The earthquake's impact on jihadi terrorism

Here's a bit of good news, folks, although don't overestimate the damage that was inflicted on the godless and the immoral.

The earthquake struck Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) and the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan on October 8, 2005. Of the jihadi terrorist organizations belonging to bin Laden's International Islamic Front (IIF), only the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) has admitted extensive damage to its infrastructure as well as the death of at least 70 of its cadres.

Maulana Abdul Aziz Alvi, a spokesman of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD), said in Karachi on October 11: "The group has taken a severe blow. The casualty figure may cross 100 and even more."

More than a dozen members died when the roof of the party office collapsed during a meeting, he said.

One should not overestimate the damages suffered by the training infrastructure of the jihadi terrorist organizations. Their training camps generally consist of tents which can be shifted to evade detection and targeting by U.S. intelligence agencies.

Balochistan and the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), where most of the sanctuaries and training camps of al-Qaeda, the Taliban, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), the Jundullah, and other similar organizations are located, have not been affected by the quake.

In another report, however, scores of activists from an Islamist charity linked to Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba died in Saturday’s earthquake.

A spokesman for Jamat-ud-Dawa, a group drawn from the ranks of Lashkar, said the charity’s mosques, hospitals, schools and Islamic seminaries were obliterated.

Lashkar, accused by Delhi of having taken part in the December 2001 attack on Parliament, is banned in both India and Pakistan.

Analysts say the outfit is based on Wahhabism, the austere brand of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia, and has prospered from overseas donations, especially to charities linked with it.