Pakistani troops detained at least 25 suspects and blew up two houses in a new offensive against al-Qaeda and Taliban militants yesterday in a remote tribal area near the Afghan border, officials said.
A day earlier, US 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.
PHOTO: AP
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the latest operation was launched near Wana, nearly 300km 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 reporter saw troops destroy two houses with cannon fire in the village of Zarai Letta, about 15km west of the town of Wana, while military helicopters flew overhead. Wana is 360km 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 tip-off about the presence of "foreign terrorists" who failed to surrender by a Friday deadline.
It came hours after US President George W. Bush vowed to track down al-Qaeda militants and ahead of a visit to Afghanistan by US Secretary of Defense 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 US 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," he said.
Pakistan, a key ally in the US-led war on terror, has handed over more than 500 al-Qaeda suspects to the US since the Sept. 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.
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