Pakistan battles al-Qaeda fighters.

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Registered: 03-18-2000
Pakistan battles al-Qaeda fighters.
4
Sat, 06-12-2004 - 11:34am

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9822860%255E1702,00.html


FIGHTING raged into the night as Pakistani troops besieged suspected al-Qaeda hideouts in the north-west tribal region bordering Afghanistan after trapping up to 50 foreign militants, officials said today.

Three days of fighting in South Waziristan, a notorious hub for al-Qaeda suspects, had left at least 59 people dead as of late yesterday, including 40 militants, 16 soldiers and three civilians, according to military.


The fighting began after foreign militants launched pre-dawn attacks on army posts on Thursday, killing 15 soldiers.

Thousands of Pakistani troops backed by Cobra helicopter gunships targeted a training camp and two al-Qaeda hideouts in South Waziristan, military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said.

The offensive has been focused on the outskirts of the Shakai valley, 25km west of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan where in late March the army's largest ever operation in the war on terrorism ended in heavy losses with 46 soldiers killed.

Sixty-three militants were also killed in that operation, which was criticised for having not driven foreign fighters from the area.

Journalists have not been allowed access to the battle zone but Maj-Gen Sultan offered some details at a news conference yesterday evening with the help of slides of the three sites under assault in the region.

An al-Qaeda run training centre perched in the mountains away from populated areas is among the targets.

Maj-Gen Sultan, showing satellite images of the camp marked "al-Qaeda centre for special training", said the site was equipped with a firing range and other training facilities used to teach fighters how to carry out terrorist acts.

Another slide showed two buildings and a compound, which Maj-Gen Sultan described as safe houses, allegedly used by al-Qaeda fighters while travelling to other areas.

"Whenever there was a threat they could withdraw and retreat into these safe houses," Maj-Gen Sultan said.

"These are the houses which are ... well protected."

Maj-Gen Sultan said soldiers had already destroyed the house of local al-Qaeda leader Eida Khan, which he said had been used by al-Qaeda financier Abd Al-Hadi Al-Iraqi. It was not known whether Al-Iraqi was present when the compound was attacked.

The spokesman said Al-Iraqi used to meet militants in this house and provide them with funds to carry out their activities.

Maj-Gen Sultan said security forces estimated up to 50 foreign fighters might have been in the area where the offensive was launched yesterday.

Some 300 to 400 mainly Chechen and Uzbek al-Qaeda-linked fighters are believed to be hiding in the region. Arabs and Chinese Uighurs are also said to be among them.

Residents in Wana said they heard gunfire and explosions until late yesterday and earlier had heard the sound of helicopters.

Maj-Gen Sultan said yesterday's offensive was in response to Thursday's deadly attack on the army posts, and gave an account of the killings he said were committed by the militants.

He said the attackers killed nine paramilitary Frontier Corps men and six regular soldiers in "cold blood".

"They overpowered the Frontier Corps people ... and they killed them in cold blood, they shot them in the forehead. They mutilated their dead bodies," he said.

Maj-Gen Sultan said the situation was "fluid" in an area where just seven weeks ago army commanders and tribal elders announced a truce and amnesty deal for militant fighters.

But the government accused "local facilitators" of derailing efforts to reach a non-military solution and said Thursday's attacks on the army posts were an "abuse of the government's sincere offer" of amnesty.

"The government was left with no choice but to respond in order to establish its writ and eliminate these foreign elements," it said.

cl-Libraone~

 


Photobucket&nbs

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Registered: 04-16-2003
Sat, 06-12-2004 - 4:30pm
<>

Here's another view:

KARACHI - Prodded by an impatient United States, Pakistani paramilitary troops have gone on the offensive in the hunt for foreign fighters in the tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan.

In fierce clashes in the Ghat Ghar area, about 20 miles west of Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal area, Asia Times Online contacts report that 18 Pakistani security troops and eight insurgents were killed on Wednesday. Pakistani officials have acknowledged the death of 20 insurgents and one paramilitary soldier, according to Brigadier Mahmood Shah, chief of security for Pakistan's tribal regions.

The bloodshed follows weeks of failed efforts to get militants in South Waziristan to surrender to authorities by peaceful means after an army offensive in March left scores of people dead in the face of strong resistance by tribal fighters to the Pakistani army. The militants have refused to register with authorities despite a government amnesty offer that would allow them to settle in Pakistan if they renounce terrorism and abide by national laws.

Following the reversals in March, and the bitter feelings that the presence of the army aroused in the tribal areas, Pakistan has been extremely reluctant to use troops again. But US pressure has been relentless, and US officials were even seen in a Pakistani army camp in Wana involved in directing the latest operations. These began after rockets were fired on an army camp in Wana, as well as on some check posts in North Waziristan in the wee hours of Wednesday. Both ground troops and the air force were involved.

Significantly, the initial attacks were made from the Mehsood tribal area, which up to now has been considered pro-Pakistan government with no kinship in Afghanistan. Indeed, in the March offensive, they actually took the government side against the Wazir tribes who headed the resistance. Now they appear to have thrown in their lot with the Wazirs.

The most immediate target of the army is Nek Mohammed, a key Pakistani leader of the insurgency in the tribal areas, but his deep connections allowed him to disappear long before the trouble began. Nek being a target could explain the sudden resistance from the Mehsood tribals. When the hunt was for foreign targets, they supported the initiative, but when it is for a Pakistani national, they resist.

Nek is a 26-year-old former Taliban commander and loyal to Taliban leader Mullah Omar. He outright rejects any compromise in handing over foreign fighters to Pakistan (read US) authorities, such as Aiman al-Zawahir or his al-Qaeda boss, Osama bin Laden (if he is even alive) and Uzbek leader Tahir Yuldevish.

Full article: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FF11Df04.html

Here's another blurb.

Pakistani troops are once again in action in the South Waziristan tribal area. Unlike their previous bloody incursion in March, though, the target is not so much foreign fighters but rather a key Pakistani resistance commander.

Over 1,000 miles away in Karachi, one of President General Pervez Musharraf's most trusted aides survived an assassination attempt in which at least six people were killed, illustrating in the most violent way possible that the army has itself become a target. -

http://www.atimes.com/






Edited 6/12/2004 4:44 pm ET ET by hayashig

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Sun, 06-13-2004 - 11:34am

>"Indeed, in the March offensive, they actually took the government side against the Wazir tribes who headed the resistance. Now they appear to have thrown in their lot with the Wazirs. "<


Once more changing loyalties.


>"impatient United States"<


The US should have concentrated their efforts in Afghanistan instead of invading Iraq.

cl-Libraone~

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Sun, 06-13-2004 - 1:35pm

Pakistani Authorities Arrest 10 Al Qaeda Suspects


 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2003
Mon, 06-14-2004 - 3:48pm
Al-Qaeda cell caught in US squeeze

By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - An amateurish blunder has allowed Pakistan to arrest at least 10 members of a strong al-Qaeda sleeper cell, activated for last Thursday's attack in Karachi on the convoy of the powerful Lieutenant-General Ahsan Saleem Hayat, commander V Corps (Karachi).

Pakistan authorities are expected on Monday to confirm, among others, the arrest of Abu Mosab al-Balochi, an Arab, and Daud Badini, a Pakistani Baloch who has been involved in many sectarian killings, in connection with the attack, which claimed the lives of at least 10 people. Al-Balochi had a US$1 million bounty on his head and is a nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged planner of the September 11 attacks on the United States, who is now in US custody. Sheikh was also arrested in Pakistan more than a year ago.

Well-placed sources in Pakistani intelligence organizations have told Asia Times Online that the suspects were rounded up just hours after Thursday morning's attack. Also among the suspects is one Attaur Rehman of the al-Iqwan religious movement, whose head teaches radical Islam and which has strong links with sections of the military.

The sources explain that as soon as the Pakistan military moved into South Waziristan tribal area last week in its hunt for al-Qaeda and other foreign fighters believed to be sheltering there (under intense US pressure), the sleeper cell was activated in Karachi as retaliation.

With help from disaffected elements in the armed forces, they devised a plan to go after Hayat's motorcade. However, a bomb-jamming device in the corps commander's vehicle crucially delayed the detonation of a bomb that was intended to take out his car. Instead, the attackers fired more than 2,000 rounds into the convoy, killing several army personnel, but their prime target escaped unhurt.

In the confusion, as the attackers fled, one of them dropped his cell phone, which was immediately recovered by members of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Half an hour later, a call was received on the phone, trying to confirm the event. Using sophisticated tracking devices, within hours of the attack, the ISI raided the residence from which the call had been made, and the attackers were caught so unaware that they had not even had time to change from their blood-stained clothes.

The intelligence sources tell Asia Times Online that they believe the Karachi attack was to serve as a blueprint for others in Karachi, Lahore and the capital Islamabad: all in retaliation for the South Waziristan operation. In Karachi they planned to attack shopping areas frequented by foreign diplomats, and ISI operation offices near the office of the commander V corps.

The sources say that while this particular Karachi cell has been broken, it is believed that at least 25 well-connected (to the military) al-Qaeda operators are still in Karachi.


HOWEVER, THE REAL BATTLE CONTINUES

The battlefields of South Waziristan

Official figures claim that at least 35 militants and 15 Pakistani troops have been killed in fighting in the past few days in South Waziristan tribal area and security forces claim to have cordoned off several hideouts being used by al-Qaeda.

One of these hideouts has been identified as being used by an al-Qaeda financier, Hadi al-Iraqi. Along with another top al-Qaeda operator, Jamal Asim, an Algerian, al-Iraqi arranges finances for a strong network of terror in cities like Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The networks include al-Qaeda operators and local jihadis, as well as a segment of the armed forces, which helps them identify targets and work out a modus operandi for attacks. These two men are still at large, most likely in urban areas and planning for more attacks.

In South Waziristan, unconfirmed reports suggest that a number of Pakistani commandos have been killed by insurgent tribes in the Shakai region.

Reports from the North Waziristan tribal area say that the Pakistan army is pouring troops into the Shawal area, including Deray-Nishtar, Manga Roti, Mera Din, Gurowaik, Dabar Miyani, Gurbuz, Mana, Shad Ghalay and Pas Zairat. These contingents have sealed all routes and are searching all transport.

The most prominent personality of the Shawal, Maulana Salahuddin, told Asia Times Online by telephone that he is trying use his influence to negotiate a truce between the armed forces and local tribals, but the tribals reject any army presence in their areas and have given an ultimatum to the commanders to retreat or face the music.

After a military operation in March, negotiations with President General Pervez Musharraf's government yielded no foreign militants, although 4,000 paramilitary tribal fighters supposedly searched Waziristan for the 500 men said to have taken sanctuary there. Under United States pressure to get results, the army bombed the hideouts of these suspected militants on Friday. They also ordered the capture of Nek Mohammed and his four closest colleagues, dead or alive. Nek Mohammed, a Pakistani, is a key figure in the tribal insurgency and is believed to have close contacts with al-Qaeda and foreign fighters in the area, supplying them with hideouts and rations and recruits.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FF15Df01.html

COMMENT BY ME:

I am still wondering in the US is pressing Pakistan into a civil war. Wonder what will happen to their nuclear weapons then.