Most of the time we were either training or praying and the speeches by al-Qahtani were also very emotional and motivating,” Mansoor said, explaining that he trained in a group of ten. “Our instructors would show videos of atrocities on Muslims and also teach us verses of the Holy Quran and Hadiths against the infidels.” Once convinced that the young boy was ready for the suicide mission, his mentors told him to visit his parents before embarking on the “journey to eternity.”

Mansoor’s parents were surprised, but also greatly relieved to see him again after an almost four-week absence. But the boy seemed to be a different person; he had turned quiet and reclusive, arousing their suspicion. “After my father repeatedly asked me what I was up to, I told him about the training and the mission ahead of me, of my intention

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