Posted on 03/05/2006 11:25:14 AM PST by blam
Hundreds Flee Northwestern Pakistan Unrest
Sunday March 5, 2006 6:31 PM
By BASHIRULLAH KHAN
Associated Press Writer
MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan (AP) - Hundreds of Pakistanis lugging bags and bundles of clothes fled a northwestern town Sunday after pro-Taliban tribesmen and foreign militants battled security forces in clashes near the Afghan border that left at least 53 people dead.
The fighting, which started Saturday and largely died down early Sunday, was the worst in two years in the lawless North Waziristan region, where well-armed, fiercely independent tribes have long resisted government control.
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said sporadic gunfire broke out Sunday afternoon in Miran Shah, the main hotspot of the unrest. But the fighters retreated from government buildings they had occupied, and soldiers controlled the town again, he said.
Sultan said foreigners involved in the fighting had come from neighboring Afghanistan and would be ``confronted and eliminated.''
The fighting came as President Bush made a 24-hour visit Saturday to the capital of Islamabad, about 190 miles northeast of North Waziristan, and declared his solidarity with Pakistan in the war on terror.
Sultan said at least 46 fighters and five soldiers were killed in the fighting.
Miran Shah's hospital said two civilians were killed - a 25-year-old man who died when a shell hit his home and a 50-year-old homeless man.
The fighting came just days after the army attacked a suspected al-Qaida camp in the village of Saidgi near the Afghan border.
Waziristan is known as a hotbed of al-Qaida and Taliban militants who draw support from the local Pashtun tribal people. Many of the rebellious tribesmen involved in Saturday's unrest are believed to be Islamic students, referred to as ``local Taliban,'' reflecting their sympathies with the hardline militia in Afghanistan.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Wait, I thought only the United States under republican presidents has homelessness.
OBL territory?
Nice to see Pakistan has not let up in "stirring the pot" in this area.
FYI
Words to live by!
I agree. We ought to stongly pressure Musharraf to permit some selected bombing up in that region, maybe even look the other way when some U.S. forces happen to stumble across the border with some laser designators.
The media keeps beating the drum that things are heating up in Afghanistan. I think it is quite the opposite. Things have become so inhospitable for the terrorists in Afghanistan that it has become easier to do their nefarous deeds in Pakistan than in Afghanistan.
The Taliban may be able to burn a school down but they have no ability to exercise control over any area of Afghanistan.
I hope you're right. But I'm trying to keep some semblance of an open mind here. I do wish the MSM would do even a halfway balanced stance in reporting, but they don't. It makes me want to discount everything they report, but I do that with the risk that I may be over correcting the picture.
A tad further north is where OBL and Zawahiri roam.....up near Damadola...and up further to Chitral.
Afghanistan isn't a refuge for them anymore. It is ironic that they have fled Pakistan for Afghanistan, and reveals the extent to which the normal, easy border warfare that depended on respect for sovereignty has just gotten a good deal harder.
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