Al-Qaeda members captured, killed in raid are Pakistani, Afghan, Uzbek
(Updated at 1955 PST)
PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN: Afghans and Uzbeks were among the al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects killed and captured in a shootout in Pakistan, but none were senior members of Osama bin Laden's terror network, said a report on Saturday.
"There are some Uzbeks, Afghans and Pakistani nationals among the 18 arrested people," said an intelligence official in Peshawar, 290 kilometers (180 miles) from the frontier town Angoor Ada where the day-long battle erupted Thursday.
"Among the eight dead were Uzbeks and Afghans. They were working as farmers in the area," the official told to a foreign news agency. "There are no important al-Qaeda members among those arrested."
The men were captured in a massive air and ground operation by Pakistani troops and helicopter gunships against their hideouts in Angoor Ada in South Waziristan, one of Pakistan's most conservative and fiercely independent tribal districts.
They are now under interrogation at a secret location. The operation, which begun before dawn Thursday, left eight suspected al-Qaeda fighters and two Pakistani soldiers dead.
Angoor Ada faces Afghanistan's Shkin district, where a US soldier was killed in a guerrilla attack last Monday, and is just 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) from the Taliban-controlled Afghan town of Barmal.
The fighters had been observed crossing the border from Shkin and were believed to be involved in attacks on US troops there, Pakistan's military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said. A senior security official in Islamabad said local people, Central Asians and Arabs made up the majority of the suspects.
Pakistan not allowed to transform into terrorists' heaven: Musharraf
(Updated at 1730 PST)
ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf has said Saturday that Thal Canal, Kalabagh and Bhasha dam projects would be completed and Pakistan would not allowed to transform into the terrorists heaven, Geo news channel reported on Saturday.
Talking with ruling coalitions national assembly members and senators belonging to Sindh at the President House Musharraf said peoples apprehensions about Thal Canal, Kalabagh and Bhasha dams will be removed.
Musharraf asked the parliamentarians to create consensus among the people over building of dams. Punjab will not encroach Sindh's rights he assured. |
