Pak Brigadier, former military ops chief, shot in Islamabad

Carrying out an audacious daylight attack in the heart of Islamabad, motorcycle-borne militants today sprayed bullets on a Pakistan Army vehicle, killing Brigadier Moinuddin Ahmed, former Deputy Director General of Military Operations who was serving with the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan. Before they escaped, the militants also killed the Brigadier's guard and injured the jeep's driver.

The attack, the latest in a wave of deadly terror attacks targeting the Pakistani military, took place in the high security area of G-11 on the outskirts of the city. Television footage showed the vehicle riddled with bullets and its windscreen shattered.

Brigadier Moinuddin had returned to Pakistan from Sudan only a few days ago following his father-in-law's death. He is the second Brigadier to be killed in a wave of violence that has rocked Pakistan in the the last fortnight, leaving more than 185 people dead.

A Brigadier and a Colonel were among 23 people killed when Tehrik-e-Taliban militants stormed the Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi this month Though no group immediately claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack, the second assault in Islamabad in three days, the Army said it was the handiwork of the Taliban.

Police detained about 50 suspects soon after the attack at 8.30 am. The head of the Noor-ul-Furqan seminary, located near the Brigadier's home, and a teenage boy were among suspects rounded up.

Islamabad's Inspector General of Police Kaleem Imam said investigators had searched two seminaries and were questioning six witnesses. "It looks like a targeted killing. It appears that someone was following (the Brigadier's) movements."

The attack on the Brigadier came amidst heightened security in the Pakistani capital as police braced for Taliban strikes in retaliation for the ongoing military offensive in South Waziristan and other areas in NWFP. Authorities have shut down educational institutions indefinitely following a suicide attack on the Islamic University on Tuesday.

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