Troops move towards Angoor(Hunting Al Qaeda in Pakistan)

Troops move towards Angoor FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT WANA (South Waziristan Agency)—Pakistan Army Friday started extra-ordinary activities in various parts of South Waziristan Agency after the US and Afghan troops launched a joint operation against suspected al-Qaeda and other extremists in South Waziristan’s and the adjacent areas of Khost, Paktya, Zabul and other provinces bordering Pakistan. Army troops in their attempt to get the targeted goals in the renewed operation have banned the use of vehicles with tinted glasses and are engaged in removing the tinted glasses of vehicles in various parts of the agency. Hundreds of troops have also been moved from their camps in Wana towards Angor Adda, while on Afghanistan side a large number of US and Afghan troops have assembled in Macha Dad Kot camp, situated around 10 kilometers away from Angor Adda check point. As a result of these extra-ordinary military activities, a large number of elders and religious-minded people have gone underground for their alleged link with al-Qaeda and charges of extending help to the suspected al-Qaeda fugitives and others extremists. Meanwhile, Brig (Retd) Mehmood Shah Secretary for Tribal Affairs in Governor Secretariat reached Wana to monitor the possible operation against extremists and terrorists. A high-level official when contacted told that extra-ordinary activities on the part of the troops are meant to monitor the entry points along Pak-Afghan border. Elaborating his point of view, the official said that troops were alerted to block fleeing suspected elements from Afghanistan into Pakistan. Taliban re-group AFP adds: More than 100 armed Taliban have gathered in a remote mountainous region in southern Afghanistan, officials said Friday, sparking fears of an imminent attack in the area. The remnants of the ousted Taliban regime have gathered in Zabul province, in southeastern Afghanistan, local official Haji Hashim said. In recent months south and southeastern Afghanistan have witnessed attacks against US-led coalition and Afghan forces in the area as well as violence against aid workers and civilians. ‘Yesterday more than a 100 armed Taliban from Arghandab, Khak Afghan and Daychopan gathered in the mountains of Mazin,’ Hashim, the town’s deputy governor, Hashim told AFP on Friday. Hashim said he went to the governor of Zabul province in the capital Qalat to discuss the situation but was told ‘there’s no big threat’. However, there are only 70 or 80 troops guarding Mazin, making the town outnumbered by Taliban forces should they attack. ‘If the Taliban attack us we can defend ourselves and call headquarters for support but we are not capable of attacking the Taliban,’ Hashim said. The men responsible for the gathering are believed to be Mullah Qahar and Mullah Ghafar, well-known Taliban commanders in the region. ‘There’s a lot of support for Taliban in these areas and the Americans are not patrolling in these districts, only in the cities,’ Hashim said. Kandahar, about 110 kilometres from the Mazim, was the birthplace and former stronghold of the Taliban regime, ousted in November 2001 by a US-led coalition force. There is still support in the area for Taliban from the mainly Pashtun ethnic population, who feel excluded from the central government in Kabul. A US military spokesman had little to say on the gathering in Zabul, which borders Kandahar province to the south and central Uruzgan province and is about 300 kilometres southwest of capital Kabul. ‘We welcome Taliban gathering together in large numbers, we can capture them, we can kill them,’ US Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Hilferty said. Kandahar’s deputy military commander Mohammed Khan also confirmed that more than 100 Taliban had gathered in the area. ‘The Taliban have come to Mazin that’s why we are suspicious about their armed movements,’ he said. Daychopan has been the scene of several operations against Taliban insurgents holed up in mountain caves — notably Operation Mountain Viper in August in which more than 200 militants were killed by the US-led coalition.

Army troops in their attempt to get the targeted goals in the renewed operation have banned the use of vehicles with tinted glasses and are engaged in removing the tinted glasses of vehicles in various parts of the agency. Hundreds of troops have also been moved from their camps in Wana towards Angor Adda, while on Afghanistan side a large number of US and Afghan troops have assembled in Macha Dad Kot camp, situated around 10 kilometers away from Angor Adda check point. As a result of these extra-ordinary military activities, a large number of elders and religious-minded people have gone underground for their alleged link with al-Qaeda and charges of extending help to the suspected al-Qaeda fugitives and others extremists.

Meanwhile, Brig (Retd) Mehmood Shah Secretary for Tribal Affairs in Governor Secretariat reached Wana to monitor the possible operation against extremists and terrorists. A high-level official when contacted told that extra-ordinary activities on the part of the troops are meant to monitor the entry points along Pak-Afghan border. Elaborating his point of view, the official said that troops were alerted to block fleeing suspected elements from Afghanistan into Pakistan. Taliban re-group AFP adds: More than 100 armed Taliban have gathered in a remote mountainous region in southern Afghanistan, officials said Friday, sparking fears of an imminent attack in the area. The remnants of the ousted Taliban regime have gathered in Zabul province, in southeastern Afghanistan, local official Haji Hashim said.

In recent months south and southeastern Afghanistan have witnessed attacks against US-led coalition and Afghan forces in the area as well as violence against aid workers and civilians. ‘Yesterday more than a 100 armed Taliban from Arghandab, Khak Afghan and Daychopan gathered in the mountains of Mazin,’ Hashim, the town’s deputy governor, Hashim told AFP on Friday. Hashim said he went to the governor of Zabul province in the capital Qalat to discuss the situation but was told ‘there’s no big threat’. However, there are only 70 or 80 troops guarding Mazin, making the town outnumbered by Taliban forces should they attack. ‘If the Taliban attack us we can defend ourselves and call headquarters for support but we are not capable of attacking the Taliban,’ Hashim said. The men responsible for the gathering are believed to be Mullah Qahar and Mullah Ghafar, well-known Taliban commanders in the region. ‘There’s a lot of support for Taliban in these areas and the Americans are not patrolling in these districts, only in the cities,’ Hashim said. Kandahar, about 110 kilometres from the Mazim, was the birthplace and former stronghold of the Taliban regime, ousted in November 2001 by a US-led coalition force.

There is still support in the area for Taliban from the mainly Pashtun ethnic population, who feel excluded from the central government in Kabul. A US military spokesman had little to say on the gathering in Zabul, which borders Kandahar province to the south and central Uruzgan province and is about 300 kilometres southwest of capital Kabul. ‘We welcome Taliban gathering together in large numbers, we can capture them, we can kill them,’ US Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Hilferty said. Kandahar’s deputy military commander Mohammed Khan also confirmed that more than 100 Taliban had gathered in the area. ‘The Taliban have come to Mazin that’s why we are suspicious about their armed movements,’ he said. Daychopan has been the scene of several operations against Taliban insurgents holed up in mountain caves — notably Operation Mountain Viper in August in which more than 200 militants were killed by the US-led coalition.

WANA (South Waziristan Agency)—Pakistan Army Friday started extra-ordinary activities in various parts of South Waziristan Agency after the US and Afghan troops launched a joint operation against suspected al-Qaeda and other extremists in South Waziristan’s and the adjacent areas of Khost, Paktya, Zabul and other provinces bordering Pakistan. Army troops in their attempt to get the targeted goals in the renewed operation have banned the use of vehicles with tinted glasses and are engaged in removing the tinted glasses of vehicles in various parts of the agency.

Hundreds of troops have also been moved from their camps in Wana towards Angor Adda, while on Afghanistan side a large number of US and Afghan troops have assembled in Macha Dad Kot camp, situated around 10 kilometers away from Angor Adda check point.

As a result of these extra-ordinary military activities, a large number of elders and religious-minded people have gone underground for their alleged link with al-Qaeda and charges of extending help to the suspected al-Qaeda fugitives and others extremists.

Taliban re-group

AFP adds: More than 100 armed Taliban have gathered in a remote mountainous region in southern Afghanistan, officials said Friday, sparking fears of an imminent attack in the area.

The remnants of the ousted Taliban regime have gathered in Zabul province, in southeastern Afghanistan, local official Haji Hashim said.

In recent months south and southeastern Afghanistan have witnessed attacks against US-led coalition and Afghan forces in the area as well as violence against aid workers and civilians.

‘Yesterday more than a 100 armed Taliban from Arghandab, Khak Afghan and Daychopan gathered in the mountains of Mazin,’ Hashim, the town’s deputy governor, Hashim told AFP on Friday.

Hashim said he went to the governor of Zabul province in the capital Qalat to discuss the situation but was told ‘there’s no big threat’.

However, there are only 70 or 80 troops guarding Mazin, making the town outnumbered by Taliban forces should they attack.

‘If the Taliban attack us we can defend ourselves and call headquarters for support but we are not capable of attacking the Taliban,’ Hashim said.

The men responsible for the gathering are believed to be Mullah Qahar and Mullah Ghafar, well-known Taliban commanders in the region.

‘There’s a lot of support for Taliban in these areas and the Americans are not patrolling in these districts, only in the cities,’ Hashim said.

Kandahar, about 110 kilometres from the Mazim, was the birthplace and former stronghold of the Taliban regime, ousted in November 2001 by a US-led coalition force.

There is still support in the area for Taliban from the mainly Pashtun ethnic population, who feel excluded from the central government in Kabul.

A US military spokesman had little to say on the gathering in Zabul, which borders Kandahar province to the south and central Uruzgan province and is about 300 kilometres southwest of capital Kabul.

‘We welcome Taliban gathering together in large numbers, we can capture them, we can kill them,’ US Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Hilferty said.

Kandahar’s deputy military commander Mohammed Khan also confirmed that more than 100 Taliban had gathered in the area.

‘The Taliban have come to Mazin that’s why we are suspicious about their armed movements,’ he said. Daychopan has been the scene of several operations against Taliban insurgents holed up in mountain caves — notably Operation Mountain Viper in August in which more than 200 militants were killed by the US-led coalition.

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