24 Feb 2004 09:16:44 GMT
By Hafiz Wazir
WANA, Pakistan, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Pakistani troops detained at least 25 suspects and blew up two houses in a new offensive against al Qaeda and Taliban militants on Tuesday in a remote tribal area near the Afghan border, officials said.
A day earlier, U.S. and Pakistani military officials said the whereabouts of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden remained a mystery, despite a British news report saying his location had been narrowed down to Pakistani mountains near the Afghan border.
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told Reuters the latest operation was launched near Wana, nearly 300 km (190 miles) northeast of where bin Laden was reported to be hiding.
Asked whether the operation was targeting bin Laden, he said: "It is against foreign terrorists."
A Reuters reporter saw troops destroy two houses with cannon fire in the village of Zarai Letta, about 15 km (10 miles) west of the town of Wana, while military helicopters flew overhead. Wana is 360 km (225 miles) southwest of Islamabad.
Seven suspects were seen being driven away in military vehicles, but it was unclear if they were foreigners or local tribesmen. Intelligence officials said 25 people, including women, had been detained.
"We are trying to establish their identity but initial investigations suggest there could be some Uzbeks, Chechens and Arabs among them," one said.
At least 14 helicopters were seen flying overhead in the early morning when the operation was launched.
Military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said the operation followed a tipoff about the presence of "foreign terrorists" who failed to surrender by a February 20 deadline.
It came hours after U.S. President George W. Bush vowed to track down al Qaeda militants and ahead of a visit to Afghanistan by U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld later this week.
The operation also follows a visit to Pakistan this month by CIA Director George Tenet in which he is thought to have discussed the hunt for bin Laden and al Qaeda and a proliferation scandal involving the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb.
"We are on the hunt for al Qaeda," Bush told a meeting of U.S. governors at the White House.
"It requires all assets, intelligence assets and military assets, to chase them down and bring them to justice, and we're going pretty good -- better than pretty good."
PAKISTAN A KEY U.S. ALLY
Pakistan, a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terror, has handed over more than 500 al Qaeda suspects to the United States since the September 11 attacks in 2001, and a military statement said the operation showed Islamabad's "continued resolve".
But the timing of the Wana operation ahead of Rumsfeld's visit could suggest a desire by Islamabad to win over doubters in Washington given the fallout from revelations that Iran, North Korea and Libya received Pakistani nuclear technology.
Authorities in South Waziristan have have been pressuring tribesmen in recent months to hand over al Qaeda suspects and Taliban fighters hiding in the region.
In October, eight al Qaeda or Taliban suspects were killed in a Pakistani operation in the region. They included Ahmed Saeed Khadr, an Egyptian-born Canadian thought to be an al Qaeda financier, and a top Chinese Islamic militant Hasan Mahsum.
Earlier this year, U.S. military officials in Kabul boldly predicted bin Laden's capture in 2004, and Britain's Sunday Express weekly reported that the Saudi-born dissident was "boxed in" by U.S. and British special forces in Pakistani mountains along the Afghan border.
The newspaper said bin Laden was within a 10 mile by 10 mile area, north of the Pakistani town of Quetta being monitored by a U.S. spy satellite.
However, on Monday, U.S. military spokesman in Kabul, Lieutenant-Colonel Bryan Hilferty, said he did not give the reports about bin Laden's location much credence.
"If we knew where he was in Afghanistan, we would go get him and if the Pakistanis knew where he was in Pakistan they would go get him," he said. (with reporting by Tahir Ikram and Zeeshan Haider in ISLAMABAD) ((Writing by David Brunnstrom; editing by David Fox; Reuters Messaging; zeeshan.haider.reuters.com@reuters.net; isl newsroom +92 51 2800 155, fax +92-51 2800 157))
Map showing location of Wana, Pakistan
Funny, but the Pakistani military has been here before. When you ask?
Sunday, 4 August, 2002, 09:52 GMT 10:52 UK
Pakistan detains al-Qaeda 'protector'
A tribal elder in Pakistan accused of sheltering suspected al-Qaeda fighters has surrendered, the authorities say.
Abdul Khaliq gave himself up after mediation by his local chief in Wana, a town in the remote South Waziristan area of North West Frontier Province.
Mr Khaliq is suspected of running a safe house for militants of Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, who are accused of killing at least 10 Pakistani soldiers in a clash in June.
Thousands of Pakistani troops have been stationed in the rugged semi-autonomous tribal region bordering Afghanistan in an attempt to track down Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters still active in the area.
The militants are believed to have crossed into Pakistan after a US-led military campaign toppled Afghanistan's Taleban authorities late last year.
Police have been searching for Mr Khaliq since the 25 June gunfight at his mud-brick "fortress" in which the suspected militants were hiding.
His handover took place in front of dozens of members of the Sarkakhel tribe to which he belongs.
In return, dozens of tribesmen detained following the clash have been released and restrictions have been eased on local shopkeepers, the AFP news agency quoted officials as saying.
Tribal fears
The June gunfight took place in Kazha Panga village, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border with the Afghan province of Paktika.
Tribal areas have their own laws
The four-hour clash was the first time that suspected al-Qaeda fighters had engaged Pakistani forces in the region since President Pervez Musharraf ordered troops to the border in December.
Two men believed to be al-Qaeda fighters were also killed in the gunfight.
Pakistan had until recently resisted US pressure to launch large-scale search operations in the border region for fear of provoking tribal opposition.
But army officials say they have received the full co-operation of tribal leaders in North and South Waziristan, previously considered no-go areas.
The tribal areas, set up after partition from India, stretch for hundreds of kilometres along the border with Afghanistan.
Although strictly speaking part of Pakistan, they have their own laws and customs and the authorities' writ does not run there.