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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.

The catch was a piracha or was it a piranha? http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_24-8-2004_pg3_1

EDITORIAL: Kohat, Hangu and Al Qaeda

The intelligence agencies have confounded a big terrorist plot to blow up a number of key places in and around Islamabad (Presidency, PM House, GHQ, US embassy, parliament, etc.) on Independence Day. The government says that nine foreign and local Al Qaeda terrorists were arrested on Saturday August 21, and a large cache of weapons was unearthed. The police went after the fiery-tongued khateeb of Islamabad's Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdur Rasheed Ghazi, whose car was supposed to have been used for transporting the material to some place on Peshawar Road. While President Pervez Musharraf thought that the mastermind behind attempts to kill him was a Libyan, the foreigners in this case have turned out to be Egyptians.

The interior minister, Faisal Saleh Hayat, and the information minister, Sheikh Rashid, have both named an ex-MNA Javed Ibrahim Piracha of Kohat as the key actor in the latest conspiracy. The car used for the transport of weapons and explosives belonged to the khateeb but he had lent it to a man sent to him by Mr Piracha. The detained khateeb has given a written statement that his car was used on the recommendation of Mr Piracha. The man who took the car was one Usman who has been arrested by the agencies. The khateeb claimed that he gave his car because Mr Piracha was an old friend of his father's and had been sending seminarian boys and girls to his madrassa.

After having named Javed Ibrahim Piracha, the government has not gone on to arrest him in Kohat. When approached by the press, Mr Piracha lashed out at the two ministers, saying that he was being targeted because he was legally defending the scores of Arab and other mujahideen who fled to the NWFP after the 2001 tragedy of Tora Bora. He said he had 20 writ petitions pending at the Peshawar High Court in their defence and had been able to get scores of mujahideen released and sent back to their countries. According to him, 37 Al Qaeda-related cases had been registered against him too but he had come out of the courts scot-free as there had been no credible evidence against him. He said the Lal Masjid cleric was the son of a shaheed (killed how?) friend.

Those who have seen Mr Piracha on TV have a measure of how aggressive he can be in his language. His sectarianism has never been hidden from anyone in the Miranzai corridor that joins Kohat and Hangu to the more explosively sectarian Kurram Agency. He stated in Kohat that since he was a member of the overtly sectarian Sunni Supreme Council, and interior minister Faisal Saleh Hayat was a Shia, he could understand why he was being victimised. He did not however say why the information minister, Sheikh Rashid, had also said that he (Mr Piracha) had played a key role in the nearly successful terrorist attacks on Independence Day. The fact, however, is that Mr Piracha belongs to an area where sectarianism is strong and where there is near-total support for Al Qaeda. Only a week ago the city of Hangu was harassed by a weapons-bearing gang of people shouting pro-Al Qaeda slogans and challenging the local administration to face them. (The local administration chickened out.) The national press has called ex-MNA Piracha a member of the PMLN but the fact is that while he was given the PMLN ticket in the 2002 election - which he lost - he was supported by the banned Sipah Sahaba.

While the claim that he was let off by the courts doesn't say much about the lower judiciary in Pakistan, Mr Piracha’s own activities are quite public for all to see. He is the product of the 1988 high noon of sectarianism in Pakistan beginning with the massacre in Kurram Agency and the assault of Gilgit. He has been on the private TV channels clearly signalling his sectarian and pro-Al Qaeda bias because he knows that there is sympathy for him at least on his pro-mujahideen stance.

Last year, Mr Piracha narrated the story of the Kohat battle between Al Qaeda and Pakistani troops on a private TV channel. According to him, after 9/11, Bulgarian (sic!) and Chechnyan mujahideen fled from Afghanistan and came down to the Tribal Areas from where they came to Kohat, the city where 27 Arab mujahideen were already in jail. They were met by an intelligence agency officer ('hassaas idaray ka afsar') who assured them safe passage to Bannu, but when they approached the town they saw troops. Upon this, they shot the intelligence officer. After that the Flying Coach was subjected to a barrage of bullets and all of them were killed. The last beautiful youth who died said that he was going to Paradise. To the people of Kohat the entire surroundings smelled sweet with the perfume of the blood of the martyrs.

Kohat and Hangu are Al Qaeda cities. This is also Sipah Sahaba territory. Mr Piracha organised the construction of Shuhada-e-Islam Chowk in Kohat, devoted to the memory of the warriors that the world dubs as "terrorists". He was once a member of JUI but had a tiff with Maulana Fazlur Rehman. In 1997 he fought the election on a PMLN ticket and was returned as MNA. He remains a strong man in the region. His sectarian outreach extends to Hangu and Tal. His cocksureness emanates from the support he has among his people. But the question for us is this: how hard will he have to work to deny that he was involved in the planned act of terrorism on August 14?

Updates, for Khost border action and southeast flanks of Shawal Valley area:

The sources said that security forces had sealed off the area close to the Afghan border. There were no independent reports about casualties and the number of arrests. Witnesses said that eight helicopters appeared on Miramshah early in the morning and flew towards Bangi Dar and Hassankhel area of the Mirali tehsil.

They said the army helicopters were flying from Miramshah helipad and troops were seen heading towards the Afghan border till the filing of this report. The sources said that an extensive search operation had been started in Bangi Dar and Hassankhel* area inhabited by Gorbazkhel Wazir tribe.

Unofficial reports said that US-led allied forces had started action against Al Qaeda and Taliban suspects on Monday morning across the border and pounded suspected locations in Shankai, Dabgi* and Mandokhel areas. These reports suggested that jets and helicopters were taking part in the operation and dropped bombs on several positions near the Pakistan border.

DILAWAR KHAN ADDS FROM WANA: Suspected militants fired rockets and missiles on army installations in Bosh Narai Ghar near the border on Sunday night. Unofficial reports said that three soldiers received injuries when a shell hit a military outpost. However, the ISPR spokesman denied the report. He confirmed that miscreants had fired rockets on the security forces in Bosh Narai, but did not cause any loss to the forces.

* updated on map: http://users.in-motion.net/~jefft/tech/Mapping/afghanistan/miramshah1.jpg