Word: swatting
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...Meanwhile, elaborate rehearsals for the big day have paralyzed transportation in large areas of the capital. During the practice sessions, squads of SWAT police dressed in black body armor and balaclavas guarded major intersections. Residents of downtown Beijing were instructed not to emerge from their homes or attempt to witness the rehearsals, during which tanks and armored personnel carriers rumbled past the Prada and Gucci shops lining the capital's most famous thoroughfare, Chang'an Jie (Avenue of Eternal Peace...
...Wednesday's shooting has raised fears of a renewed campaign of violence in Pakistan's major cities after a lull following the counterinsurgency operation in the northwest Swat Valley and the assassination of Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a CIA drone strike on Aug. 5. (Read: "Hakimullah Mehsud: The New Head of Pakistan's Taliban...
...that falls short of the military campaign the U.S. desires. Instead, Pakistani authorities are hoping to exploit divisions within the TTP to prize away some factions, while counting on the CIA's drones to take out Baitullah's successors. (See pictures of refugees fleeing the fighting in Pakistan's Swat Valley...
That assessment is shared by some Pakistan experts in Washington, who say the country's military, despite some success against militants in the Swat Valley, simply doesn't have the ability to confront the TTP head-on. A ground operation would leave the Pakistani army "with its nose bloodied," says Daniel Markey of the Council on Foreign Relations. Having "come out of Swat looking reasonably good," Pakistan's generals don't want to risk "taking a morale hit." (Read "Are Pakistan's Taliban Leaders Fighting Among Themselves...
...afraid to challenge the militants." Over the weekend, elders from the Mehsud tribe announced they were prepared to fight the Taliban if they received government backing. That challenge, in the form of a local tribal militia, is already paying off against other Taliban militants to the north of the Swat valley. In Waziristan, it may succeed where previous military operations have failed...