Pakistani Brigadier Assassinated in the Capital - NYTimes.com

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By JANE PERLEZ and SALMAN MASOOD

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Two assailants on a motorbike fired on a Pakistani Army jeep in heavy rush-hour traffic on Thursday morning, killing a brigadier and his driver, a security official said.

The assassination of the brigadier, Moinudin Ahmed, was believed to be the first targeted attack on a senior military officer in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, and also suggested a new tactic in the continuing war between the government and Islamist militants. Until now, the military has been able to move with relative freedom through the capital.

The assailants fired with automatic weapons at the jeep, which was not bulletproof, and then disappeared into heavy traffic, according to witnesses. The attack took place around 9:30 a.m. in the G-11 neighborhood of the capital. Another soldier was wounded in the attack, according to a military spokesman.

The attack appeared to be a direct reprisal for the army’s current offensive against militants in the rugged tribal region of South Waziristan.

On Friday morning, a suicide bomber killed seven people in an attack on a checkpoint near a military complex about 30 miles from Islamabad, The Associated Press reported.

The brigadier returned to Islamabad a few days ago from Sudan, where he was leading the Pakistani contingent attached to the United Nations peacekeeping force, according to an Islamabad police official. He was on his way to Rawalpindi when he was attacked.

Pakistani officials said the brigadier assumed charge as head of the Pakistani contingent in Sudan almost nine months ago. Before that, he was serving in Rawalpindi as deputy director general of military operations. Earlier this year, he helped plan military operations in Swat and Bajaur. He was also involved in a government operation to end a militant siege at the Red Mosque in Islamabad in 2007.

“Investigators are looking into this angle,” an official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Late Thursday night, the Pakistani Interior Ministry issued a deadline of 72 hours for illegal Afghan immigrants to leave the capital. A door-to-door search was also ordered in three residential neighborhoods of the city.

The army continued to make slow progress in the mountainous terrain of South Waziristan, battling Taliban and Qaeda fighters in a Taliban stronghold, where the government says most of the recent terrorist attacks have been organized.

On Tuesday, Taliban militants killed six people when they struck a student cafeteria and an academic building at the International Islamic University in Islamabad. Schools in Islamabad and the province of Punjab remained closed Thursday.