Posted on 07/04/2002 6:07:00 AM PDT by Ranger
PESHAWAR: At least four suspected al Qaeda and two Pakistani security personnel were killed in a bloody clash in Kohat on Wednesday, while the number of suspects arrested during the current operation neared 300, The Frontier Post can report.
Sources at the Ministry of Interior told this scribe that a police position on the outskirts of Kohat in the NWFP came under attack by a group of armed bandits.
The skirmish started when a passenger van ignored stop signals from a security checkpoint on the Bannu-Kohat Road, and tried to speed away.
The security personnel opened fire at the fleeing vehicle.
The inmates of the vehicle hurled hand grenades at the police party and abandoned the van.
A gunfight ensued in which four of the assailants were shot dead.
The encounter left two policemen dead and two others wounded.
The gunmen killed in the encounter are said to be of Arab appearance, although their identities-and affiliations-are far from established.
The sources said the van was found to contain a large amount of arms and ammunitions.
The sources further said that the ongoing operation against al Qaeda fugitives hiding in Pakistan’s north-western parts has resulted in the arrest of 293 al Qaeda so far, and that most of the captives are Saudis by origin.
Pakistani security agencies arrested hundreds of al Qaeda crossing over into Pakistan from Afghanistan when Operation Enduring Freedom was in full swing.
Several others have since been arrested on tip-offs, including top bin Laden aide Abu Zubaida.
The latest push comprises a systematic search and siege operations of suspected al Qaeda hideouts in the tribal areas and NWFP territories bordering Afghanistan.
Today’s bloody clash was the second encounter between al Qaeda suspects and Pakistani security forces in recent days.
At least 10 Pakistani troops were killed in a shootout with al Qaeda fighters believed to have been holding out in compound in North Waziristan.
Two suspected Chechen al Qaeda fighters were also killed and another one captured by security forces near Wana, the administrative headquarters of South Waziristan.
In another encounter between al Qaeda and Pakistan forces occurred on 18 December 2001, in which four Pakistani soldiers and three suspected members from the Arab group were killed.
The Pakistani soldiers were transporting the al-Qaeda suspects to a jail in Kohat from the border town of Parachinar where they had been captured.
So far, so good.
Imagine all of those extra weekend minutes wasted...
See: [Arab] Businessmen hit out at US move to target Saudis, Arab News, July 1, 2002, by Dhafir Al-Julfan (posted by SJackson).
See: Are too many Muslims in denial about September 11?, The Telegraph (U.K.), by Barbara Amiel, Mar. 4, 2002 (posted by Pokey78).
See: A Ray of Arab Candor: A U. N. report by Middle-Eastern intellectuals blames Arab culture, City Journal, July 4, 2002, by Victor Davis Hanson (posted by aculeus).
See: The Saudi Pipeline Petro-Dollars, Palestinian Terror -- And A U.S. Blind Eye, National Review, July 15, 2002, by Joel Mowbray (posted by habaes corpussel).
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