http://www.dawn.com/2004/08/04/top8.htm
Forces gain control of Shakai, says ISPR
By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Aug 3: The Pakistan Army on Tuesday claimed that security forces had gained control of Shakai and adjoining areas in the South Waziristan Agency.
A press release issued by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Tuesday said that during recent operations in Shakai, Santoi, Mantoi and Khamrang valleys,
the security forces not only flushed out terrorists and gained control of the area but also seized a huge quantity of arms and ammunition.
It said the arms captured by the security forces included cannons, mortars, rocket-launchers, grenades, recoilless rifles, fuses, anti-tank and anti-personnel mines as
well as a huge quantity of ammunition, explosives with electrical circuits, communication gadgets, medicines and foodstuff.
The press release said that investigations carried out by intelligence agencies showed that the arms cache captured from these areas was identical to the kind of
weapons used in various terrorist acts in different parts of the country.
The terrorists had been using these weapons indiscriminately that often hit civilian population in the South Waziristan Agency, the press release said. The military's
public relations department said a free-flight rocket fired by the terrorists had landed on the house of Mir Afzal Khan on July 12, killing his two sons.
It said there had been numerous instances where mines planted by terrorists killed innocent civilians and personnel of security forces and caused heavy loss to
vehicles.
The press release said the operations had eliminated main strongholds of miscreants in the South Waziristan Agency and also helped political work which resulted in
the surrender of several wanted men.
"So far the security agencies have cleared Shakai and its adjacent valleys, including Khamrang Santoi and Mantoi, of the terrorists with the active cooperation of local
tribesmen," the press release said.
Meanwhile, militants continued night attacks on security forces in Wana and fired rockets and missiles at the scouts camp and civilian population on Monday night,
Dilawar Khan Wazir adds from Wana.
Residents said that a woman and a man were wounded when free-flight rockets and missiles hit three houses at about 3am. They said militants fired rockets on the
scouts camp in which one person received injuries while a portion of the paramilitary barrack was partially damaged.
A few rockets also hit the houses of Karim Khan, Mohammad Iqbal and Taj Mohammad in Wana. The mother of Mohammad Iqbal sustained injuries and was
admitted to a local hospital. Witnesses said that an exchange of fire between security forces and militants lasted more than an hour.
FBI and CIA in Pakistan
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_4-8-2004_pg7_2
WASHINGTON: “Under procedures agreed to by the US and Pakistani governments, agents from the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency have been allowed to eavesdrop and conduct wiretaps on terrorism suspects in Pakistan, a cabinet minister said on condition of anonymity,” reports the Washington Post Tuesday.
The report filed by the newspaper’s Pakistani stringer says that “for its part, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, Pakistan’s military intelligence service, has designated special units to collect counterterrorism intelligence through hundreds of newly recruited agents and state-of-the art surveillance equipment provided by the US government. ‘There is almost daily exchange of information between the CIA and ISI. The cooperation is even better than the Afghan war days,’ said the minister.”
Pakistani police and intelligence officials, continues the report, say that once a target is tracked down, any raid is always conducted by local law enforcement agencies “under the direct supervision of senior ISI officials, many of whom have taken training courses with the FBI and the CIA.” All key al Qaeda suspects arrested in Pakistan have been “handed over to US authorities for broader investigation.” In each case, Pakistani intelligence officials have been called in by their US counterparts for coordinated follow-up, according to the report.
The correspondent writes that the intelligence information that led to an orange alert being declared in New York and Washington came from the al Qaeda oprative, Musaad Aruchi, who was arrested on 12 June by “Pakistani paramilitary forces in an operation supervised by the CIA.” Aruchi told his interrogators that al Qaeda would hit New York or Washington “pretty soon.” He had street maps of New York City and addresses of some important buildings. Some CDs containing data were also recovered from him.
According to the report, Aruchi was handed over to American authorities three days later and he has been flown out to an undisclosed location.
More on the South African Connection
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_4-8-2004_pg7_3
ISLAMABAD: Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian Al-Qaeda operative, has told Pakistani interrogators he plotted suicide attacks against important Pakistani personalities and sensitive installations, a security official said on Tuesday.
Ghailani, indicted in the United States over 1998 bombing of American embassies in Dar es Salam, was captured on July 25 in Gujrat.
Khalfan said he had prepared plans for attacks on key figures and installations around Islamabad.
The official quoted him as telling interrogators he had planned the attacks to avenge Pakistan’s crackdown on Al Qaeda particularly in the northwest tribal region bordering Afghanistan, to please the Americans.
“He was imparting training to suicide human bombers who were to be used against important Pakistani personalities and installations around Islamabad airport,” said the official who asked not to be named.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday declined comment on reports that two nationals in Pakistani custody had been planning terror attacks in Johannesburg, saying they would first have to meet the two men. “At this stage our focus of our intervention is to seek consular access to the South Africans being held in Pakistan,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said.
“So far we have not gained consular access due to the fact that the Pakistanis are still debriefing the prisoners and therefore I am unable to comment on the suggestions being made in the media,” he said.
A Pakistani security said on Tuesday that South Africans Abu Bakar and Zubair Ismail — who were arrested last week in the eastern Pakistani city of Gujrat along with Tanzanian Al-Qaeda operative Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani — had planned attacks on tourist sites in South Africa’s main city.
“They had hatched a plot to carry out terrorist attacks on Johannesburg’s main tourist sites,” he said.
Bakar, a doctor, and Ismail, described as new recruits to Osama bin Laden’s terror network, had arrived in Pakistan’s second largest city of Lahore early July, the official said on condition of anonymity.
They joined Ghailani in Gujrat, 160 kilometres southeast of Islamabad, and together hid out in a rented house.
Maps, foreign currency, computers, computer discs and Arabic-language documents were found in his hideout, another security official said. agencies
Aruchi Arrest Disputed
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_4-8-2004_pg7_20
KARACHI: The arrest of Abu Musaab Aruchi, nephew of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attack in the US, was disputed in the Sindh High Court on Tuesday by Jamila Khatoon, who claimed that the government had mistaken her husband Abdul Karim Mehmood for Aruchi.
She said the police raided her house in Federal B Area on the night of June 12 and arrested her husband. The next day, she said, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat and Information Minister Sheikh Rashid told a news conference in Islamabad that the government had arrested Abu Musaab Aruchi, quoting her address, the Jamila told the court.
The government media, she said in her constitutional petition, also described her husband as Aruchi who carried a $1 million bounty on his head.
Jamila said her husband was a Pakistani with an identity card issued from Turbat. She said the police arrested her husband because he spoke Arabic besides Urdu and Balochi. She said her husband had been living in Karachi since 1988. They had three children who were attending school in Karachi.
Jamila said her husband had not been produced in any court of law since he was arrested, nor was the government saying where he was detained.
Citing the interior secretary and the Sindh home secretary as respondents, she asked the court to direct the Interior Ministry to disclose where her husband was, produce him in court and provide details of charges against him.
A division bench of Justice Anwer Zaheer Jamali and Justice Gulzar Ahmed issued notice to the advocate-general of Sindh and Deputy Attorney-General for Aug 8, observing: “ They are expected to make a definite statement about the whereabouts of Abdul Karim Mehmood, the husband of the petitioner.”
Good stuff, especially that FBI/CIA article. Thanks