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Pakistan Raids Terrorist Hideouts
Salahuddin Haider, Special to Arab News
ISLAMABAD, 9 January 2004 — Pakistan launched a massive operation yesterday to flush out terrorists hiding in its forbidding northwest mountains bordering Afghanistan.
Troops backed by helicopter gunships launched the operation to capture “foreign terrorists” in the early morning west of Wana, the capital of South Waziristan tribal area, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said.
“No foreign terrorists have been arrested so far, but a few locals have been taken in for questioning,” Sultan said, adding that the troops were now engaged in search operations.
During the operation helicopter gunships fired on five houses where around 15 foreigners were suspected of hiding, an official, who did not want to be identified, said.
Dozens of troops and paramilitary scouts surrounded the Kalu Shah village before going in to flush the suspects out, but a local security officer said they apparently slipped away from their hideouts before the operation was launched.
“They encountered no resistance and found no foreigners hiding in any of the targeted houses,” a local official said.
He said the houses belonged to three tribesmen — Nek Mohammad, Haji Sharif and Noorul Islam. The three could not be found and a search for them was under way. Kalu Shah is around 40 km (25 miles) from the porous border with Afghanistan.
South Waziristan lies astride the eastern Afghan province of Paktika and has long been a suspected sanctuary for Al-Qaeda and resurgent Taleban fighters fleeing US-led forces in Afghanistan.
Wana is around 330 km (around 206 miles) southwest of the capital Islamabad.
An intelligence officer said authorities received word three days ago that a group of armed men believed to be foreigners were in an area called Azam Warsak, near Wana. Tribal elders were contacted and asked the men to surrender, but they refused, prompting the military action. |
