# The Punjab Elite Force

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "The Punjab Elite Force," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/punjab-elite-force/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The Pakistani provincial counterterrorism unit that supplied part of the assault manpower for the Abu Zubaydah raids of March 2002 — black trousers, black t-shirts stencilled with a pistol, and, in John Kiriakou's telling, a refusal to wear body armour on the grounds that if God called them that night they would go.*

- **Country:** Pakistan
- **Type:** Provincial SWAT / quick reaction force
- **Role:** Assault element in the [Abu Zubaydah](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/abu-zubaydah) raids, March 2002
- **Distinguishing feature:** Refused bulletproof vests

The **Punjab Elite Force** is the special weapons and tactics unit of the Pakistani province of Punjab. In [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s account of the March 2002 operation against [Abu Zubaydah](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/abu-zubaydah), it supplied part of the assault manpower alongside CIA and FBI officers flown in from headquarters and officers of the [ISI](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/isi).[1][2]

## The force

Kiriakou describes them as a quick reaction team belonging to the state of Punjab in central Pakistan.[2] His admiration is unqualified and rests on one detail: they were the only men on the operation who would not wear a bulletproof vest, on the ground that if Allah were to call them that night they would go to be with Allah, and that it was God's will. They wore black trousers and black t-shirts with the outline of a nine-millimetre pistol on the front and *Punjab Elite Force* on the back.[3][4]

## The night of the raids

The assembly for the raids was, by Kiriakou's count, five dozen people in one room of the Lahore safe house: the 36 officers sent from the [Counterterrorism Center](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/counterterrorism-center) — half CIA, half FBI — a dozen more from Islamabad, the Pakistani intelligence officers, and half a dozen men of the Punjab Elite Force.[5] Elsewhere he puts the Pakistani intelligence and police special forces contingent at about fifty.[6] Kiriakou stood on a coffee table to brief them, prefacing the order to synchronise watches with the admission that it risked sounding melodramatic, and repeating the one binding instruction from headquarters: the target had to be taken alive, and nobody was to be shot.[7][1]

Of the fourteen locations the [targeting analyst](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/targeting-analyst) had identified, thirteen were raided simultaneously at two o'clock in the morning; one was dropped once the team realised it was a pay phone at a shish kebab stand.[2]

The instruction to take the target alive did not survive contact. At the house that mattered, Pakistani police on the ground opened fire with an AK-47 on three men trying to jump from the roof to the neighbouring building — killing a Syrian bomb-maker outright, and hitting [Abu Zubaydah](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/abu-zubaydah) in the thigh, groin and stomach.[8]

## See also

- [Abu Zubaydah](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/abu-zubaydah)
- [ISI](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/isi)
- [Mr. Fish](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mr-fish)
- [Pakistan Station (2002)](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/pakistan-station-2002)
- [Targeting analyst](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/targeting-analyst)

## Sources

1. Ex-CIA Spy John Kiriakou: Hunting Terrorists, Torture, Guantanamo Bay......and Going to JAIL (2025-01-19), at 44:12. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RkpK67B9mQ&t=2652s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-01-19-eyes-wide-open-i-conor-ryan-ex-cia-spy-john-kiriakou-hunting-terroris/
2. 018 — State Sanctioned Torture, Whistleblowing & 9/11 — (2023-01-13), at 22:08. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiWoQ0Y86DE&t=1328s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-01-13-the-open-forum-podcast/
3. S1E16 Captured (2026-02-23), at 32:53. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/698a608241bb4de4911a8235/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-23-dead-drop-s1e16-captured/
4. Episode 76-John Kiriakou (2025-06-06), at 18:47. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij3nQk7T0sY&t=1127s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-06-06-red-apple-podcast-network/
5. S1E16 Captured (2026-02-23), at 32:21. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/698a608241bb4de4911a8235/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-23-dead-drop-s1e16-captured/
6. KIRIAKOU: The 'Lawfare' Against Me Was the Template to Destroy Trump (2026-04-16), at 31:30. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfVLIxhuDHc&t=1890s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-16-hang-out-with-sean-hannity-lawfare-template/
7. CIA Spy vs 9/11 | John Kiriakou | MAD THAT | S2E1 (2026-02-19), at 45:30. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IOQcOyTdPg&t=2730s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-19-mad-that-podcast-cia-spy-9-11/
8. S1E16 Captured (2026-02-23), at 38:09. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/698a608241bb4de4911a8235/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-23-dead-drop-s1e16-captured/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/punjab-elite-force/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt