Tahir Yuldash
Posted on 03/27/2004 9:18:00 AM PST by Dog
Pakistan Says Senior al-Qaida Leader Hurt 1 hour, 11 minutes ago
By CHRIS TOMLINSON, Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's military badly wounded a senior al-Qaida leader, who is now hiding out in the country's western tribal area, a military spokesman said Saturday.
Al-Qaida commander Tahir Yuldash — also known as Tahir Yuldashev — had been mentioned earlier as one of two possible "high-value targets" cornered when Pakistan's military began a sweep of South Waziristan on March 16.
In a statement, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said only that recent intelligence indicated that Yuldash was severely wounded and in hiding in western Pakistan.
Yuldash is the leader of an Uzbek terror group allied with al-Qaida called the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
Sultan said the sweep operation has been successful, with more than 50 suspected militants killed and 163 captured. Pakistani forces also suffered casualties, though Sultan refused to release figures until the operation is over.
I wonder if it was those guys in this story:
One of my former taglines is still very true:The Islamos are a bunch of wackos with a 14th Century mentality and 20th Century toys. Kill 'em.
Perhaps a program can be written to pull up similar names and names with first and last reversed.
LOL
1 minute ago
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON, Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani forces have seriously wounded a senior al-Qaida leader, a military spokesman said Saturday, vowing that the country will not abandon its war on terrorism despite the most recent taped threat by Osama bin Laden 's right-hand man.
Recently gathered intelligence indicated that al-Qaida commander Tahir Yuldash has been badly wounded and is in hiding somewhere in western Pakistan, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said. He admitted, though, Pakistani forces are not close to capturing him.
"He might have slipped away, he's on the run," Sultan said.
Yuldash, also known as Tahir Yuldashev, is the leader of an Uzbek terror group — Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan — which Pakistani officials say has been subsumed by al-Qaida since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Yuldash was previously mentioned as one of two possible "high-value targets" cornered when Pakistan's military began a sweep of South Waziristan on March 16.
The operation has left some 50 soldiers and at least a dozen civilians dead, and enflamed passions among religious hard-liners deeply opposed to the crackdown.
Sultan accused militants of "cold-blooded murder" after a tribal woman on Friday found the bodies of eight soldiers, shot at close range with their hands tied behind their backs.
The soldiers were abducted March 22 during a rocket attack on a military convoy to supply the operation in South Waziristan, where thousands of army troops have been battling hundreds of militants.
The government claims more than 50 foreign and local militants have been killed and more than 160 suspects have been arrested in the operation. The army has succeeded in busting a militant hideout, complete with communications equipment, underground tunnels and heavy weaponry.
But after President Gen. Pervez Musharraf stoked expectations by revealing on CNN that a "high-value target" — said by some officials to be either Yuldash or al-Qaida No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri — was cornered, the lack of a prize capture has led to disappointment and criticism of the planning of the raid.
"As a military operation, it did not go well at all," said Talat Masood, a Pakistani military and political analyst.
Due to poor intelligence, security forces failed to reveal entrenched militant forces — surprising a professional army operating in its own country, he said.
"They have lost a number of their own troops, and then there have been civilian casualties and the ones (suspected terrorists) who were taking sanctuary in the area appear to have escaped," Masood said.
Meanwhile, the CIA confirmed that a tape broadcast on the Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera on Thursday, calling for Pakistanis and the military to topple Musharraf, was likely the voice of al-Zawahri.
In an interview with ABC television network on Friday, Musharraf said people should "not get excited" about the tape.
"I am very sure we will eliminate al-Qaida from our region," Musharraf told the network
Musharraf, a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, has deployed 70,000 troops in semiautonomous tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan since the Sept. 11 attacks in an attempt to prevent cross-border attacks — the first such deployment since independence.
The latest operation, which began in South Waziristan on March 16, is the largest yet against al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives in Pakistan, and has drawn the vocal opposition of Islamic hard-liners who have capitalized on widespread anti-U.S. sentiment to condemn the action.
"Besides the political setback in the tribal areas, the operation has also been a failure because it has given the opposition the opportunity to demonstrate and make the point it is against what's happening ... that President Musharraf is trying to please the United States," said Rasul Bakhsh Rais, professor of political science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences.
Thousands of villagers have been forced to flee their homes in South Waziristan. While the fighting has subsided in recent days, amid repeated efforts to let tribal elders broker a peace, the military has continued demolishing the homes of Yargul Khel tribesmen accused of sheltering foreign terrorists.
The depth of the military's commitment to the operation — deploying at least 5,000-6,000 troops to the battle zone within 12 miles of the Afghan border — makes it unlikely they will back down, despite the mounting body count and local anger at their presence.
Musharraf said Saturday that Pakistan would continue to act strongly against terrorists in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan. He said foreigners living in the area were from al-Qaida and were behind twin assassination attempts against him in December, which he narrowly escaped.
"Most of the bombings that have taken place in Pakistan ... have been masterminded by these people," he said in a speech at a military training college.
Masood said abandoning the military effort would be tantamount to admitting the government's writ could not be established in the area. He said more political and social efforts were also needed to develop the region and curb the influence of renegade tribal elements.
"The tribal areas have been neglected for 56 years (since independence). It does not mean it cannot change. It has to change," he said.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.