Last week, Al-Qaeda's leader Ayman al-Zawahiri announced the formation of a new franchise, Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent:
"This entity was not established today but is the fruit of a blessed effort of more than two years to gather the mujahedeen in the Indian sub-continent into a single entity," he said.
The announcement was followed by an attack on a vessel in Karachi's port last Saturday night.
The attack was not a success.
According to The Daily Telegraph:
Heavily armed militants attacked a naval dock in Karachi's sea port on Saturday night and targeted what they believed was an American aircraft carrier, but instead found a Pakistan Navy frigate and were overwhelmed before they could cause any damage, investigators said.
Three jihadis were killed in the attack, four were captured and another three arrested the following day on information from interrogations. Two Pakistan Navy guards were wounded in the fighting.
"It was a complete failure, they did not do any kind of damage, some were captured and we caught more, seven so far and may be more to come. They were well-equipped and came with the intention of taking a ship into their custody but they were caught in the initial stages," a senior source close to the investigation told the Telegraph.
Pakistani investigators were also skeptical about Al-Qaeda's claims to be responsible for the attack, saying that they suspected Al-Qaeda was claiming credit for the work of another terrorist group.
"If they did it why would they wait until Thursday to claim it?" said one source.
It appears that the feared terrorists of Al-Qaeda are less evil masterminds than a combination of a bad soap-opera and The Keystone Cops...for which we must be grateful.
5:46 PM PT: Here is different take on this story. Thanks to @Village Vet.