Posted on 09/03/2008 5:05:33 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
The US military, with the possible cooperation of the Afghan military, may have conducted a special operations air assault across the border into Taliban-controlled South Waziristan on Wednesday, according to unconfirmed reports from Pakistan.
The initial report from a Geo TV correspondent indicated the casualties were taken after US helicopters launched missiles at three homes in the Barmal area of Angorada late at night.
The report later changed when the correspondent claimed the helicopters landed and troops dismounted, who then began searching homes. One witness told The Associated Press that "American and Afghan soldiers starting firing" on one family outside of their home. Soldiers then entered the home and others, and killed 15 people, including women and children. The raid was reported to have occurred in the village of Musa Nikow.
The Pakistani military confirmed an attack occurred in the region, AP reported but did not provide details. Two anonymous Pakistani intelligence officials said the attack occurred and claimed 19 were killed. The US military in Afghanistan said its forces were not involved, and the US embassy in Pakistan did not comment.
A rare raid
The US military command in Afghanistan can plausibly deny its forces were involved in such a raid, as the operation have been carried out by Special Forces teams. Task Force 88, the hunter-killer teams assigned to take down al Qaeda and the Taliban's command structure, does not report to the conventional command in Afghanistan.
A raid of this nature - the insertion of US special operations team inside Pakistani territory - is rare. This would be only the second reported raid of this nature since 2006. Nearly every other attack was conducted by unmanned US Predator aircraft or missile strikes from Afghanistan.
US special operation teams raided an al Qaeda camp in Danda Saidgai in North Waziristan in March 2006. The camp was run by the Black Guard, the al Qaeda elite praetorian guard for Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahiri, and other senior al Qaeda leaders.
The air assault resulted in the death of Imam Asad and several dozen members of the Black Guard. In addition to being the camp commander, Asad was a senior Chechen al Qaeda commander and associate of Shamil Basayev, the Chechen al Qaeda leader killed by Russian security forces in July 2006.
The insertion of US soldiers inside Pakistan is a risky venture. If this raid indeed occurred US intelligence must have believed that a senior-most al Qaeda or Taliban leader or leaders were present.
Increased activity
If confirmed the assault in South Waziristan would be the fourth cross-border attack since Aug. 20 and the 10th confirmed attack this year. Only 10 such strikes were recorded in 2006 and 2007 combined.
Hate it when that happens...
/s (in case it wasn’t obvious)
Just Foreign Policy News, September 3, 2008
***********************EXCERPT********************
Summary: U.S./Top News 1) At least 20 people were killed in Pakistan in an attack that marked the first known instance in which U.S. forces conducted an operation on Pakistani soil since the war in Afghanistan began, the Washington Post reports. Pakistan strongly objected to the attack.
Pretty good bet, see links in post #18. But there are also a couple of the folks who were among the first to go into Afghanistan waaaay back in late 2001, as well as some *civilians* who speak pretty good Pashtun Mahsit dialect.
Or, maybe it was just some bikers there for the local pool tournament....
Thanks archy....I forgot all about that...it makes sense of what happened today.
Nah. This provides a little concealment for those helping us when and where they can. I hope they do leap into the air, wave their arms and hands about, and shout about the fould deeds of us infidel dogs.
And next time, maybe they can get us some targeting info in time for it to work even better....
HEY !!
I’m trying to work here......:o)
I think they’d only land troops in Pak for OBL.
I’m trying to work here......:o)
Hold muh beer, and watch this. I just hope the camel doesn't try to hide under your new truck....
LOL !
Nite archy !
The three houses owned by Wazir tribesmen: Faujan Wazir, Faiz Mohammad and Nazar Jan Wazir - at a small border village of Zawlolai.
Two jet fighters and gunships were also seen during the 30-minute ground operation, one kilometre inside Pakistan.
Some of the tribespeople killed were Nazar Jan Jalalkhel, mother of Nazar Jan, Dilbar Jan Jalalkhel, Rahman, Noor Mohammad, Fazlur Rahman, sons of Faujan Khan, two other minor kids of Faujan, two women of Faujan family, Faiz Mohammad Tojekhel and son of Faiz Mohammad.
There were a number of foreign AQ fighters in the houses that were also killed/captured.
Dog, we’ve tossed around locales like Chitral, and even to the east - Skardu in the Gilgit/Baltistan regions of Pakistani.
However, some scuttlebutt talks about a village area called Zhab/Zhub/Zhab in the WanaWaziristan area.
Funny thing, it seems blanked out on google maps/earth.
Try “Zhob”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080904/ts_nm/pakistan_usa_dc;_ylt=Agsrj0.9rL.cyg9XU3jEASCs0NUE
03-11 July 2007: Pakistani Army’s raid on the Lal Masjid *Red Mosque*
11 July 2007: [Last day of the mosque raid] al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri condemns the raid and calls for Pakistanis to overthrow the Pakistani government
12 July 2007: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf vows in a nationally televised address that he will crush extremists throughout Pakistan. He says, “Terrorism and extremism has not ended in Pakistan. But it is our resolve that we will eliminate extremism and terrorism wherever it exists. Extremism and terrorism will be defeated in every corner of the country.” He also says that over the next few months, security forces will retake the tribal regions near the Afghanistan border now controlled by a mix of Taliban, al-Qaeda, and other militants.
12 July 2007: Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, who ran the Red Mosque along with his brother but was arrested during the raid, is allowed to speak at the funeral of his brother. He says, “God willing, Pakistan will have an Islamic revolution soon. The blood of martyrs will bear fruit.”
12 July 2007: The first retaliatory suicide bombings take place. [Associated Press, 7/12/2007; London Times, 7/16/2007][Not quite true: there were more than a half dozen between 04 July and 12 July] Over the next three weeks, 167 people, including 120 soldiers and police, are killed in 21 militant attacks, many of them suicide bombings. Most of these take place in the North-West Frontier Province and the tribal regions, both of which have a strong militant presence. Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid will later comment, “The government’s inept handling of the [Red Mosque] crisis was a turning point for al-Qaeda, Pakistani Taliban, and other extremist groups, who now joined together and vowed to topple the government and create an Islamic state.” Hundreds of potential new suicide bombers vowed revenge and began training in the tribal regions. Al-Qaeda’s focus “shifted from Afghanistan to Pakistan, where it saw a demoralized army, a terrified citizenry, and an opportunity to destabilize the state.
"For the first time the army’s corps commanders accepted that the situation had radically changed and the state was under threat from Islamic extremism. In fact, the Pakistan army was now fighting a civil war.” [ Ahmed Rashid, 2008]
27 December 2007: A suicide blast in Rawalpindi claims the life of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and an estimated 20 others. [DER SPIEGEL/reuters]
16 February 2008: A car bomb kills 40 people and wounds 90 in northern Pakistan when it explods in front of an election office of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party.
18 February 2008, Pakistani general election, in which "Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and his PML-Q Party have suffered a crushing defeat in what appears to be the freest, fairest parliamentary election in Pakistan since 1970." The two major opposition parties in Pakistan pick up at least 153 seats, or 56 percent, of the 272-member National Assembly. The biggest winner, not surprisingly, is the Pakistan Peoples Party, or PPP, formerly led by the late Benazir Bhutto, assassinated in December. But the PPP won't have enough seats to form a government on its own. ....
The most exciting candidate for the prime minister's post is Aitzaz Ahsan--lawyer, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, writer, human rights activist, and fabulous speaker. He's also been the victim of Musharraf imperiousness--house arrest and such--for coming to the defense of the chief justice Musharraf deposed last year. Ahsan represents Pakistan's greatest chance for change--possibly more so than Bhutto would have. [ Pierre Tristam, About.com]
07 July 2008: Bomb rocks India embassy in Kabul. A suicide bomber has rammed a car full of explosives into the gates of the Indian embassy in the Afghan capital, killing 41 people and injuring 141.
Five embassy personnel were killed - India's defence attache, a senior diplomat and two security guards - as well as an Afghan man. Five Afghans died at Indonesia's embassy nearby. No-one has admitted being behind the attack, the deadliest in Kabul since the overthrow of the Taleban in 2001. BBC News
25 August 2008: Sharif quits Pakistan coalition. Pakistan’s ruling coalition on Monday faced its first significant split as Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister, pulled his party out of the alliance, citing differences over whether to restore judges dismissed by former President Pervez Musharraf. Financial Times/Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad
04 September 2008: Pakistan premier's car comes under fire. The motorcade of Pakistan’s prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was fired upon near Islamabad on Wednesday, prompting fresh concerns over the safety of Pakistan’s leaders.
It came hours after reports of an attack by western troops based in Afghanistan on a suspected base for Al Qaeda and Taliban militants near Pakistan’s Afghan border.
[A href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/be76a0f2-7a1a-11dd-bb93-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1">Financial Times/ Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad Suspicion: Someone other than the Pakistani ISI now has operational control of at least a large portion of Pakistani-based al-Qaeda forces and supporters, who may now see Pakistan- and its nuclear arsenal- as an achievable goal for use as their home base and sanctuary. And if the ISI cannot control or limit the activities of the forces with which they've certainly maintained close contacts for three decades, the Pakistani military may be about ready to take over.
With hopes for a free election high even in the aftermath of the Bhutto liquidation, that might drive much of the support of the people away from the army, probably not a good thing for any future US cross-border operations into Pakistani territory, particularly in Pashtun Peshawar and Wazir and Mehsood - and the Pakistani army might also feel bound to prove that they are not beholden to keeping agreements made by.
August 29 2008: Pakistan's Military Stays in the Barracks, for Now With a history of coups, Pakistanis are keeping a close eye on the generals. KARACHI, Pakistan—The Pakistani military, which intervened to run this nation for more than half its 61-year history, is staying in the barracks amid growing political turmoil following the forced departure of President Pervez Musharraf. Aamir Latif/ USNWR
Oh? Trying for Baitullah Mehsud again, are we?
16 Jan 2007Pakistan Army helicopter gun-ships attacked a suspected militant hideout in South Waziristan, killing at least 20 militants. Helicopter gun-ships reportedly targeted a cluster of compounds at Salamt village in the Zamzola area, 30km to the east of Razmak in South Waziristan. Officials said that the compounds situated in a desolate area are completely destroyed, killing most of the people inside. "This used to be an Arab-dominated hideout… But as of now, we don't know whether any of them has been killed," one official said. Another official, citing intelligence reports, said some 25 militants had been killed and bodies of eight of them had been retrieved from underneath the rubble. Of the eight, five are stated to be Afghans and three locals from the Kikari Mehsud tribe inhabiting the Ludda sub-district of South Waziristan.
January 17 Top militant commander Baitullah Mehsud vowed to avenge the air strikes at Zamzola on January 16 in the next two weeks in his native South Waziristan which, in his words, would cause pain to Pakistan. However, he did not renounce his February 2005-peace agreement with the Government, but said that the military action in Zamzola had forced him to take action. "We will definitely avenge this action in 10 to 15 days," he told a foreign media organisation. He added: "And it (the action) would be such that it would pain their heart."
January 22 A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a military convoy near Mirali in North Waziristan, killing four security force (SF) personnel and a woman, and injuring 23 persons, including 20 soldiers. The incident occurred at the Khajori checkpoint, about two kilometers east of Mirali town, when a joint convoy of the army and paramilitary force is heading from the Bannu Garrison to Miranshah, administrative headquarters of North Waziristan.
A Frontier Corps soldier is killed and at least two others sustained injuries when helicopter gun-ships from the US-led coalition forces bombed a Pakistani border post in the remote Shawal area in North Waziristan. The Pakistan Government reportedly lodged a strong protest and asked the coalition forces to investigate the matter and take necessary measures that such incidents are not repeated. However, a US military spokesperson earlier said the incident occurred in Afghanistan. Colonel Paul Fitzpatrick in a statement said he cannot confirm or deny loss or injury of Pakistani military.
Bring us the head of Osama Bin Laden.
Go get some, boys!
OooRah!
Just heard form a business contact in the region who does business with some of the tribal leaders. Word is they got a HVT. A BIG HVT!!! Now that part of the world is subject to big tales but my friend thinks this one was real and solid. Time will tell.
I shall stretch the string between me and the tin cans af a couple of my pals here and there reeeeel tight and see what they have to say about what's up. If I don't get an answer from a couple of the key ones, they're out celebrating, which should mean Good News.
< / cautiously optimistic >
US forces launched a controversial helicopter strike in South Waziristan in a village just one mile from the Afghan border just two days ago. A senior US military intelligence official and a US military officer, both who wished to remain anonymous, told The Long War Journal the strike involved a "handful" of US helicopters and special operations teams. The official and officer would not comment on the target of the raid.
TEAMS?
More than one makes it very interesting...
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