Pakistani tribesmen avenging a mosque attack surrounded two militant strongholds and destroyed the homes of some Taliban commanders, an official said yesterday as the death toll in the fighting hit 13.
As many as 1,600 tribesmen have joined a citizens’ militia in Upper Dir district — an indication of rising anti-Taliban sentiment in Pakistan as the military pursues its offensive against the militant group in the nearby Swat Valley.
The militias, known as lashkar, were focusing on two villages known as Taliban strongholds, said Khaista Rehman, a local police chief. Officials said Sunday the tribesmen had managed to clear three other villages.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“An intense fight between the lashkar and the Taliban is still going on and the lashkar has destroyed 25 homes of Taliban commanders and their fighters in various villages,” Rehman said by phone. “The Taliban had set up their offices in those villages but the local residents and the lashkar have attacked them, and we hope the lashkar will succeed.”
The attack on the mosque on Friday left 33 worshippers dead and wounded dozens more during prayers, angering residents of the Haya Gai area of Upper Dir district, where minor clashes with local militants have occurred for months.
Including 11 militants killed over the weekend, the insurgent death toll reached 13 yesterday, senior police official Nawaz Khan said. Two tribesmen were wounded during yesterday’s fighting in the two villages.
The government has encouraged citizens to set up militias to oust Taliban fighters, especially in the regions that border Afghanistan where al-Qaeda and the Taliban have hide-outs. But villagers’ willingness to do so has often hinged on confidence that authorities will back them up if necessary.
With the army reporting advances against the Taliban in Swat — an operation that also reaches into Lower Dir district and has broad public support — that confidence appears to be growing.
Already, military officials say that as they’ve proceeded with the operation in Swat, local residents who have remained in the region have grown increasingly cooperative, providing tips on militants’ hide-outs and more.
The month-old Swat offensive, the latest round in a valley that has experienced fighting for two years, is seen as a test of Pakistan’s resolve to take on al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters on its soil.
The US hopes the offensive will eliminate a potential sanctuary for militants implicated in attacks on Western forces across the border in Afghanistan.
The military says more than 1,300 militants and 105 soldiers have died so far in the offensive, which has generally broad public support. The Taliban have threatened to stage suicide attacks in major Pakistani cities in revenge for the Swat operation.
Also yesterday, the leader of a Taliban faction at odds with Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud denounced Mehsud for staging attacks inside the country — a sign of rivalries within the collection of groups identified as the Taliban.
In an interview Qari Zainuddin urged tribal leaders to resist Mehsud and said his fighters would stay neutral if the army launches an operation in South Waziristan, Mehsud’s stronghold.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS