Attackers ambushed a Pakistani army convoy heading toward a counterterrorism sweep against al-Qaeda militants near the Afghan border, killing at least 12 soldiers and injuring 15, officials said.
The unidentified attackers fired rockets that hit at least six army trucks in the ambush near Sarwakai, about about 50km east of Wana, the main town of the South Waziristan tribal region.
Some trucks were carrying petrol and were destroyed by fire in the attack on Monday, an official in Sarwakai said on condition of anonymity. He said 12 soldiers were killed and 15 were injured.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan confirmed the attack happened, and said army troops had cordoned off the area to search for the assailants, but refused to give more details.
Meanwhile, a tribal peace bid to end a week of fierce clashes near Wana between thousands of Pakistani troops and hundreds of al-Qaeda militants and sympathetic local tribesmen ended in failure, news reports said yesterday, with tribesmen refusing to cooperate.
"We were told that those wanted by the government are not there," Malik Ba Khan, one of the elders who traveled to the battle zone under a white flag on Monday, told Dawn newspaper.
Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf said last Thursday that a "high-value" target was likely at the site. Some senior Pakistani officials have said that they believe al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri may have been there, though the government has repeatedly said it does not know who is inside.
The Pakistani military has clamped a 50km cordon to seal the area where the militants are cornered, and say they are confident nobody has escaped.
But the cordon did not exist at the disastrous start of the operation Mar. 16, when Pakistani forces who thought they were going to arrest local tribesmen were surprised by a ferocious barrage from within the compound walls. Fifteen soldiers and 26 militants died in the initial assault; the military then sent in thousands of reinforcements over the following two days.
Pakistan's military said it was conducting DNA tests to identify six suspected foreign terrorists killed in the fighting, but would not elaborate on whether they included any important terror figure.
The military sweep in South Waziristan is the largest in Pakistan's tribal regions since the government threw its support behind the US-led war on terrorism in late 2001. The operation has stirred anger in the tribal community, with local officials saying at least two dozen people including women and children were killed in army attacks on vehicles trying to flee the area at the weekend.
Brigadier Mahmood Shah, chief of security for the tribal areas, said Monday that 123 suspects have been arrested in the week-old offensive. Security officials say their prisoners included Pakistanis, Arabs, Chechens, Uzbeks and ethnic Uighurs from China's predominantly Muslim Xinjiang province.
The tribal peace delegation brought with it three government demands for the fighters: free 12 soldiers and two government officials taken captive last week; hand over tribesmen involved in the fighting; and kick out any foreigners or show the military where to track them down.
Shah had said he wasn't hopeful the delegation would succeed.
Meanwhile, assailants fired rockets in two attacks in the neighboring tribal region of North Waziristan, but caused no damage or injuries, an official said.
Late Monday, two rockets landed on a hillside close to a paramilitary post in Isha, near the region's main town, Miran Shah, an official there said on condition of anonymity. Two more rockets landed near the village of Spin Wam, he said, but had no more details.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was