Missile kills Pakistan tribal head

CNN ^ | Friday, June 18 | Syed Mohsin Naqvi

[AdmSmith]

ISLAMABAD (CNN) -- A tribal leader accused of harboring Al Qaeda militants in Pakistan's western border region was killed Thursday night in a targeted missile strike, according to Pakistan intelligence sources. The Associated Press quoted an army spokesman Friday as identifying the tribal leader as Nek Mohammed, a former Taliban fighter.

He was killed late Thursday at the home of another tribal chief, the spokesman said.

"We were tracking him down and he was killed last night by our hand," Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan told The Associated Press.

[Boot Hill]

“He told reporters in the village of upper Pachir in early December that Bin Laden had already headed for Parachinar, just over the border in Afghanistan.”

BBC's Jane Corbin ought to invest in a map, Parachinar is in Pakistan not Afghanistan! See the center of the map below

multimap.com

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The above map came from MultiMap.com. Click the logo on the left to visit the best site on the internet for accurate and detailed maps of the entire world.

 
--Boot Hill

[Dog]

The longer the enemy continues fighting hard in the Shakai, the more convinced I am that both Bin Laden and Zawahiri are still close by.

So am I.

He is there....I just know it.

[jeffers]

Very, very nice.

It's hard to consider a "pass" as being anything other than a route "to" one place, "from" another place. I can't see any ridge being called a "pass" for any reason other than the fact that human beings use it to pass from one side to the other. Not mountain goats, not marmots, not even bears...human beings.

This helps considerably.

Question....can you search the NGA database for passes, even if they do not end in "Narai"? Not asking you to do it, just wanting to know if a search can be run that way.

Big thanks.

[swarthyguy]

Good catch.

Amazing how much wrong info gets propogated out there.

IIRC, Parachinar is the gateway to the Khyber Pass and to Kabul, virtually autonomous from Pakistani authority.

Winston Churchill penned a story about the mad fakirs and clerics of this area, The Madmen of Mehelkand or something like that, speaking of the religious fanatics inciting rebellion against the British.

[jeffers]

That's my mistake, an error of transcription. The text says "over the border in Pakistan".

I'm reasonably certain I can prove I know where Parachinar is, see:

http://host1.in-motion.net/~jefft/tech/Mapping/afghanistan/parachinar.jpg

The thing is, I'm not that great a typist in the first place, and the crowbar I was using to hold the book open was in the way of my forearms....and the sun was in my eyes too.

What dog, I don't even have a dog?

Thanks for correcting the mistake.

[jeffers]

"IIRC, Parachinar is the gateway to the Khyber Pass and to Kabul, virtually autonomous from Pakistani
authority. "

That sounds more like Peshawar. Parachinar is west and south of there, in the "parrot's beak" region opposite Khost and the Paktia province.

You are correct about their autonomy. Both are gateways into Afghanistan, and both have been traditionally subject to little government oversight. There have been indications that recently the Parachinar area has been sanitized by Pak troops, without a fight.

[swarthyguy]

Mea culpa.

[Boot Hill]

“He is there....I just know it.”

I agree, I can "feel it in my bones",too, OBL and AZ are somewhere between Wana and Miram Shah, probably in the vicinity of Mangratai/Dabar Miami.

But think of it from their standpoint, they've got to "feel it", too. They feel us closing in, they know their time is just about up. Their degrees of freedom are getting narrowed every day. They know there is no escape, because we track their every move. Checkmate, its over, it's just a matter of hashing through the final few moves.

That feeling has really got to suck.

--Boot Hill

[POA2]

Bin Laden isn't likely to throw his troops away. While his escape might preceed theirs by a few days or even a few weeks, he will be looking to get them disengaged and out of there as soon as possible, after he is safe, to preserve them for future use. The longer the enemy continues fighting hard in the Shakai, the more convinced I am that both Bin Laden and Zawahiri are still close by.

Agree with this sediment - Though, the frustrating notion of him having slipped off into Iran does bother me (considering we don't have the number of sources within Iran which could tip us off to confirm this possibility)

I know Moonsor (sp) has been saying this now for 9 months (he's in Iran) - but Moonsor has been saying lots of junk that never comes true as well-

[Dog]

OBL and AZ are somewhere between Wana and Miram Shah, probably in the vicinity of Mangratai/Dabar Miami

Yup.

Every since that report of the UAV circling that outdoor market in Miram Shah.....I felt they were in that area.

Just look at how this battle is playing out......whomever the Pakis are chasing is being funnelled to a pin on the border between two US firebases.

[POA2]

But think of it from their standpoint, they've got to "feel it", too. They feel us closing in, they know their time is just about up. Their degrees of freedom are getting narrowed every day. They know there is no escape, because we track their every move. Checkmate, its over, it's just a matter of hashing through the final few moves. That feeling has really got to suck. --Boot Hill

I agree they have to know we are getting closer - but at the same time they also know they have avoided capture for over 3 years now -

And do you really think we are tracking their every move? - I am not certain our higher-ups even think they know where they are to begin with - I think they are assuming Al Zawahiri is in this region - However....tracking their actual movements? - Not sure on this - (do you mean from the "sky" 0r actual "eyes") -??

[Dog]

do you mean from the "sky" 0r actual "eyes") -??

Both....:-)

[POA2]

do you mean from the "sky" 0r actual "eyes")

Both....:-)

Well if it is with "eyes" also - We are then very close the the "check-mate" stage! -

I have grown weary of relying on the "sky" type intelligence over the past 3 years - But if we do have "eyes" tracking them .....Perfect, the end is near -

[Boot Hill]

• “Question....can you search the NGA database for passes, even if they do not end in 'Narai'?”

Searching:   For any occurrence of the geographic feature designation, "pass", in the FATA area of Pakistan.
Found:   572 hits for location ending in "Narai", and 366 hits for locations ending in "Kandao", both of which cover all but perhaps a dozen of all the hits located on the GEONames database for that area.

• “Not asking you to do it, just wanting to know if a search can be run that way.?”

Oh great, now you tell me!   J

The GEONames database is searchable by any or all of the 643 feature designations used by the database (don't make me post them!). It is also searchable by using latitude and longitude coordinates to box in the area of search. Other search criteria are country(s), administrative area, "starts with", "contains", "ends with" name criteria.

It has so many features and search capability that many are put off by its complexity. It takes a while to get familiar with these features simply by trial and error. However, if you'd like, FReepmail me with your phone number (or a request for mine), and I'll spend some time walking you through the fine points of navigating that database. You won't be disappointed.

--Boot Hill

[Dog]

The GEONames database is searchable by any or all of the 643 feature designations used by the database (don't make me post them!). It is also searchable by using latitude and longitude coordinates to box in the area of search. Other search criteria are country(s), administrative area, "starts with", "contains", "ends with" name criteria.

My hair hurts after reading something like this....

[Boot Hill]

“Amazing how much wrong info gets propogated out there.”

You've sure got that right! But fact-checking is a good way to sharpen your skills. I'll bet I've annoyed more than one poster with a correction (or two)!

--Boot Hill

[AdmSmith]

Boot, on this page http://gnswww.nima.mil/geonames/GNS/index.jsp

it is stated

"Place name errors have been discovered in the GeoNet Names Server (GNS) over Afghanistan and Pakistan. Use GNS information for these countries with caution."

what a coincidence!

[Boot Hill]

“What dog, I don't even have a dog?”

Dog, I think you're being blasphemed again.

--Boot Hill

[swarthyguy]

As long as you didn't notice the misspelling of propagate or wilfully ignored it.

[Dog]

LOL!