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To: AdmSmith

This article is from June 25, but is included as it gives some names and places:
http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en68750&F_catID=&f_type=source

Security beefed up in Khyber Agency

JAMRUD: Amid rumours of Wana fallout, security has been beefed up in the Khyber tribal agency, bordering Afghanistan, on the directives of the Federal Government where local security forces constituted mobile teams for day-night checking on various routes.

Official sources told The News that the federal government felt the need for strengthening security in the strategically important tribal agency after recent terrorist acts in different parts of the country by so far unidentified terrorists.

Officials said there were special instructions from the government for enhancing security in the remote Tirah valley of the agency bordering Afghanistan?s Nangarhar province.

Special security measures could be seen in the form of several mobile squads at many places in three tehsils of Khyber agency including, Jamrud, Bara and Landi Kotal.

"There have been special security measures on direct routes between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the agency," said an official who declined to be named.

Local security forces, Khasadar Force and militia have been mobilized to keep vigil and ensure law and order.

AP adds: Tribal elders in Wana vowed Friday to hunt al-Qaeda suspects, an official said.

About 500 Mahsud tribesmen made the pledge in a meeting in Sarwakai, a small town in South Waziristan region, where hundreds of Arab, Central Asian and Afghan Islamic militants are believed to be hiding.

Brig (retd) Mahmood Shah, the chief of security for the tribal region, said Mahsud tribesmen pledged to track down foreigners and their local supporters in their territory, which lies easat of Wana, to stop them from hiding there.


161 posted on 06/27/2004 11:23:35 AM PDT by AdmSmith
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To: AdmSmith

A bearded Saudi is "assisting" ISI in the investigations:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_26-6-2004_pg1_5

Saudi and Pakistani arrested in Chitral

Mi

PESHAWAR: Security agencies have arrested a Saudi national and a Pakistani in northern NWFP as artillery pounded a suspected militant hideout in Shakai, South Waziristan.

The two men were arrested in Chitral, some 230 kilometres north of Peshawar, on Thursday. The arrested Saudi national told a civilian secret agency that his name was Abdur Rehman, intelligence sources told Daily Times on Friday.

The sources said it was not yet confirmed whether the Saudi was an Al Qaeda member and that the arrested Pakistani was his local contact. The bearded Saudi is believed to be in his 20s and was given into Inter-Services Intelligence custody.

The two men were arrested from the Bamborete area in Kalash, which lies close to the border with Afghanistan. Western intelligence agencies suspect Chitral to be a haven for Al Qaeda militants, but the two arrests were the first of their kind in the area, sources said. Police in Chitral said a case had been lodged against the Saudi. ?We can only confirm his link with Al Qaeda after we complete investigations,? the intelligence sources said.

In South Waziristan, troops used artillery to shell the Bush Ghar mountain in Shakai, where a recent five-day military operation left 70 foreign and 30 tribal militants and 17 security forces dead.

?We heard loud artillery fire all night,? a resident in Wana, 24 km west of Shakai, told Daily Times. He said the artillery fire came from the Zarinoor army base.

?We had reports that there were foreigners in the area. There was heavy use of artillery,? a military source said. He said the military were now following a ?pro-active approach? and would show no leniency to foreigners. ?House-to-house searches in Shakai continued for the third day but we found no foreigners or weapons,? the source said, adding that local tribesmen were cooperating.

The political administration, meanwhile, arranged a meeting of Ahmedzai Wazir elders with NWFP Governor Iftikhar Hussain Shah for Saturday or Sunday, said Malik Ajmal Khan, a Zalikhel sub-tribe elder. Mr Khan said the tribal delegation would press the governor to lift the weeks-old economic sanctions against the Ahmedzai Wazirs because 90 percent of the people affected were innocent. Most tribesmen in Waziristan called the sanctions ?unjustified? and feared that the ?90 percent silent support? for the government would dwindle if the governor did not lift the ?barbaric? sanctions.

AP adds: About 500 Mahsud tribesmen pledged to hunt foreign militants in their territory at a meeting in Sarwakai, South Waziristan, on Friday. Brig Mahmood Shah, the chief of security for the tribal region, said the tribesmen pledged to track down foreigners and their local supporters in their territory, which lies east of Wana.


162 posted on 06/27/2004 11:27:03 AM PDT by AdmSmith
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