Posted on 11/17/2007 3:57:57 PM PST by BGHater
ISLAMABAD -- Some 15,000 Pakistani troops have massed for a major assault on Islamic militants in a scenic northern valley, whose fall has raised concern about Pakistan's ability to withstand rising extremism, the army said Saturday.
Security forces have been fighting in the Swat Valley, a former tourist destination just 160 kilometres from the capital, since July, when a bloody army raid on a radical mosque in Islamabad sparked a wave of militant violence.
Foreign fighters have allegedly joined the armed followers of Maulana Fazlullah, a pro-Taliban cleric in the valley, amplifying western fears that swaths of Pakistan near the Afghan border offer an increasingly safe haven for al Qaeda.
Washington is expressing concern about rising violence in Pakistan, where well over 1,000 security forces, civilians and militants have died in the past five months.
A senior Pakistani commander said Saturday that the army had recorded 28 suicide attacks in that period.
"It's not Iraq, but it is getting worse,'' Michael Vickers, the Pentagon's assistant secretary of defence for special operations and low-intensity conflict, told The Associated Press on Friday in Washington. "We would always like them (Pakistani authorities) to do more given the importance of the problem,'' he said. "They're certainly doing a lot.''
The army said Saturday that troops backed by helicopter gunships and artillery were attacking militants to push them back into the mountains overlooking the Karakoram Highway, Pakistan's vital overland route to China.
Between 35 and 40 rebels were killed in that push on Friday, it said in a statement. That raised the number of militants killed this week to over 100, according to army reports.
A police official said some civilians had died after shells struck their homes. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to address the media, but gave no further details.
Sirajuddin, a Fazlullah spokesman who goes by one name, confirmed that the military had intensified attacks but said his forces had suffered only "some'' casualties.
"Our mujahedeen are still in a strong position, and God willing we will defeat the enemy,'' he told AP by telephone. He accused the army of killing civilians by shelling residential areas.
In another burst of violence, police said at least 30 people died in clashes between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Parachinar, a town near the Afghan border.
During a rare media briefing at the army's headquarters, a senior commander gave details of the threat cited by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf when he imposed a state of emergency on Nov. 3.
Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha said militants from Afghanistan as well as the lawless Pakistani border regions of Waziristan and Bajur had reinforced the followers of Fazlullah in Swat.
Pasha, director general of military operations, said the army had assembled about 15,000 troops in Mingora, the valley's main town and would launch its main offensive within days.
"We will bottle up as many of them as possible and then eliminate them,'' Pasha said. "This is our killing ground.''
An armed militant supporter of Maulana Fazlullah, a hard line cleric, stands guard outside a captured police station in Matta near Mingora, the main town of Pakistan's Swat district bordering Afghanistan, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2007. (AP Photo/Riaz Khan)
Lol.
another sneak attack, all over the media
Is North Waziristan considered a scenic valley/tourist destination as well? Just checking.
And we are upset about this why?
from Drudge
USA SECRETLY AIDS PAKISTAN IN GUARDING NUCLEAR ARMS...
why don’t we just publish the play book and cut out the middle men
I’m sure the NYTs is angry it missed out on spilling beans first.
btw, I am aware of DISinformation too
I wonder what “Time Share’s” are going for?
On another topic, I surely miss truckin over the Atchafalaya causeway on I-10. It was always the highlight of my trips to Morgan City to the waste facility at Amelia Island.
I spent the night in Mingora one night almost exactly twenty years ago. I was a tourist so, yeah, I guess it was a “tourist destination”. The place was an absolute pit. Dirty, boring, undeveloped and full of riff-raff. Even Peshawar was way better.
‘a scenic northern valley’
A nice place to jihad at, but I wouldn’t want to redeem my frequent fighter’s virgin coupons there.
LOL!!!!!
Love the generals quote,” we will bottle up as many of them as possible and then finish them off/....”
sounds like a collge beer drinking campaign.ha.
I think the Pakistani Taliban is going for the whole enchilada, and Musharraf isn’t too keen on some Taliban chief replacing him. This is why he’s finally sending the Pakistani army after them (as opposed to the paramilitary troops he used without success). If Musharraf isn’t assassinated first, I expect him to finally crush the Taliban and possibly send waves of Pashtun/Waziri refugees into Afghanistan.
“the generals quote,” we will bottle up as many of them as possible and then finish them off/....”
I had this buddy that brewed his own beer that said essentially the same thing.
I’m going to the Basin Thanksgiving afternoon through Sun. to do a little duck and/or deer hunting. Can’t wait.
Sooo, no five star hotels or restaurents there eh?
Until recently, they had a nice giant budda statue carved into a cliff.
Because unless the ANA and the Afghani and Paki border police hold a strong line, the barbarians will be scurrying and oozing into the mountains and valleys just over the border on top of our troops in the Kunar Province - If any of you saw ABC's NIGHTLINE Monday night - or paid any attention the battle on last Fri the 16th and have a clue as to what's happening to the 173rd there - you might be a bit concerned, if not upset -
Whatever happens in Pakistan is going to affect us too -
Musharraf has launched these attacks before - only to have a cease fire called in two or three days - (his decision or hamstrung? we don't know) 0 the results are the it always leave the Taliban/aQ stronger - and freer to cross into the Korengal VAlly in Afghanistan - which Bin L considers home = and where we are looking at a killed/wounded rate of 1 in 4.
Upset yet?
No. Crap food, crap accommodations, and a bunch of filthy boring dirtballs looking at us funny.
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