Al Qaeda and the Taliban's Pakistani insurgency

The Taliban are attacking President Pervez Musharraf's hold on political and military power in Pakistan. The Taliban is also working to weaken the resolve of the police, military, and civilians in the Northwest Frontier Province and beyond. The Taliban and al Qaeda have struck Pakistani military bases in Dargai, Kharian, Dera Ismail Khan, Hangu, and North and South Waziristan. Military convoys have been repeatedly hit by suicide attacks, improvised explosive devices, and ambushes throughout the Northwest Frontier Province. The Bannu suicide attack is the latest in series of Taliban suicide strikes at civilian, police, military, and governmental targets inside Pakistan.
The tribal agencies have long been recognized as the nexus for al Qaeda and the Taliban's suicide campaigns in Pakistan, Afghanistan and beyond. The Pakistani Ministry of the Interior has repeatedly accused the powerful South Waziristan Taliban leaders Baituallah and Abdullah Mehsud of carrying out the suicide campaigns inside Pakistan. Over 80 percent of Afghanistan's suicide attackers "pass through recruitment, training facilities or safe houses in North or South Waziristan en route to their targets," a Taliban commander told the United Nations.
The 2005 London Tubes attacks, the 2006 London Airline plot, numerous suicide attacks and bombings in India, and other plots have been traced back to the Waziristan agencies.