Pakistani forces fought gunbattles with tribesmen near the Afghan border yesterday after launching a new operation to pursue al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives, the military and local officials said.
Pakistan's hunt coincides with a fresh offensive by US forces, who are confident of capturing bin Laden this year, against al-Qaeda leaders across the border in Afghanistan.
Operation "Mountain Storm," announced by the US military on Saturday, is targeting areas of south and southeast Afghanistan which flank the Pakistani tribal district South Waziristan, where yesterday's operation by Pakistani troops was underway.
Several people were injured in early-morning shootouts between troops and tribesmen suspected of harboring the fugitives near the South Waziristan town of Azam Warzak, a local intelligence official said.
"Frontier Corps forces and Waziri tribes have been engaged in heavy crossfire since early this morning," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force, had launched "a search operation." He refused to give details.
The latest operation follows President Pervez Musharraf's ultimatum Monday to an estimated "500 to 600 foreigners" hiding in the tribal belt along the border to surrender.
"We have given them the option that if they lay down their arms, we will not hand over them to any other country," he told tribal leaders in a meeting in Pakistan's main northwestern city Peshawar.
Azam Warzak, 20km from the Afghan border and 15km west of South Waziristan's capital Wana, was the scene of the Pakistani army's worst casualties in the war on terror in June 2002.
Ten soldiers were killed in a massive shootout with some 40 al-Qaeda fugitives hiding in a local tribesman's home. Most of the fugitives escaped.
The Wana-based intelligence official said troops yesterday were pursuing seven tribesmen wanted for harboring al-Qaeda suspects.
Witnesses reported mortar and artillery fire and said troops had cordoned off the scene of the shootout.
Tribesmen in South Waziristan last week formed a 600-man force to launch their own hunt for scores of fellow tribesmen accused of giving shelter to al-Qaeda militants.
Tribesmen from the region's deeply conservative ethnic Pashtun community, sympathetic to the Taliban and al-Qaeda, are believed to have sheltered the militants after US-led forces invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 to topple the Taliban regime.
South Waziristan has been the focus of several raids by Pakistani troops hunting militants in recent months. On Feb. 24 they captured 20 militants and sympathizers in a raid near Wana, denying later rumors that the son of bin Laden's right hand man Ayman al-Zawahri was among them.
END OF AN ERA: The vote brings the curtain down on 20 years of socialist rule, which began in 2005 when Evo Morales, an indigenous coca farmer, was elected president A center-right senator and a right-wing former president are to advance to a run-off for Bolivia’s presidency after the first round of elections on Sunday, marking the end of two decades of leftist rule, preliminary official results showed. Bolivian Senator Rodrigo Paz was the surprise front-runner, with 32.15 percent of the vote cast in an election dominated by a deep economic crisis, results published by the electoral commission showed. He was followed by former Bolivian president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in second with 26.87 percent, according to results based on 92 percent of votes cast. Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped
ELECTION DISTRACTION? When attention shifted away from the fight against the militants to politics, losses and setbacks in the battlefield increased, an analyst said Recent clashes in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Jubaland region are alarming experts, exposing cracks in the country’s federal system and creating an opening for militant group al-Shabaab to gain ground. Following years of conflict, Somalia is a loose federation of five semi-autonomous member states — Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle and South West — that maintain often fractious relations with the central government in the capital, Mogadishu. However, ahead of elections next year, Somalia has sought to assert control over its member states, which security analysts said has created gaps for al-Shabaab infiltration. Last week, two Somalian soldiers were killed in clashes between pro-government forces and
Ten cheetah cubs held in captivity since birth and destined for international wildlife trade markets have been rescued in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia. They were all in stable condition despite all of them having been undernourished and limping due to being tied in captivity for months, said Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which is caring for the cubs. One eight-month-old cub was unable to walk after been tied up for six months, while a five-month-old was “very malnourished [a bag of bones], with sores all over her body and full of botfly maggots which are under the
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability