Posted on 06/12/2004 8:46:42 AM PDT by blam
Pakistani warplanes go after al-Qaeda quarry
June 12 2004 at 10:12AM
By Hafiz Wazir
Wana, Pakistan - Pakistani warplanes and helicopter gunships roared over hideouts of al-Qaeda-linked militants on Saturday in barren mountains bordering Afghanistan where 53 people have been killed in four days of fighting.
A bomb exploded in Dera Ismail Khan town, 130 kilometres east of the heart of the battles between the army and militants around Wana, killing one man and wounded four at a house of a senior official in Pakistan's paramilitary border force.
After fighting had raged through the night, the dawn rose with jets screaming through the skies and helicopters hovering above the Shakai area of South Waziristan, 400km southwest of Islamabad, residents said.
'I woke up to the roar of jets'
Up to 600 foreign militants, including Arabs, Chechens and Uzbeks linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, have been hiding out in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas, protected by Pakistani tribesmen.
The fighting had spread into neighbouring North Waziristan agency where militants fired rockets at paramilitary checkposts during the night and soldiers returned fire, residents said.
"I woke up to the roar of jets. Then I saw three helicopters flying in the direction of Shakai," said on resident.
"There was a lot of firing like a guerrilla battle going on all night," said a resident of Shakai.
In Miranshah, the capital of North Waziristan agency, one checkpost outside the town was damaged but no casualties were reported, officials said.
The army killed 35 militants and lost 15 of its men in fighting on Wednesday and Thursday, military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said on Friday. Three civilians have also been reported killed.
While the gunships have been used in earlier operations in the tribal areas that have failed to net any senior al-Qaeda or militant leaders, air force jets were sent in for the first time this week to bomb houses where militants had been spotted.
Pakistani forces had destroyed the house of a tribesman where one unidentified al Qaeda member had taken refuge in the past, Sultan said. They had also targeted a militant training camp and an al-Qaeda safehouse.
The government suspected a link between the fighting and an attempt to kill the military commander in the southern port city of Karachi on Thursday, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said on Friday.
The assassination attempt could have been retaliation by militants for the latest attack on their tribal redoubts.
The Karachi corps commander, Lieutenant-General Ahsan Saleem Hayat, was unhurt but 10 people were killed in the ambush on his motorcade.
Six months ago, Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf survived two assassination attempts that were blamed on al-Qaeda-linked militants, although Musharraf later revealed that several low ranking military personnel were also involved.
Hardline Muslim groups in Pakistan are bitterly opposed to Musharraf's decision to back the United States after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
Update: A wedding was bombed and militants escaped.
Pong
Background info here http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1137369/posts
stepped up enforcement, sure would love to think they saw a very tall man wearing an American watch...
For all the problems with the Bush/Musharraf alliance, this illustrates that it is paying off, though belatedly. The leftist nay-sayers who constantly demean Bush for aligning with Musharraf, though, would still be negotiating with the Taliban for Osama's head. They would have no choice. The war in Afghanistan could not have been won without Musharraf's assistance.
>>The war in Afghanistan could not have been won without Musharraf's assistance.
Funny.
I am an admitted cynic...and distrustful survivor..
The Pakis are performing an opera..simply acting and going through the motions on a stage..
An opera that will not result in what they "promise"..
Pakistan is still controlled by the Islamists, or are in fear of the Islamists.....they are walking on the edge of the sword -- attempting to give both sides of this struggle the minimum "support" required to survive long enough to correctly determine who the winner will be --- and JOIN THAT SIDE.
I would continue to fortify the section of my perimeter that faces Pakistan......
Semper Fi
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