Posted on 08/11/2007 2:27:55 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
ISLAMABAD — Pakistani helicopter gunships launched new assaults Saturday on al-Qaida and Taliban hideouts in the mountainous northwest as President Pervez Musharraf prepared to address a peace summit in Kabul.
Cobra helicopters killed three suspected militants, pounding what was believed to be their base after a firefight Saturday in Mir Ali town in North Waziristan tribal district, the military said.
"A security convoy was passing when an improvised explosive device planted by militants exploded, causing no harm to the security personnel," chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said.
"Armed miscreants then attacked security men with automatic weapons that injured a soldier. In retaliatory firing by helicopters three miscreants were killed," Arshad said.
The continuing violence in the tribal area comes amid a joint tribal gathering organized by Pakistan and the Afghan government in Kabul to discuss ways to counter the al-Qaida and Taliban threat.
Musharraf cancelled his trip Thursday to the inaugural session of the "peace jirga" which is being attended by around 700 tribal elders from the border regions.
The jirga is scheduled to end on Sunday and the foreign ministry in Islamabad said late Friday the president had agreed "in principle" to address the closing session.
Musharraf's decision to attend the talk-fest followed a conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who telephoned him Thursday to discuss the jirga as well as reports he was considering imposing a state of emergency, the foreign ministry said.
The turnaround also followed a call late Friday from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who again urged him to attend the gathering which runs to Sunday.
Relations between Karzai and Musharraf have been strained over the resurgence of the Taliban, which was driven from government by a U.S.-led coalition in 2001 after having been helped to power by Pakistan in 1996.
The border regions have become an intense headache for Musharraf, who is facing accusations from Washington and at home that not enough is being done to root out the terrorist presence on the Pakistani side of the border.
He has been angered by the accusations, and suggestions of unilateral U.S. airstrikes on the region.
While the Kabul jirga, brokered by U.S. President George W Bush during a meeting in Washington in September with Karzai and Musharraf, had meant to bring together representatives of all the tribal regions, elders from two of the most volatile areas boycotted.
North and South Waziristan refused to send delegates, citing the lack of Taliban representation and saying that without all parties to the problem being present, no solution could be reached.
North and South Waziristan, two of Pakistan's seven border tribal areas, have become notorious hideouts for operatives of both the Taliban and al-Qaida, which use the region to plan assaults in Pakistan, Afghanistan and worldwide.
Pakistani media have reported that Taliban and al-Qaida operatives intimidate and sometimes murder people who oppose their presence.
Arshad earlier said security forces were focussing on squeezing them out.
"We are responding with greater force against militant attacks on security forces now," Arshad said Friday. "The action is not being done under any outside pressure. We know al-Qaida is present in the region, there are Taliban elements and their local supporters and we are acting against them in our own national interest."
Musharraf on Thursday decided not to impose a state of emergency, ignoring the advice of aides who wanted strong action to prevent more instability in the troubled nation.
or better yet, gives them some prime hashish cut with opium and then has them slaughtered when they're insensible.
bttt
Pakistan hit empty camps after alQ were tipped off ahead of time. It's a PR stunt by the Pakis
Great Pic! Now that would be cosmic justice.
Tough love huh? LOL...
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