Fact Check: The Russian Ambassador To Pakistan Wasn’t Targeted By Terrorists

Influential accounts have a responsibility to their audience to perform due diligence before sharing their opinion about extremely sensitive news items like this one.

A remote-controlled improvised explosive device (IED) killed a Pakistani policeman on Sunday whose vehicle was escorting a convoy of foreign dignitaries in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swat district. The Russian Ambassador was among the officials from Indonesia, Portugal, Kazakhstan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Turkmenistan, Vietnam, Iran, and Tajikistan in that convoy, but all of them were unharmed. Nevertheless, some popular X accounts claimed that he was the one who was targeted.

“Lord Bebo”, who has nearly half a million followers, asked “Who wanted to kill the Russian ambassador in Pakistan?”. This was followed by Iranian professor Seyed Mohammed Marandi, who often shares his expertise on regional events with RT, then rhetorically asking “Why do these ‘Islamic’ terror organizations always attack Iranians, Russians, Chinese, Syrians, Libyans,...Because they have been tools of NATO for the past 45 years.” The problem is that nobody actually targeted the Russian Ambassador.

Pakistan’s Express Tribune reported that Swat District Police Officer Zahidullah Khan told the media that “A mobile van from the Mangalor Police Station was patrolling Malam Jabba Road when unknown assailants targeted it with a remote-controlled bomb at Jahanabad.” At the same time, NBC News cited Deputy Inspector General of Police in Swat Mohammad Ali Gandapur to report that “the attackers had targeted a police vehicle.” The claim that the Russian Ambassador was targeted is therefore incorrect.

What therefore appears to have happened is that a roadside IED was probably planted some time ago and then opportunistically detonated when the police vehicle that was escorting the dignitaries’ convoy happened to pass right by it. The culprit hasn’t been confirmed at the time of this analysis’ publication, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it was the Afghan-based TTP, which is supported by the Afghan Taliban and has ramped up its war against the Pakistani state since 2021. Here are three background briefings:

* 6 January 2023: “Twenty Truths About Pakistani-Taliban Ties In Light Of Their Latest Tensions”

* 15 July 2023: “The TTP’s Terrorist Threat To Pakistan Is Metastasizing”

* 1 September 2024: “The CIA Isn’t Responsible For The Upsurge Of Terrorism In Pakistan’s Balochistan Region”

The last piece is particularly relevant since it debunked top Alt-Media influencer Pepe Escobar’s claim that a recent spree of terrorist attacks in Pakistan was the work of the CIA. Considering his sway over the rest of the community, it can’t be ruled out that “Lord Bebo” and Professor Marandi took their narrative cues from him, thus partially explaining why both hinted that the West and NATO were behind Sunday’s incident. The reality though is that they actually had nothing to do with what happened.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi informed the Senate Standing Committee on the Interior earlier this month that “Most of those orchestrating attacks against Pakistan are the [terrorists] released under the agreement (a while back to let them go free). Our Home Secretary has already visited Afghanistan and provided all the evidence, urging them to take action.” This was followed by what Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Munir Akram told the Security Council in mid-September.

He said that “the TTP has become the largest terrorist group in Afghanistan, routinely conducting cross-border attacks into Pakistan. Backed by the Taliban, these militants are equipped with advanced weaponry and increasingly collaborate with other insurgent factions, including secessionist groups like the Majeed Brigade. Pakistan fears that the TTP's growing alliance with Al-Qaeda could soon elevate it to a central role in regional and global terrorist activities.”

This is the objectively existing and easily verifiable background to Sunday’s incident, which leads to the conclusion that Afghan-backed TTP terrorists were responsible, not the West or NATO like “Lord Bebo” and Professor Marandi implied. Neither of them spread fake news per se, however, since their intentions were to raise greater awareness of what they sincerely thought was an attempt to kill the Russian Ambassador. As was proven, no such attempt was made, thus meaning that they jumped to conclusions.

They apparently reacted after only reading some headlines about this without investing the time to learn more about what they were commenting on otherwise they’d have discovered that the Russian Ambassador wasn’t targeted and that he was traveling in a convoy with many other foreign dignitaries. The false impression that their unaware audience might be left with after reading their posts is that the West/NATO backs terrorists in Pakistan and is now using their proxies there for anti-Russian purposes.

That’s not true though since it’s the Afghan Taliban and not either of those aforementioned two that’s indirectly responsible for what happened as was explained. This realization won’t be lost on the countries whose diplomats were in that convoy, especially Russia’s, which is cultivating close ties with that group. In fact, the Taliban just submitted a request to attend October’s BRICS Summit in Kazan, thus showing the strength of their relations. Here are three background briefings:

* 19 May: “Analyzing The Strategic Importance Of Russia’s Reportedly Planned Afghan Oil Hub”

* 28 May: “Russia Is Preparing To Strategically Partner With The Taliban”

* 29 May: “The Future Of Russian-Afghan Ties”

Recalling that Pakistani security officials confirmed that the terrorists targeted police and not any of those foreign dignitaries, which they could have lied about but didn’t to their credit, it’s unlikely that Russia’s ties with the Taliban will suffer as a result. Even so, policymakers will keep in mind the Taliban’s support for TTP terrorists when deliberating over the proposal to remove them from their list of terrorist organizations, not to mention potential security cooperation with them.

What Russia won’t do is blame the West or NATO like “Lord Bebo” and Professor Marandi suggested were behind Sunday’s incident. Their hearts were in the right place, but they were wrong about who was responsible, which implies that Russia is covering up for its enemies by not calling them out for this. That could in turn be seen as weakness by some and perhaps even yet another crossing of Russia’s red lines. These perceptions don’t help Russia’s cause even though those two thought they were assisting it.

Influential accounts have a responsibility to their audience to perform due diligence before sharing their opinion about extremely sensitive news items like this one. It’s understandable that folks sometimes get carried away by jumping to conclusions, but corrections should always be issued afterwards once they find out that they were wrong, which happens to everyone and isn’t something to be ashamed of. Hopefully “Lord Bebo” and Professor Marandi will update their audience about what really happened.