Posted on 03/20/2004 5:39:10 AM PST by Cap Huff
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.
Yes!
Also......to me this illustrates how far-flung the tentacles of AQ are being spread.
PTI
WANA: Continuing their massive offensive against Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters believed to be protecting Osama Bin Laden's deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Pakistani troops arrested 100 suspects, including foreigners, from tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, the military said on Saturday.
The arrested men included Uzbeks, Arabs, Chechans and locals, Corps Commander Peshawar Lt General Safdar Hussain told reporters at Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan, some 300 kilometers South of here.
Hussain said Russian-made arms have been recovered from those arrested in operation. Explosives and other equipment being used for suicide bomb attacks have also been recovered, he added.
Some 400 to 500 "miscreants and foreign militants" are showing stiff resistance at Palwasha and Shin Warsa areas, he said, adding the operation has been expanded to 60 square km from 50 km.
"These people have been here for a long, long time. They are extremely professional fighters," Hussain said. "They have tremendous patience before they open fire."
While not ruling out the possibility of Al-Zawahiri's presence in the area, he said the military intercepted a wireless message in Uzbek and Chechan language, in which a message about the injury of a colleague was being passed.
He said the injured suspect could likely be Uzbek Nek Muhammad or Chechan Commander Daud.
Hussain said the suspects tried to flee to Afghanistan in five vehicles but firing by the Pakistani helicopter gunship Cobra foiled their attempt and destroyed their vehicles.
"Complete sealing of the border is impossible," the Corps Commander said, adding that there are 240 escaping points to Afghanistan.
He said three foreign suspects were killed on Friday, adding that a local Yar Gul tribe is assisting the militants. He asserted the tribe would be given harsh punishment.
Pakistani forces on Saturday resumed heavy artillery bombardment of an area where they say more than 400 armed militants are believed to be holed up. The militants responded with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
Cobra gunship helicopters have assisted ground troops in the offensive, now entering its fifth day.
A military spokesman said they have identified seven pockets of resistance in South waziristan, now completely surrounded by Pakistani troops.
The troops are gradually closing in, and they hoped to overrun the pockets of resistance within a few days, he said.
At least 15 soldiers died on the first day of the operation on Tuesday. Twenty four militants, believed to be local tribesmen or Al-Qaeda suspects, were also killed.
The Pakistani operation is being described as the biggest since the hunt for Bin Laden and his associates started in the area more than two years ago.
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.
So a U.S. helo operates over the border? Given the political sensitivity, to do something this blatantly obvious means one of two things to me.
1) The helo pilots really did not realize they had crossed into Pakistani territory.
2) The targets in the car were of high enough value that any political repercussions were outweighed by their elimination.
Certainly piques my curiosity. Wonder if we'll get to hear any more about that?
Amazing how everyone immediately jumps to the conclusion there is a VIP that needs protection every time there's return fire rather than the obvious that they're returning fire to save their own hides.
Surrender = death in Pakistan. Unlike over here, where the damned ACLU sissies would try to get them out & off...
< /anti-ACLU rant >
Yeah, but I'm not interested in what our public stance is. I'm wondering what really occurred.
Villagers in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region on the Afghan border said one person was also killed in the Friday night raid but the region's security chief said no one was killed.
"The helicopter entered Pakistan due to a navigational error," the security official, Mehmood Shah, told Reuters. "Three civilians were injured."
U.S. forces are not allowed to conduct combat operations inside Pakistan.
Villagers said the helicopter fired on a van, wounding the three, than made a second attack in which one person was killed. Body parts had been found at the scene of the second attack, they said.
Pakistani forces have been battling al Qaeda and other rebels in its wild tribal border lands in recent days while U.S. forces on the Afghan side have mounted their own offensive against the militants.
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