Posted on 06/19/2004 5:18:27 PM PDT by Graybeard58
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Pakistan's army killed a renegade tribal leader accused of sheltering al-Qaida fighters, tracing him to a mud-brick compound via a satellite phone and then leveling the building in a helicopter assault, officials said Friday. Six other people also died.
"We were tracking him down and he was killed last night by our hand," Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.
A helicopter fired a missile at the hideout of Nek Mohammed near Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, near the Afghan border.
The army got its break late Thursday when a satellite phone intercept tracked Mohammed to the home of another tribal leader, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
It was not clear if the United States was involved in the phone intercept, although Pakistan is thought to lack the sophisticated satellite technology necessary for such intelligence work, and acknowledges it sometimes receives "technical help" from the Americans.
Sultan would not say how Mohammed was found, but said Pakistani forces were the ones who killed Mohammed. He said local reports that an unmanned U.S. aircraft may have fired the missile were "absurd."
Mohammed granted two phone interviews with a Pakistan-based reporter for the British Broadcasting Corp. this week, but it was not clear whether authorities used either of those calls to track him down.
In one of the interviews, Mohammed vowed to overthrow both the Pakistani and Afghan governments.
"We want to eradicate the U.S.-installed puppet governments in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Once we overthrow them, then there will be peace and no one will be able to harm Muslims," he said.
The security official said at least two of those killed along with Mohammed were foreigners, but they did not appear to be senior al-Qaida leaders.
About 70 foreign militants have been killed in South Waziristan since June 9, when the army launched the latest offensive against them, Hayyat said.
Mohammed led a rebellion in March in which 120 people were killed, including nearly 50 security forces. He later agreed to cooperate with the government and turn over foreign militants, but reneged on that promise, prompting the recent burst of fighting.
The U.S. military, pursuing al-Qaida on the Afghan side of the border, has been pressing hard for Islamabad to step up military activity in Waziristan.
The area is considered a possible hideout for al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, though there is no hard intelligence on his whereabouts.
Mohammed was staying in the home of another tribal leader, Sher Zaman, when the army helicopters attacked late Thursday. Residents said that in addition to Mohammed, two of Zaman's grown sons, his grandson and an associate of Mohammed were killed in the attack.
in Pir Bagh, near Wana, the main town in South Waziristan.
On Friday, Mohammed's body was taken to his village of Kaloosha, about six miles west of Wana, where thousands attended his funeral.
Mohammed's death was a major victory for the Pakistani army, which has been embarrassed by its forces' losses in fighting with the militants. In the March assault, Pakistani forces were surprised on the first day, suffering heavy casualties and allowing hundreds of suspects to flee.
Government officials had said they believed a high-ranking al-Qaida operative possibly bin Laden No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri was surrounded in the March attack, but no senior leaders were found. An Uzbek militant, Tahir Yuldash, was reportedly injured in the assault, but he got away.
This is wonderful news ... now, if only we could trace their e-mail communications and bomb them accordingly.
Sounds like a missed opportunity to me.
I can think of several good reasons to tell the press we are tracking a certain kind of cell phone. It makes a good bit of difference whether the original source is military or civilian.
I read somewhere that Zek Mohammad was the guy driving the armored pickup that blew the checkpoint way back at the start of all this, so it seems a good bet that he was the subject of the calls for medical assistance we intercepted.
Let's see, number three in Saudi, the head supporting tribesman in Pakistan, and maybe Zarkawi in Iraq too.
I wonder if Bin Laden and Zawahiri feel martyrdom closing in on them yet? In any event, they can't be having a good day.
Once they get the people seeing them as heros they can and will accomplish much more.
Those guys don't mess around. Clinton would have sent marshalls with an arrest warrant.
Wait till the terrorist gets there to find out they are all out of virgins.
the rocket attack was probably orchestrated by task force 121 covertly hunting HVT's inside Pakistan. Pakistan's forces were given credit for the kill to ensure deniability by the US.
In those parts of the world, only terrorists and media are using satphones. Missiles away, and home in on the signal! It doesn't matter which one we get; they're both the enemy.
Some folks here were sniffing for UAVs within a few minutes of when the report of Nek Mohammad's death broke.
Regardless of what I think might or might not have happened, the official version out of Pakistan and not denied by the Colaition, to date, is that it was a Pak op, top to bottom.
That works for me. If letting the the wrong shooter take the credit gets Bin Laden and Zawahiri's head on a stick quicker, I'll be happy to stand aside while Purvez's grandma claims she whacked old Nek with her cane.
:-)
I think "Mr. Anonymous" may be feeling that events are closing in on his book release as well. He seemed to find it necessary to almost immediately comment in dismissive tones about Nek Mohammed's demise:
"Nek Mohammed is one guy in one small area. We sometimes forget how big the tribal areas are."
Now, I grant that the tribal areas are large and constitute an incredibly complex terrain, but that all the more underscores the remarkable success here. Did the Pakistani's (and/or we) just happen to get lucky? I don't think so.
Business as usual, look you right in the eye and lie to you, knowing that you know it's a lie but that you don't have the time to chase it down and prove it.
Looks like the book didn't go over so big at the New York Times, unless we are being fed a bone.
This, out from Dawn:
"Military urges fighters to surrender: Wana operation
ISLAMABAD, June 19: Military officials on Saturday renewed their calls to local and foreign fighters to surrender after Nek Mohammad and seven others were
killed in a security force raid in Wana on Thursday night.
Reuters quoted military spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan as saying that amnesty would be offered to foreign fighters and the local tribesmen who had sheltered
them, but only if they laid down their arms.
"In case of locals, amnesty will be given to those who lay down their weapons and denounce militancy," Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan said. "Foreigners will have to do the
same, but they will also have to get themselves registered, photographed and fingerprinted.
Failure to take up the offer, he said, would invite a further crackdown by the military.
"If there is any backlash, we are prepared to deal with it," Sultan said, adding that more than 80 militants, mostly foreigners, and 18 soldiers had been killed in fighting
so far this month.
Maj-Gen Sultan said the local tribesmen would help the security forces to hunt foreigners. "A tribal lashkar of 2,000 men is being raised for this task."
The situation in South Waziristan "is fully under control of the security forces," Maj-Gen Sultan said when asked if there were any fears of a tribal backlash over the
killing.
Meanwhile, a ten-member team of the Spirkai tribe, led by Malik Yunas, is expected to begin a search of some houses in the Shakai area looking for foreign militants
on Sunday.
http://www.dawn.com/2004/06/20/top8.htm
Looks to me like the Paks will consolidate for a bit, maybe give the political solution a chance to work again. The situation is quite a bit different than last time around, different positions for the Pak military, and new tribes to be dealt with. Wonder how cooperative the old tribes are going to be this time, if the crowbar took or if itdidn't get a solid bite, requiring placement yet a third time?
Guess we'll find out in due time.
"The situation is quite a bit different than last time around, different positions for the Pak military, and new tribes to be dealt with."
Interesting perspective here. After watching the March Wana operation through the news stories I'm not about to get as exuberant as then. I hope that I can be a bit more realistic this time, without slipping into cynicism. I saw earlier today that the U.S. military spokesman in Kabul was voicing some cautious optimism that Nek's demise would have a beneficial disorganizing effect on the Talibani's in the area.
I'll repeat what you just wrote:
"Guess we'll find out in due time."
"They do and say things I scratch my head over weekly."
How true. It is a different world altogether. I spent a little time in SEA and am aware of radically different thought patterns, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what these guys are meaning at times. I constantly have to remind myself that the words are somewhat familiar, but the meaning behind the rhetoric is different.
I too hope that Musharraf is really going to follow through with what I think he has said and meant.
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