WANA/MIRANSHAH: Ten militants and three soldiers were killed in an attack on a military convoy in South Waziristan, while two soldiers were killed and four others injured when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in North Waziristan on Thursday. “Militants ambushed a military convoy near Chaghmalay, and air support was sought against them. Ten militants were killed and 12 injured while the security forces suffered two casualties,” military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told Daily Times.
Arshad said that two soldiers were killed and four others injured in a roadside explosion near Kaka Ziarat in Teti Madakhel, 70 kilometres north of North Waziristan’s Mir Ali town, and the security forces had arrested six persons for carrying out the attack. The attacked convoy was heading to Dhandikach from the Speenwam area near the Pak-Afghan border, he added. The killing of the militants came hours after South Waziristan Political Agent Hussainzada Khan held a meeting with a 21-member Mehsud peace committee for the safe recovery of 15 Frontier Corps personnel taken hostage by the militants last week.
Maulana Mirajuddin, member of the National Assembly from the MMA, said the clash at Chaghmalay could hinder the safe release of the 15 FC personnel. “We discussed the release of the FC personnel and peace with the political agent. However, hours later the militants and security forces clashed and let’s hope this incident does not affect the release of the kidnapped personnel,” he told Daily Times by phone from Tank city. Residents of Jandola, entry point of South Waziristan, said the Wana-Tank highway was blocked after Mehsud militants stopped traffic to and from Wana. This, they said, may lead to a conflict between the Mehsud and Wazir tribes. Truckloads of tomatoes and apples of the Wazir tribesmen in Wana waited for a long time for security clearance for upcountry transportation as the Mehsud militants blocked the Wana-Tank highway. The highway was later opened for traffic in the afternoon.
Earlier, Wazir elders said they feared a “full-scale war between the Mehsuds and Wazirs if the highway remained blocked and attacks on security forces in Wazir areas by Mehsud militants continued. Maj Gen Arshad said the government would not let the two tribes go to war. Separately, NWFP Governor Ali Jan Orakzai held a meeting with elders and pro-Taliban clerics in North Waziristan on Thursday, officials and security sources said. It was the governor’s first visit to Miranshah after his return from Kabul where he attended the joint peace jirga of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Orakzai said that the 2006 peace deal with the pro-Taliban militants had “no guarantee mechanism” for implementation.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\08\17\story_17-8-2007_pg1_9
2nd day of Tora Bora assault: Allies press air, ground attacks
Friday, August 17, 2007
KABUL: US and Afghan troops pressed an air and ground assault on Thursday against Al Qaeda militants grouped in the Tora Bora mountains of eastern Afghanistan, the last known hideout of Osama bin Laden. Afghan media reports said 50 Taliban had been killed but a district governor said these “are only rumours at this stage”.
Local residents said three villages had been bombed by the forces and up to 30 civilians had been killed in the fighting. The US military denied the reports. Pakistani military said it had reinforced the border to stop militants escaping across the frontier.
US military spokeswoman Captain Vanessa Bowman said the operation was intended to disrupt Al Qaeda and other militants in the region. The assault was using precision munitions to avoid civilian casualties, she said, and intelligence indicated the fighters had gathered in dug-in fighting positions. The US-led coalition here and Afghan officials have reported the emergence of a new anti-government outfit in the area called the Tora Bora Front. The shadowy group is believed to be an Al Qaeda-linked unit set up by the son of Younus Khali, a key commander in the Afghan resistance to the Soviets, who later joined forces with the Taliban.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\08\17\story_17-8-2007_pg7_1
Interesting, we know of the emptied Pakistan training camps, so where do they go? To their Afghan mountain stronghold. Methinks we were able to snooker them into going there just so we could attack and kill them without haveing to mess with Pakistan.