http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23127042.htm
Pakistan says kills militants as Karzai visits
23 Aug 2004 16:41:24 GMT
Source: Reuters
By David Brunnstrom
ISLAMABAD, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Pakistan said its forces killed four foreign militants in a border area on Monday as Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited to discuss the battle against Islamic guerrillas before his October re-election bid.
Before Karzai and his counterpart President Pervez Musharraf held talks on Monday evening, a provincial official identified the foreigners killed in a raid in the semi-autonomous North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan as Uzbeks.
The military said it also captured one foreigner and a Pakistani in the raid near the town of Miranshah. It coincided with a big assault on the other side of the border by U.S. helicopter gunships and hundreds of Afghan and U.S.-led troops.
The provincial official, who asked not to be named, said all the foreigners were Uzbeks and were thought to have been among a large group of al Qaeda-linked militants pursued since March in neighbouring South Waziristan.
Karzai's two-day visit comes less than two months before his October 9 re-election bid and he will be looking for Pakistan's assurances that it will do all it can to prevent infiltration by militants bent on disrupting the vote.
Pakistan's official APP news agency said Karzai and Musharraf reiterated their common commitment to fighting terrorism and enhancing bilateral ties. It gave no more details.
While the United States and Afghanistan have praised Pakistan's efforts against al Qaeda suspects, they say Taliban militants have continued to find sanctuary in Pakistan and launch attacks across the border.
VOTER REGISTRATION
In Islamabad, Karzai will also want to discuss the electoral registration of up to one million Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
An agreement to register the refugees was reached only in July -- too late to enable registration of all the estimated total of between 1.5 and three million in Pakistan.
"The trip is aimed at consolidating ties," an official of Karzai's office said. "We have common views with our Pakistani brothers about the campaign against terrorism."
Security for Karzai's visit will be extremely tight, given that he and Musharraf are prime targets for Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and its militant allies and have both narrowly survived assassination attempts in the past two years.
Back home, problems loomed for Karzai as 12 of his main rivals in the elections said they would consider withdrawing from the contest unless Karzai resigned by Wednesday.
The group led by Yunus Qanuni, regarded as strongest of 17 candidates challenging Karzai, argue that Karzai holds an unfair advantage as an incumbent and believe he is favoured by the international community because he has U.S. backing.
Karzai's visit came after Pakistan said it had foiled a plot by al Qaeda suspects to kill hundreds of people on the eve of Pakistani independence day earlier this month.
Pakistan is expected to press Karzai for the release of more Pakistanis held in Afghanistan since fighting alongside the Taliban regime overthrown by U.S.-led forces in late 2001.
Here are more details on the catch
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_24-8-2004_pg1_2
Army commandos launch operation against militants
Taliban chased into Pakistan by US helicopters
Four foreign fighters killed, two captured
3 soldiers injured
By Hayatullah Khan
MIR ALI: Helicopters dropped Pakistani commandos into North Waziristan on Monday, to launch an operation near the Afghan border against suspected Taliban forces that were chased into Pakistan by US helicopters after they attacked coalition forces in Khost.
An Inter-Services Public Relations statement claimed the operation was successful and four foreign militants were killed. "We think a few more were killed though their bodies could not be found," said a military spokesman. Two men were arrested, of whom one is a foreigner. The nationalities of the foreigners were not disclosed, but a government official who asked not to be named said the foreigners were all from Uzbekistan. He said the men were thought to have been among a large group of militants pursued by the military since March in neighbouring South Waziristan.
Acting on "credible information" about the presence of militants in an area 18 kilometres north of Miranshah, security forces raided the hideout and destroyed it successfully, the statement said. It added that "a large number of light machine guns, rocket-launchers and Klashnikovs" were seized, along with a large cache of ammunition.
Military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said the raid was part of an operation continuing in the northwestern tribal region since June to hunt down Al Qaeda-linked militants. Pakistan says it has detained dozens of militants since the capture last month of an Al Qaeda computer expert, Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan, revealed vital intelligence about Al Qaeda operatives.
Afghan sources from Khost told Daily Times that the Taliban attacked US forces in Shankai, northeast of Khost in Afghanistan. The attack, which took place at 6.00am, "killed five American military personnel and destroyed their vehicles". "US forces were inspecting the area to set up a check-post, when the Taliban ambushed them," said the sources. "The Taliban engaged them for two hours. Later, air cover was called in and the attackers' positions were bombed."
Officials in Miranshah, agency headquarters of North Waziristan, said the army commandos were dropped in the Dhanghi Kach border area where the US drone spotted two pick-up jeeps, suspected of transporting Taliban. "The Pakistani commandos were parachuted into the area at 8.15am in two Black Hawk and 17 other helicopters and they launched an operation against suspected Taliban inside Pakistan."
Intelligence sources said a Mandhikhel tribesman's house was attacked when US helicopters chased the suspected Taliban fighters. One tribesman was killed in the US bombardment and three were wounded. Security agencies also confirmed the incident. They said three Pakistani commandos were also injured in the operation and airlifted to Combined Military Hospital in Bannu for medical treatment.
Daily Times sources in Mir Ali said around 400 militants left South Waziristan Agency to escape the military operation and joined the Taliban forces under Mulla Mohammad Akhund.
Agencies add: Hundreds of Pakistani troops took up positions in two northwestern towns bordering Afghanistan amid reports of an offensive by Afghan forces, officials said.
Pakistani officials in North Waziristan said Pakistan Army and Frontier Constabulary troops were blocking the border in tandem with Afghan forces that were mounting an offensive on their side. "An operation is underway on the Afghan side. The troops have been deployed on the Pakistani side to arrest suspects fleeing the operation," a local official said. Gunship helicopters were seen ferrying troops to Hasal Khel and Bangi Dar towns, just three kilometres from the Afghan border. Residents of villages along the border reported hearing gunfire and the roar of warplanes from the Afghan side.
Elsewhere, unknown assailants gunned down a leading tribal elder, Sardar Malik Muhammad Nawaz Abdullah, when he was passing through Tank Bazaar near Spain Mosque on Monday.