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A roadside bomb has killed two local tribal elders in north-west Pakistan, officials say. At least one other man was reported seriously injured in the blast near the town of Khar in Bajaur tribal region. Security officials said the bomb was detonated by remote control. No group has said it carried out the bombing. It is the latest in a series of attacks blamed on tribal militants. At least 80 people died when the military bombed a school near Khar last October. Officials said the school was a training camp for militants but locals and religious parties said the victims...

Taliban military commander Mulla Dadullah Akhund has said he visited North Waziristan and South Waziristan in Pakistans tribal areas about three months ago and advised the Taliban there not to fight their countrys armed forces. I told the Pakistani tribal militants that fighting in Waziristan was in the interest of America. My argument was that we should fight the US, UK and armies of other Western countries, he told Pakistani newspaper in a satellite phone call from an undisclosed location. Mulla Dadullah, who is the most wanted Taliban leader after Mulla Mohammad Omar, argued that the Taliban fight was with...

Not many outside Pakistan's troubled tribal zone of Waziristan along the country's north-western border with Afghanistan will be familiar with the name of Haji Omar. But in Waziristan, it is a name that is commanding increasing respect and awe with every passing day. Haji Omar is the amir (chief) of the Pakistani Taleban that have risen over the last year to take control of large parts of Waziristan. His writ runs virtually unchallenged in South Waziristan and he seems confident that his commanders will soon establish Taleban control in North Waziristan as well. 'Al-Qaeda ally' Meeting him in Wana, South...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Chinese engineer held hostage by al Qaeda-linked militants in Pakistan was killed on Thursday but his colleague rescued in a commando assault that killed their five kidnappers, officials said. Chinese engineers Wang Ende and Wang Peng were heading to work on a dam project in the remote South Waziristan tribal region when they were kidnapped on Saturday by Uzbek and Pakistani militants led by a former Guantanamo Bay detainee. Wang Peng, who had worked as a surveyor on the project, was critically hurt by gunfire from the kidnappers and later died, said Pakistani military spokesman...

Hunting for Osama bin Laden, the C.I.A. established a series of small, covert bases in the rugged mountain frontier of northwest Pakistan in late 2003. Mr. bin Laden, the terrorist leader, was being sheltered there by local tribesmen and foreign militants, the agency had concluded, and controlled a group of handpicked operatives dedicated to attacking the United States. But since the bases opened, the C.I.A. officers stationed there have been strictly supervised by Pakistani officials, who have limited their ability to operate and have escorted them wherever they travel in the Pakistani border region. As a result, it has been...

WANA, Pakistan, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Dozens of people were killed on Thursday in air strikes by Pakistani jet fighters in the South Waziristan tribal area which borders Afghanistan, a witness said. About 40 members of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban militia and other Islamic militants were attacked during a meeting in the village of Laggimanzai, close to the Afghan border. Villager Ajab Nur told Reuters that many more civilians were killed in a subsequent air strike when they gathered to survey the damage.

Islamabad, Aug. 21: Pakistani security forces today attacked suspected terrorist hideouts in the border regions of South Waziristan after rocket attacks on military positions from different areas of Shakai valley. Reports from Wana, the administrative headquarters of South Waziristan, said security forces also used air power to attack terrorist positions on the Slair and Mashay mountains around the Shakai valley, 25 km north of Wana. However, military authorities denied such claims. “Activities are going on in the area for the past many days and we are using all resources at our disposal as per operational requirement, but there is no...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 7/13/04 - Baghdad, Tel Aviv, Kashmir, Tripoli, Lebanon, Wana, South Waziristan, Abu Ghraib BREAKING: Baghdad, Iraq - Islamic terrorism against Christians BREAKING: Tel Aviv Israel - Islamic terrorism against Jews BREAKING: Kashmir - Islamic terrorism against Indians BREAKING: Tripoli, Lebanon - Street battle involving family of US Marine Hassoun BREAKING: Wana, South Waziristan, - Search operation for foreign terrorists BREAKING: Abu Ghraib, Iraq - the 'hard site' QFN ==== YE OLDE QUAGMIRE-FREE NEWS Exclusive to FReerepublic PICTURES YOU MAY NEVER SEE IN THE GENERAL MEDIA ========= Baghdad ========= In Baghdad, Iraq, Christians...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - At least seven militants were killed Wednesday in a gunbattle with the Pakistani army in a tense border region where hundreds of al-Qaida militants are suspected to be hiding, officials said. A mix of foreigners and local tribesmen were holed up in four fortress-like houses and were trading fire with soldiers in a mountainous area of South Waziristan about 25 miles from the Afghan frontier. Brig. Mahmood Shah, chief of security for Pakistan's tribal regions, said the dead militants were foreigners. Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan confirmed that the military had recovered three bodies and they...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The U.S. military on Saturday announced a sweeping new operation across troubled southern and eastern Afghanistan, with the aim of destroying al-Qaida and the Taliban and ultimately reeling in Osama bin Laden. The offensive comes as Americans step up their hunt for the al-Qaida leader and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, who are believed to be hiding out in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan. "We believe this will help bring the heads of the terrorist organizations to justice, by continuing placing pressure on them," said Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, a U.S. military spokesman. The...