China Hostage Dies After Pakistan Rescue Assault

Reuters ^ | 10/14/04 | David Brunnstrom

[TexKat]

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Chinese engineer held hostage by al Qaeda-linked militants in Pakistan was killed on Thursday but his colleague rescued in a commando assault that killed their five kidnappers, officials said.

Chinese engineers Wang Ende and Wang Peng were heading to work on a dam project in the remote South Waziristan tribal region when they were kidnapped on Saturday by Uzbek and Pakistani militants led by a former Guantanamo Bay detainee.

Wang Peng, who had worked as a surveyor on the project, was critically hurt by gunfire from the kidnappers and later died, said Pakistani military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan.

Wang Ende was unharmed.

Both men worked for state-run Chinese firm Sino Hydro Corp.

The assault was carried out by commandos disguised as a tribal delegation, one of whom was seriously wounded, Pakistani security sources said. It was launched after a shot was heard from the compound where the hostages were held, Sultan said.

"The security forces heard firing from within the compound, which created a fear that the abductors had used violence against the Chinese engineers," he said. "Then immediately the security forces stormed the compound and killed all the five abductors."

Two Pakistanis held with the engineers were freed unharmed, Sultan said.

"The Chinese government strongly condemns this terrorist act of kidnapping Chinese citizens," China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said in a statement that extended "deep sympathy" to the family of the dead man.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri told reporters Pakistan shared China's grief and the kidnappers had tried to drive a wedge between Pakistan and its "closest friend."

China's official Xinhua news agency said Kasuri told ambassador Zhang Chunxiang he felt sorry for the failure of the operation, but Zhang told reporters Pakistan had tried its best. "I want to tell you this will have no effect on our relations."

A traditional ally of Pakistan, supplying it with arms and hundreds of millions of dollars in development finance, Beijing had urged Islamabad to do its utmost to rescue the engineers and to increase security for their co-workers.

It was the second time this year Chinese workers have come to harm at the hands of militants opposed to Pakistan's role in the U.S.-led war on terror. In May, three technicians working on a port project were killed and nine wounded in a bomb attack in the southern Pakistani city of Gawadar.

THREAT TO BLOW UP HOSTAGES

The kidnappers were three Uzbeks and two militants from South Waziristan's Mehsud tribe, a Pakistani security source said.

They had been holed up with explosives strapped to their bodies in a mud house surrounded by security forces and their tribal allies in the Chagmalai area of South Waziristan, about 330 km (200 miles) southwest of Islamabad.

Officials said the kidnappers had threatened to blow up themselves and their hostages if a rescue attempt was made.

Seven assault rifles, nine hand grenades, some detonators and a cordless long-range telephone were recovered from the compound, intelligence sources said.

Pakistani officials said the kidnapping was led by an al Qaeda-linked tribesman named Abdullah Mehsud, a former inmate of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, who gave instructions to the kidnappers by phone from a secret location.

He threatened on Monday to order the killing of one of the Chinese unless the kidnappers and their captives were allowed to join him.

The military assault came after efforts by members of Abdullah's Mehsud tribe, including some of his relatives, failed to persuade him to order the release of the hostages.

Officials said Abdullah had also demanded an end to military operations in the semi-autonomous tribal region, where hundreds have been killed this year in battles between troops and al Qaeda-linked militants, and the freeing of two Uzbek militants.

Abdullah was freed from Guantanamo in March after the Pentagon said he was no longer a threat to the United States.

The tribal region has long been notorious for kidnapping for ransom, but the latest abductions had appeared to represent a shift in tactics.

Hundreds of foreign militants, including Uzbeks, Chechens and Arabs, are thought to be holed up in the tribal region, protected by Pakistani tribesmen. U.S. officials believe Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders may also be hiding somewhere along the rugged border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. (With reporting by Tahir Ikram and Faisal Aziz in ISLAMABAD, Irfan Mughal in DERA ISMAIL KHAN and Hafiz Wazir in WANA)

[TexKat]

Abdullah Mehsud (AKA "the goat fancier") was in the news recently in a story about how he was released from Gitmo and then kidnapped the two Chinese. Hopefully the book has been closed on that POS.

Yep, one and the same.

Abdullah Mehsud walks at an International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) office in Kabul following his release from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in this March 16, 2004 photo. 'Commander' Abdullah, who says he leads a group that has threatened to kill one of two kidnapped Chinese engineers in Pakistan on October 11, 2004 unless security forces ended a siege of their hide-out, was among a group of 26 detainees released by the United States in March. Picture taken March 16, 2004. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood

Abdullah Mehsud, Pakistani tribal Commander and leader of the Islamic militants who kidnapped two Chinese engineers, speaks to the media in the Chagmalai area of the South Waziristan some 330 km southwest of Islamabad October 10, 2004. EUTERS/Kamran Wazir

[Publius6961]

Chinese engineers Wang Ende and Wang Peng were heading to work on a dam project in the remote South Waziristan tribal region when they were kidnapped on Saturday by Uzbek and Pakistani militants led by a former Guantanamo Bay detainee.

No comment.

[FreeReign]

3 Cheers for the ACLU!

If I remember correctly, Mehsud was a DOD release based on a DOD screening process mistake.

[Se7eN]

Pretty courageous, and proficient nonetheless, to storm a group of men armed with suicide-explosives.

[AdmSmith]

A background of him is here http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1155685/posts?page=1044#1044

[Blowtorch]

According to snopes, the Pershing account never took place. The story lingers on, apparently.

[Blowtorch]

Ok so snopes says it's not confirmed. I worded my statement incorrectly. I hope the account did happen and that it may be tried as you say because it shows the level we can and should escalate this war. We have to put an end to young islamists seeking martyrdom in the name of 72 virgins. Liberal application of pig entrails is the quick solution to this problem. I've been pro pork products for years, and teaming them up with islamists who want martyrdom just makes sense.