Pakistani helicopter gunships launched new assaults yesterday on al-Qaeda and Taliban hideouts in the mountainous northwest as President Pervez Musharraf prepared to address a peace summit in Kabul.
Cobra helicopters killed three suspected militants, pounding what was believed to be their base after a firefight yesterday in Mir Ali town in North Waziristan tribal district, the military said.
"A security convoy was passing when an improvised explosive device planted by militants exploded, causing no harm to the security personnel," chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said.
"Armed miscreants then attacked security men with automatic weapons that injured a soldier," Arshad said. "In retaliatory firing by helicopters three miscreants were killed."
The continuing violence in the tribal area comes amid a joint tribal gathering organized by Pakistan and the Afghan government in Kabul to discuss ways to counter the al-Qaeda and Taliban threat.
Musharraf canceled his trip on Thursday to the inaugural session of the "peace jirga" which is being attended by around 700 tribal elders from the border regions.
The jirga is scheduled to end today and the foreign ministry in Islamabad said late on Friday the president had agreed "in principle" to address the closing session.
Musharraf's decision to attend the talk-fest followed a conversation with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who telephoned him on Thursday to discuss the jirga as well as reports he was considering imposing a state of emergency, the foreign ministry said.
The turnaround also followed a call late on Friday from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who again urged him to attend the gathering.
Relations between Karzai and Musharraf have been strained over the resurgence of the Taliban, which was driven from government by a US-led coalition in 2001 after having been helped to power by Pakistan in 1996.
The border regions have become an intense headache for Musharraf, who is facing accusations from Washington and at home that not enough is being done to root out the terrorist presence on the Pakistani side of the border.
He has been angered by the accusations, and suggestions of unilateral US airstrikes on the region.
While the Kabul jirga, brokered by US President George W. Bush during a meeting in Washington in September with Karzai and Musharraf, had meant to bring together representatives of all the tribal regions, elders from two of the most volatile areas boycotted.
North and South Waziristan refused to send delegates, citing the lack of Taliban representation and saying that without all parties to the problem being present, no solution could be reached.
North and South Waziristan, two of Pakistan's seven border tribal areas, have become notorious hideouts for operatives of both the Taliban and al-Qaeda, which use the region to plan assaults in Pakistan, Afghanistan and worldwide.
Pakistani media have reported that Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives intimidate and sometimes murder people who oppose their presence.
Arshad earlier said security forces were focussing on squeezing them out.
"We are responding with greater force against militant attacks on security forces now," Arshad said on Friday. "The action is not being done under any outside pressure. We know al-Qaeda is present in the region, there are Taliban elements and their local supporters and we are acting against them in our own national interest."
Musharraf on Thursday decided not to impose a state of emergency, ignoring the advice of aides who wanted strong action to prevent more instability in the troubled nation.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At 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
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese