Weekly IntSum, 21 Feb 2017

Security forces in the Lahore area of Pakistan have taken an increased threat condition posture due to Taliban activity including a bombing near the Punjab Assembly Building at approximately 1800HRS local time on 13 February that killed at least 16 and injured at least 74. A local Taliban offshoot, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, has taken credit for this attack. The incident involved a suicide bomber during a protest regarding amendments to laws regulating drug sales. The former provincial counter-terrorism chief, Syed Ahmad Mubeen, was killed in the attack and is suspected to have been the primary target along with local security forces. This is the same group who committed a bombing against an Easter event in 2015 resulting in 72 people being killed. Couple this with the other terrorist organizations known to be active in Pakistan, particularly in the Punjab region, and this analyst can only advise Centurion ASG's customers and assets to vacate the area as soon as would be practicable to do so.

Those CASG customers and assets who may be in the Conakry region of Guinea should seek a measles vaccine immediately if they are not up to date as an outbreak of the disease, declared an "epidemic" by local authorities, has been reported in the region.

On 12 February, the North Koreans test-fired a new medium to long range missile system. The missile flew around 500km before splashing down in the Sea of Japan. Current intelligence estimates the actual range of the new missile system to be between 2500 and 3000km. The new missile system is known as the "Pukguksong-2" and is believed to be propelled by solid-fuel rockets as opposed to liquid fueled systems. The change to solid fuel allows for a much higher level of thrust (and resulting increased speed and range), a much faster response time (as there is no fueling process that must be completed), and a significantly reduced visible "footprint" for satellite and aerial reconnaissance operations. It is widely anticipated among intelligence circles, at least those intelligence circles that this analyst is privileged to be a part of, that an intercontinental ballistic missile system will be test-fired by the end of 2017. Korea has always been a hotbed of saber rattling and a potential for military involvement for the United States. Our eyes will most assuredly be quite close on the North Koreans for a while.

Security concerns are magnified in Lebanon and a travel warning from the State Department has been issues. Groups like Hizballah, ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Nusrah Front (ANF), Hamas, and the Abdullah Azzam Brigades (AAB) are all known to operate in Lebanon, which has been a hotbed of Islamic Terrorism for quite some time. One has merely to look back to the 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing in Beirut to observe this. The sheer number of groups operating within the country would encourage this analyst to advise all CASG Customers and Assets to vacate Lebanese territory as soon as practicable.

-Prepared by: CASG Intelligence Analyst,  1131EST 22FEB2017