Pakistani military officials say they have arrest 100 suspected members of the al-Qaida terror network in an operation in northwest Pakistan.
Pakistan General Safdar Hussein says a number of foreign fighters are among those captured. It was not immediately clear whether any high ranking al-Qaida officials have been detained.
Pakistani forces have been pounding a remote region near the Afghan border, where reports have suggested that Ayman al-Zawahiri, a senior aide to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, may be hiding.
Bursts of automatic fire erupted after daybreak Saturday around several mountainous villages, indicating heavy resistance by the militants.
Pakistani officials say several hundred foreign fighters and local tribesmen are believed to be hiding in heavily fortified compounds in a mountainous region in South Waziristan.
The semiautonomous region, which has resisted outside control for centuries, has long been considered a likely hiding place for al-Qaida leadership.
Several kilometers away, on the Afghan side of the border, U.S. and Afghan forces have strengthened their positions in an effort to prevent militants from escaping the Pakistani offensive.
The operation, launched on Tuesday, has sparked an exodus of civilians from the region.
I don't know. FWIW.
I don't know about this 100 captured. I hope it is correct but I'm not holding my breath.
Looks like a different operation. Good, if so.
AP. More details:
Pakistan arrests more than 100 militants
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON / Associated Press
WANA, Pakistan — Pakistan's military has arrested more than 100 suspects in a five-day assault on militants holed up in mud fortresses along the border where al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al Zawahri is believed trapped, a commander said Saturday.
Those detained included foreigners and the local Pashtun tribesmen who have been sheltering them, said Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussain, who is in charge of the sweep. Hussain said 400 to 500 militants are believed to still be fighting from within the heavily fortified compounds in the tribal South Waziristan region, using mortars, AK-47s, rockets and hand-grenades in a face-off with troops.
"These people have been here for a long, long time. They are extremely professional fighters," he said. "They have tremendous patience before they open fire."
Meanwhile, a senior Pakistani army officer told The Associated Press that an American helicopter fired rockets at a car in the Alawarai Mandi district of North Waziristan, just one mile from the Afghan border. Three people inside were injured, the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
He said it was not clear if the Americans were after a specific target or knew they had crossed into Pakistani territory.
Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, the main spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, disputed the claim.
"There are no American or combined forces over there," he said.
The issue is a sensitive one. Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is a staunch U.S. ally, but he has steadfastly insisted that no American troops be allowed on Pakistani soil. If confirmed, an attack by the Americans would be likely to enflame deep hostility.
The military showed journalists 40 prisoners, all blindfolded and with their hands tied, who were sitting under heavy guard in the back of an army truck in Wana, the main town in the tribal South Waziristan region. Many had thick beards and some had black tape around their blindfolds to make sure they stayed on.
The army also displayed the body of one suspected militant wrapped in a white blanket and said it had intercepted phone conversations from within the compounds in the Chechen, Uzbek and Arabic languages.
Hussain said troops were convinced the compounds held a "high-value" target, but he said they had no confirmation the man was al-Zawahri. He said the level of resistance made it likely an important figure was still inside, though he didn't rule out the possibility someone might have escaped.
"I would not rule out any possibility, but with this level of resistance, even after 48 hours (of the latest bombardment), I believe the high-value target is still there," he said.
Hussain said a Chechen fighter was arrested on Friday with a book on chemistry and explosives. He said he suspected a large number of the militants were foreigners, but that others were members of the Pakistani Yargul Khel tribe.
"I'm determined to punish this tribe and make them an example," Hussain said.
As he spoke, Cobra attack helicopters hovered overhead, some swooping toward the battle zone.
The fighting has forced an exodus of thousands of terrified civilians. Many have taken refuge in Wana, but there were indications Saturday the battle was following close on their heels.
Loud explosions and gunfire could be heard early Saturday in Gangikhel village, a hamlet of simple mud dwellings just west of Wana. Previous fighting in Kaloosha, Azam Warsak and Shin Warsak was closer to the border with Afghanistan.
Brig. Mahmood Shah, the chief of security for tribal areas in northwestern Pakistan, told AP that some of the prisoners had already been taken for interrogation to the provincial capital, Peshawar.
Security officials said the men included Pakistanis, Arabs, Chechens, Uzbeks and ethnic Uighurs from China's predominantly Muslim Xinjiang province, where a separatist movement is simmering. No senior al-Qaida leaders were believed to be among them, but authorities hoped they would provide a better picture of the terrorists' heavily fortified lair.
At least 80 ethnic Uzbek Islamic militants, led by Qari Tahir Yaldash, a Taliban ally and deputy of slain Uzbek leader Juma Namangani are reportedly in the Waziristan region. Namangani was killed during the U.S.-led coalition's assault on Afghanistan that began in late 2001.
"Our people are interrogating them to determine who these terrorists are," Shah said. "Some of them are foreigners."
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said the Pakistani forces were joined by "a dozen or so" American intelligence agents in the ongoing operation. U.S. satellites, Predator drones and other surveillance equipment hovered overhead.
Sultan put the number of troops killed in the operation at 17, most in the disastrous initial assault on Tuesday. But other military and intelligence officials said many more had died in the heaviest fighting on Thursday and Friday, and about a dozen soldiers are missing and feared taken hostage.
An Afghan intelligence official with connections in Pakistan's tribal region also told AP that al-Zawarhi was believed in the area of the Pakistan operation, in South Waziristan.
Osama bin Laden is believed farther north, in North Waziristan, across from the region of the Afghan border city of Khost, he said. There was no firm intelligence on the terror chief's exact location, however.
Jawed Ludin, a spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai said U.S. and Afghan troops captured "semi-senior" terrorist leaders on their side of the border in recent days, though there was no confirmation of that from the American military. Ludin declined to give any details of who might be in custody.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld praised Pakistani forces for their work, but said that it was not clear whether al-Zawahri was indeed present."
"It's not clear to me who's there, if anybody, but certainly there are an awful lot of fine Pakistani forces working hard," he said Friday in an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live."
Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayyat told AP that authorities hoped to wrap up the operation by Sunday afternoon. But Shah said the going was slow, with soldiers proceeding cautiously from house to house.
"We are trying to avoid collateral damage to the civilian population. It might take some time," he said.
Residents have denounced the army operation as heavy-handed and against the centuries-old traditions in the semiautonomous tribal region, which has fiercely resisted outside occupation, whether by Afghan rulers, British colonialists or Pakistani army troops.
At the Rehman Medical Complex in Wana, two sisters - Haseena, 10, and Asmeena, 2 - received first aid after being struck by shrapnel. The girls' 12-year-old brother, Din Mohammed, was killed when a shell landed near their house in the village of Kaga Panga.
"We were eating lunch and all of a sudden the shelling began and it hit our courtyard," Haseena said, her face bandaged. "I loved my brother a lot. What did we do to deserve this?"
Under pressure from Washington, Pakistan has sent 70,000 troops into the tribal zone and conducted several raids, though nothing on the scale of this week's operation.
http://www.wcnc.com/sharedcontent/nationworld/worldprint/032004cccacwintqaidahunt.a37e7a8a.html
Fox this morning said that some of this bunch might be terrorist from Chechnya.
There are lots of reports of Chechen speaking bad guys in that area. I don't doubt it.
If this is true, I hope that they are not mistreated and given a fair trial.
I'm real interested in knowing who or what is being so strongly protected there.
"not mistreated and given a fair trial" or "not mistreated but rather given a fair trial" ?
If they are bad guys they are bad guys. I don't care what language they speak or what country they come from. Chechens? Whatever.
A closer read of this (combined with the AP writeup) makes me think that the 100 taken are from the Wana/Kaloosha/Shin Warzak area fighting. There is also some action on the Afghan side in Paktika.
My suggestion is that it may not be a "who" that is being protected. It could just as easilly be a "what". It is an area relatively untouched by the war on terror.
Interesting idea. That had not really crossed my mind, being so focused on getting the leadership.
I'm basing my possible theory on a few factors here.
First is the fact that Pakistan is a nuke capable nation with a LARGE extremist population. Second is the fact that we now know that the country was a nuclear clearing house for anyone with the money to buy. Thrid is the presence of chechyans who were once part of the soviet union and quite possibly scientists at one time.
Its really hard to say when we know so little.
