ISLAMABAD Laying unconscious on a bed in Intensive Care Unit of Combined Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, District Police Officer of Bannu Iqbal Marwat is the latest target of Uzbek militants, as he sustained multiple injuries in a suicide attack in Bannu on February 11. Investigations have been underway since the occurrence of horrible attack that claimed 15 lives including eight policemen and the investigators claimed on Saturday that the attack was carried out by militants of Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Talking to this correspondent on Saturday, Additional District Police Officer of Bannu Mohammad Shafiq Khan confirmed that investigators believed that Uzbek militants of IMU carried out this attack. It is a pity that no higher authority from NWFP Police or the administration bothered to inquire about the health of the police officer who earned respect by his hard work and honesty throughout his professional carer and has been laying unconscious in CMH for the last three days. Since the security forces have broken backbone of terrorists in Waziristan, terrorist groups are on the run seeking refuge somewhere else to flex their muscles for retaliatory attacks. IMU is one of the terrorist groups with more than 5,000 troops, once hiding in North and South Waziristan. According to sources from law enforcement agencies, terrorists of IMU may further cause devastation in the region in near future if not eliminated completely. It is relevant to mention here that security agencies informed higher authorities of Interior Ministry five months back that they had credible evidence that there were more than 5,000 Uzbek militants hiding in North and South Waziristan. It is also relevant to mention here that FATA Additional Chief Secretary Habibullah Khan told Senate Standing Committee on State and Frontier Regions on September 13, 2009 that law enforcement agencies had evidence that the USA, Israel and India were involved in nurturing insurgency in FATA. According to investigation done by this reporter, biggest group of foreign militants operating on Pakistans soil is believed to be that of the Uzbeks who are associated with IMU, headed by Qari Tahir Yuldashev. By a rough estimate, more than 4,800 Uzbek militants have strongholds in different localities in Wana, North Waziristan Agency, and they enjoy close association with militants of Mehsud tribe. Uzbek militants are members of the IMU, which was formed in 1998. The group operated from bases in Tajikistan and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan before coming to Pakistan after US-led forces launched their campaign in Afghanistan. Since then these warriors have been a constant threat to Pakistan, higher authorities of Interior Ministry believe. The IMU has been linked with groups fighting against Pakistans security forces and operating across the border in Afghanistan. Apart from Uzbeks, there are other foreign militant groups such as networks of isolated Chechens, Libyan Islamic Group and Chinese Uighar militants from the East Turkmenistan Islamic Movement (ETIM). Members of ETIM are largely believed to be dormant in the area. Uzbek militants had a close association with Wanas main militant leader Commander Nazir since their arrival. However, due to some differences between commander Nazir and Qari Tahir Yuldashev, the Uzbeks were cornered and driven out by Commander Nazir from the Waziri territory last year. After facing the wrath of Commander Nazir, the Uzbeks had to flee Wana and were given refuge by the then leader of Mehsud tribe Baitullah Mehsud, an official serving FATA secretariat on a key post told this reporter seeking anonymity on Saturday when contacted. We have information that the Uzbek militants are on good terms with Mehsud tribe even after the death of Hakimullah, he said. At first the Uzbek militants were supposed to be concerned with the IMU. However a message by Yuldashev through a DVD, calling for attacks on Pakistani security personnel made it clear that his movement was not just about Uzbekistan but was working on al-Qaedas overall goal, a security official told when contacted. According to another source from Ministry of Interior, Uzbekistan asked Pakistan to extradite a number of suspected Al-Qaeda fighters of Uzbek origin who have been captured during the operation in Wana. However, this reporter could not contact the spokesperson of Interior Ministry to confirm it till filing of this report. The Uzbeks captured in Pakistan in the recent days had joined Al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan in 1990. In July 2008, authorities of Ministry of Interior presented a report to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani providing the latest figures about foreign fighters present in FATA. Roughly their number was more than 8,000 and out of them 4,800 were believed to be Uzbeks. The same facts and figures were also presented at a special cabinet briefing last year.