Free Republic

ISLAMABAD, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- The United States shifted hundreds of its troops to the Afghan area bordering North Waziristan on Sunday along with heavy arms and gunship helicopters and sealed the Pak-Afghan border for all types of movement. Tribesmen living in the border areas said Afghan and U.S. authorities had clamped a curfew in the Gurbaz area of Afghanistan 's Khost province and started house-to-house searches. The abrupt deployment of U.S. forces near the border area with Pakistan has escalated tension in the militancy-plagued North Waziristan tribal region as U.S. forces immediately sealed the main Ghulam Khan- Khost highway...

SNIPPET: "Some comments • I have to assume that al-Balawi was thoroughly debriefed by al-Qaida before being sent on this mission, and I'm surprised no one has sought to correlate his "infiltration" of al-Qaida with Abu Yahya al-Libi's book released over the summer: "Guidance on the Ruling of the Muslim Spy" • See also: Al Qaida: Western Spies Multiply "Like Locusts"."

The terrorists who have been killed in blast in Datakhel area near the Afghan border in abandoned area of Miramshah have been identified. Military sources while talking to Online confirmed that explosion in the suspected religious seminary in Datakhel area near the Afghan border on Wednesday claimed 33 lives out of which 27 persons including four injured have been identified as foreigners. Military sources further confirmed that out of 23 deceased, 19 have been identified as Arab, while four belonged to Turkmenistan.

PESHAWAR, March 5: Security forces regained control of government buildings and installations after a fierce artillery duel with local Taliban in Miramshah on Sunday, officials said. However, there were reports of sporadic clashes continuing in the area. The officials said that troops had expelled Taliban elements from the government buildings after a nightlong battle in which Cobra helicopter gunships were also used. A senior military official said militants were still in control of a small pocket of Miramshah bazaar and expressed the hope that they would be ‘wiped out’ by Monday noon. “There have been small engagements in Mirali...

MIRAMSHAH, March 2: Tension gripped the North Waziristan agency on Thursday as Taliban took over government buildings, occupied the area’s telephone exchange and patrolled the streets of the tribal agency’s regional headquarters. Eyewitnesses and government officials said that after Wednesday’s heavy gunbattle between security forces and Taliban remnants, a large number of families started moving to other places in the troubled agency. Sources said that the Taliban elements had taken over the telephone exchange in Miramshah. The exchange had already been shut down by the military to disrupt communication between militants. The Taliban also took over the irrigation department...