Posted on 06/27/2002 6:27:37 AM PDT by Dog Gone
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistan sent 100 more soldiers into the mountains along the Afghan border Thursday to join the dangerous search for 40 suspected al-Qaida fighters believed hiding among the fiercely independent, armed tribesmen in the region.
The troops, backed by helicopters and armored vehicles, joined more than 500 soldiers who have been in the area since Wednesday, when the suspected al-Qaida fighters opened fire on Pakistani soldiers, killing ten, including a captain and a major. More soldiers were wounded.
An army officer in the North West Frontier Province, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said soldiers were checking the identities of people coming and going from the area.
He said troops also destroyed a house where the fighters had hidden as a warning to supporters of al-Qaida and Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime.
Pakistan military spokesman Gen. Rashid Quereshi said soldiers had arrested ``some al-Qaida men'' since Wednesday morning, but he refused to elaborate. It was not clear if those arrested were linked to Wednesday's attack.
The fighting broke out before dawn when soldiers approached a suspected al-Qaida hide-out near the town of Wana, about 190 miles west of Islamabad, a mountainous area dominated by tribal elders, largely outside the control of the Pakistani government.
More than 40 men attacked them with rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and hand grenades, the army said.
Officers said three al-Qaida fighters then engaged the army in a prolonged firefight while the others fled when it was dark. Two fighters were killed and one, a 15-year-old boy, was captured.
The fighters are believed to be Chechen members of al-Qaida who fled to the region after the U.S. military's Operation Anaconda in southeastern Afghanistan in March. The nationality of the captured teen-ager was released.
The Pakistani casualties were the first since President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a key U.S. ally in the war on terror, deployed troops to the area that borders the Afghan provinces of Paktia and Paktika last year to intercept al-Qaida and Taliban members fleeing U.S. attacks.
The United States put its forces in neighboring Afghanistan on alert to help if Pakistan asked, U.S. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday. So far there has been no request from Pakistan.
``While U.S. forces were not involved in the fight, we appreciate the Pakistan army's efforts to locate the al-Qaida,'' Myers said.
In the tribal belt, Americans are often referred to as ``the enemy'' by even noncombatant local people and are clearly not welcome in the area.
``We will give full support to the Pakistan army in efforts to arrest al-Qaida men,'' said Naseemulaah, a local tribal elder who uses only one name. ``But no Americans should enter our area. We will not tolerate it.''
However, the fiercely proud tribesmen, many who possess assault rifles, grenade launchers and mortars, refuse to allow house-to-house searches even by Pakistani authorities, further impeding the hunt for al-Qaida members.
During recent weeks, local government buildings and Pakistani troops have come under sporadic rocket and machine-gun fire from unknown attackers in the area.
U.S. officials estimate that up to 1,000 al-Qaida fighters still operate in small groups on both sides of the mountainous border.
In Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, police said Thursday they had arrested eight people, including three Palestinians and two Sudanese, as part of the investigation into deadly bombings at the U.S. Consulate and a hotel in southern Pakistan.
The detainees were the latest foreigners apprehended in connection with the attacks, which officials suspect were the work of Islamic militants possibly aided by al-Qaida.
The June 14 blast outside the consulate killed at least 12 Pakistanis and injured 50. In the May 8 suicide bombing outside the Sheraton Hotel, 11 French engineers and three other people died, including the bomber.
Pakistani police, with the help of the FBI, are investigating whether the attacks were linked, and if there is a connection to the kidnap-slaying of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and the March 17 grenade attack on a church which killed four people, including two Americans.
I wonder if they were members of Hezbullah or Islamic Jihad.
I think Pakistan would be very interested in learning about that.
Pakistan would be very interested to learn whether Syria or Iran sponsored the attack against Pakistan because that would essentially be an act of war. That would change the dynamics of the region greatly.
I can't write it any more plainly than that.
Both sides were posturing that they were prepared for a nuclear exchange, and foreign nations were evacuating their citizens. That's uncomfortably close, in my opinion.
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