Thu Mar 18, 2004 10:19 PM ET
By Hafiz Wazir
WANA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani troops may have cornered Osama bin Laden's top strategist and second-in-command on Friday in a mud fort on the wild Afghan frontier, top officials said.
Ayman al-Zawahri, bin Laden's right-hand man and top planner for al Qaeda, was believed surrounded in South Waziristan -- one of the most remote parts of a lawless tribal region.
As dawn broke over the area on Friday, small-arms fire could be heard coming from the scene of the battle after intermittent shots through the night, a resident said.
"I can hear Kalashnikov (rifle) fire from the militants' side. The troops must have moved forward," said the resident, who declined to be identified.
Aircraft were heard during the night but they had apparently not dropped bombs or fired guns or rockets.
Pakistani troops using artillery and helicopters were facing ferocious resistance from the suspected al Qaeda militants and local tribesmen believed to be protecting one of the most senior leaders of the network blamed for the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, witnesses said.
President Pervez Musharraf told CNN on Thursday that the ferocity of the resistance his forces had encountered led generals to believe they were shielding an important militant.
"(Judging by) the resistance that is being offered by the people there, we feel that there may be a high value target," he said.
"The houses there are almost forts, mud forts," he said. "All these forts are occupied and they are dug in and they are giving fierce resistance.
REINFORCEMENTS ON THE WAY
Security officials said reinforcements had been sent to the region from other parts of the North West Frontier Province and they would be arriving on Friday.
"The militants appear to be well dug in, they're very well prepared and they're determined to fight till the last," said Pakistani military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan.
"We think al-Zawahri may be holed up there," an official said on Thursday night.
The Dawn newspaper said Zawahri may have been injured while trying to escape.
The capture of Zawahri, an Egyptian doctor regarded as the brains of al Qaeda, would be a major coup for the United States, under fire over its rationale for the war in Iraq as the first anniversary of the start of the conflict approaches on Saturday.
The Pakistani sweep is the biggest operation yet against al Qaeda suspects and the Taliban remnants, blamed for a spate of bloody attacks in Afghanistan.
It covered at least five villages spread over 68 sq miles, the Daily Times newspaper said.
Security officials said six Pakistani soldiers were killed on Thursday after 16 soldiers and 24 suspected militants, including some foreigners, died in fighting in the area on Tuesday. No word was available on new militant deaths.
LAWLESS REGION
The defenders were keeping up regular but infrequent fire with mortars and rockets, suggesting they were trying to conserve their ammunition, said one intelligence official, adding that their ability to target roads indicated an intimate knowledge of the topography of the rugged lawless region.
U.S.-led troops are also striking from the Afghan side in what the Pentagon is calling a "hammer and anvil" operation.
Secretary of State Colin Powell was in Pakistan on Thursday to assure it of military support, confirming Musharraf's government as a key Muslim ally against al Qaeda.
A senior Afghan official said Pakistan's U.S. allies would rather take a senior al Qaeda figure alive but that was hard among men who make suicide a key weapon.
"Al Qaeda will fight to the last bullet and do everything possible to avoid capture," the official said. "So if all else fails, there might be no other option but to strike with all means possible."
U.S. officials have said the secretive Task Force 121, a covert commando unit involved in the capture of Saddam Hussein in Iraq three months ago, was now on the Afghan-Pakistan frontier.
SNIP
A possible air strike is planned on the suspected al Qaeda target who is surrounded by troops in Pakistan, sources have said.
It is thought that the target could be Osama bin Laden's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri.
Troops said they cornered the man thought to be the mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the US, as part of an operation near the Afghan border.
The operation, involving hundreds of troops and paramilitary rangers, has been carried out in the mountainous South Waziristan region.
The identity of the man surrounded has not been confirmed.
But President Pervez Musharraf said: "(Judging by) the resistance that is being offered by the people there, we feel that there may be a high value target."
Sky News' Foreign Affairs Editor Tim Marshall said: "Most people believe the number two is actually the brains (behind the al Qaeda network)."
And he added: "If it's true it is an enormous strike. It cannot be underestimated."
On Tuesday at least 41 people, including 15 soldiers and 26 suspected militants were killed in fighting in the area.
Army spokesman General Shaukat Sultan said there had been an unknown number of casualties in continuing action Thursday. Last Updated: 22:10 UK, Thursday March 18, 2004