Instability In Pakistan- Merged Thread

[tomahawk6]

A video report.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtwROAYUqRY&feature=player_embedded#

 

[old medic]

Militants holding hostages in Pakistani army headquarters
Asif Shahzad
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — The Associated Press Published on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009 9:07AM EDT Last updated on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009 12:40PM EDT

Heavily armed militants were holding between 10 and 15 soldiers hostage inside army headquarters Saturday after they attacked the complex in an audacious assault on Pakistan’s most powerful institution.

The attack, which left at least 10 people dead, was the third major militant strike in Pakistan in a week and came as the government was planning an imminent offensive against Islamist militants in their strongholds in the rugged mountains along the border with Afghanistan.

It showed that the militants retain the ability to strike at the very heart of Pakistan’s security apparatus despite recent military operations against their forces and the killing of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in a CIA drone attack in August.

Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said “four or five” assailants were holding between 10 and 15 troops hostage in a building close to the main gates of the complex. He said the building had no connection to any of the country’s intelligence agencies.

He said no senior military or intelligence officials were among those being held.

The attack began shortly before noon when the gunmen, dressed in camouflage military uniforms and wielding assault rifles and grenades, drove in a white van up to the army compound and opened fire, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas and a witness said.

“There was fierce firing, and then there was a blast,” said Khan Bahadur, a shuttle van driver who was standing outside the gate of the compound. “Soldiers were running here and there,” he said. “The firing continued for about a half-hour. There was smoke everywhere. Then there was a break, and then firing again.”

After a 45-minute gunfight, four of the attackers were killed, said Maj. Gen. Abbas, who told the private Geo news television channel the assault over and the situation “under full control.”

But more than an hour later, gunshots rang out from the compound, and Maj. Gen. Abbas confirmed that gunmen had eluded security forces and slipped into the headquarters compound in Rawalpindi. The city is filled with security checkpoints and police roadblocks.

“We are trying to finish it (the siege) at the earliest, clear the area of terrorists and restore complete control,” Maj. Gen. Abbas told Dunya TV.

He said six troops were killed and five wounded, one critically. Those killed included a brigadier and a lieutenant colonel, according to a military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Pakistani media said the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, and Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the ongoing assaults strengthened the government’s resolve to launch the offensive.

“We have been left no other option except to go ahead to face them,” he told Dawn television.

Militants regularly attack army bases across the country and bombed a checkpoint the outside army compound in Rawalpindi two years ago.

The gunbattle following a car bombing that killed 49 on Friday in the northwestern city of Peshawar and the bombing of a UN aid agency Monday that killed five in Islamabad. The man who attacked the U.N. was also wearing a security forces’ uniform and was granted entry to the compound after asking to use the bathroom.

As the attack wore on Saturday, Pakistan briefly took two news channels, Geo and SAMA, off the air, but several others continued broadcasting.

The attack appeared to be a message to the army that the militants intend to ramp up their strikes across the country in response to the government’s planned offensive against Taliban strongholds in the border region of South Waziristan.

Pakistan vowed Friday to launch the new offensive in the wake of the massive Peshawar bombing.

The United States has been pushing Pakistan to take strong action against insurgents using its soil as a base for attacks in Afghanistan. The assault could be risky for the army, which was beaten back on three previous offensives into the Taliban heartland.

But the army may have been emboldened by its successes against the militants in the Swat Valley and by the killing of Baitullah Mehsud.

Islamist militants have been carrying out nearly weekly attacks in Pakistan, but the sheer scale of Friday’s bombing — which killed nine children — pushed the government to declare it would take the fight to the lawless tribal belt along the border where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden may be hiding.

 

[tomahawk6]

Most of the hostages were recovered by commandos - three were killed in the operation along with 4 militants. A pretty bold operation by the tango's to attack Army Hq.

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan – The Pakistani military says commandos have freed 22 hostages held by militants inside army headquarters. It said three captives and four militants died in the dawn raid.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas says "mopping operations" inside the building were continuing early Sunday.

Abbas said those freed included soldiers and civilians.

The army had previously said between 10 and 15 soldiers were being held hostage.

About five heavily armed militants took the hostages after they and other assailants attacked the main gate of the headquarters on Saturday, killing six soldiers. The hostages were held for about 18 hours.

 

[PMedMoe]

Bloody siege at Pakistani army HQ ends with 20 dead

Pakistan's military says its commandos have freed 42 hostages that were held by militants inside the army's headquarters in a 22-hour siege that left 20 people dead.

Officials said three of the hostages and eight militants died in the standoff, which began when gunmen disguised as soldiers stormed the heavily fortified army compound in Rawalpindi, just outside the capital of Islamabad.

One gunman, who officials believe led the operation, was captured.

The attack embarrassed the Pakistani military establishment as it prepares to ramp up its efforts to root out the Taliban and other militants from lawless tribal regions such as South Waziristan.

"It certainly is an embarrassment for the Pakistan army," Janis Mackey Frayer, CTV's South Asia Bureau Chief, told CTV News Channel in a telephone interview on Sunday.

"It would be seen as an embarrassment that the vulnerability was exposed to the extent that these militants would be able to stage such a bold attack on a compound that is so heavily fortified. No doubt the Pakistan army wanted to have a very swift response to end this siege on its own terms, and we're likely to see in the coming days almost a guarantee of a fuller and wider operation by the Pakistan security forces against militants, particularly in the area of South Waziristan."

More on link

 

[CougarKing]

A renewed Pakistani Army offensive against Taliban-held areas is reportedly brewing.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/091012/world/international_us_pakistan

Pakistan bombs militants, ground offensive imminent
56 minutes ago
By Robert Birsel

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani aircraft attacked Taliban militants in their South Waziristan stronghold near the Afghan border as the government said a ground offensive against the al Qaeda-linked fighters was imminent.


The aircraft struck the militants late on Sunday, hours after commandos stormed an office building and rescued 39 people taken hostage after an attack on the army headquarters.


"The jets hit and destroyed two of their hideouts in Makeen and Ladha and we have a total of about 16 militants killed," a Pakistani intelligence official in the region said.


Pakistani Taliban militants linked to al Qaeda have launched numerous attacks on government and foreign targets over the past couple of years killing hundreds of people.


The military has been conducting air and artillery strikes in south Waziristan for months, while moving troops, blockading the region and trying to split off militant factions.


But a ground offensive, in what could be the army's toughest test since militants turned on the state, has yet to begin.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik told Reuters in an interview in Singapore the offensive was "imminent."


"There is no mercy for them because our determination and resolve is to flush them out," Malik said. "They have no room in Pakistan, I promise you."


Malik said members of the Pakistani Taliban and al Qaeda were suspected to have been behind Saturday's attack on army headquarters in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, which ended a week when suicide bombers struck in the capital Islamabad and Peshawar, killing more than 50 people.


Security officials said there appeared to be links between the attackers, who were disguised in army uniforms, and militant groups based in Punjab province.


But Malik said it was too early to say whether those groups were involved.


STOCKS NOT DENTED


Malik said the offensive against the militants in South Waziristan was no longer a matter of choice.


"It is not an issue of commitment, it is becoming a compulsion because there was an appeal from the local tribes that we should do the operation," he said.


About 28,000 troops have been put in place to take on an estimated 10,000 hard-core Taliban, army officials said earlier.


Investors in Pakistan's main stock market were unperturbed by the weekend of violence outside the army's General Headquarters (GHQ) in which nine gunmen, eight soldiers and three hostages were killed.


"The market discounted the GHQ thing completely today," said Ashraf Zakaria, a dealer at brokers Ali Hussain Rajabali and Co.

The main index was 0.02 percent lower at 9,766.31 at 0533 GMT.

"The matter was resolved very quickly and the efficient way that things were handled made sure that investor confidence was not dented," Zakaria said.

Security around the headquarters, and in the nearby capital, is very tight but analysts say it is very difficult to guard against gunmen disguised as security force members who are prepared to kill anyone who challenges them, and to be killed.

The gunmen were stopped at a main gate and did not get into the headquarters.

An offensive in South Waziristan would not have a long-term effect on the market as investors felt concrete action was necessary, dealers said.

Early on Monday, aircraft also attacked militants in the Bajaur region, about 250 km (150 miles) northeast of Waziristan, government officials in the region on the Afghan border said.

"Two jets have been bombing militant hideouts in areas very close to the Afghan border. They've made several sorties," said one official who declined to be identified.

There was no information on casualties in the latest attacks.

(Additional reporting by Faisal Aziz, Sahibzada Bahauddin and Hafiz Wazir; Editing by Nick Macfie)

 

[George Wallace]

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

Suicide car bombing in Pakistan kills 41
LINK in Title

12/10/2009 8:54:56 AM

CTV.ca News Staff
A suspected suicide bomber killed 41 people in an attack on the Pakistani military on Monday -- the fourth militant attack in just over a week, as the Taliban pledged there would be more strikes.


The target of this latest attack was a military convoy near the Swat valley, police said. The bomber reportedly hit one of three military vehicles that were passing through the busiest market in the district.

Reports say 41 people were killed, including 35 civilians and six soldiers; another 45 people were wounded.

The Pakistani Taliban also claimed responsibility for an intense attack on the nation's heavily fortified army headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi that began Saturday and lasted 22 hours. That attack killed nine militants and 14 others.

The group said a cell from Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, carried out the raid. That may be a sign the terror group has forged links with militants outside their main strongholds in Pashtun areas close to the Afghan border.

Militant attacks have intensified over the past week as the Pakistani army prepares to launch what will likely be a long and bloody ground offensive on the al Qaeda-linked fighters' South Waziristan stronghold.

Military officials insisted Saturday's attack was launched from South Waziristan.

Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said Monday's attack would not derail the planned offensive.

"Such attacks cannot deter us from the offensive against the militants," Hussain said. "We will continue our fight till the death of the last terrorist."

Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas too said the string of attacks was aimed at making the government reconsider its decision to go after the Taliban in their heartland on the Afghan border. However, the government had already decided to launch the offensive, and the army would now decide how and when to carry it out, he said.

The recent string of attacks began last week when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a heavily guarded United Nations aid agency in the heart of Islamabad, killing five staffers.

On Friday, a suspected militant detonated an explosives-laden car in the middle of a busy market in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing 53.

Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told The Associated Press the assault on army headquarters was only the first in a planned wave of strikes intended to avenge the killing of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in a CIA missile strike in August.

"This was our first small effort and a present to the Pakistani and American governments," he said.

With reports from The Associated Press

 

[Colin Parkinson]

One hopes that the elements within the army and intelligence branches that support the Taliban will lose popularity and power through these attacks. Hard to say though, Pakistani mindthink seems very tunnelvision on the subject.

 

[CougarKing]

A reminder of this threat:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_pakistan_nuclear_safety

ISLAMABAD – An audacious weekend assault by Islamic militants on Pakistan's army headquarters is again raising fears of an insurgent attack on the country's nuclear weapons installation. Pakistan has sought to protect its nuclear weapons from attack by the Taliban or other militants by storing the warheads, detonators and missiles separately in facilities patrolled by elite troops.

Analysts are divided on how secure these weapons are. Some say the weapons are less secure than they were five years ago, and Saturday's attack would show a "worrisome" overconfidence by the Pakistanis.

While complex security is in place, much depends on the Pakistani army and how vulnerable it is to infiltration by extremists, said a Western government official with access to intelligence on Pakistan and its nuclear arsenal, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Analysts say a more realistic scenario would involve militant sympathizers getting work as scientists at the facilities and passing information to extremists.

"It's not thought likely that the Taliban are suddenly going to storm in and gain control of the nuclear facilities," said Gareth Price, head of the Asia program at London think tank Chatham House. "There are enough command-and-control mechanisms in place to prevent that."

A U.S. counterproliferation official in Washington said strong safeguards are in place and there is no reason to believe the nuclear arsenal is in imminent jeopardy of seizure by militants.

The official, who commented on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter publicly, said there is a major difference between attacking a nuclear site and actually seizing and using the nuclear material stored inside.

Security at Pakistan's isolated nuclear installations is believed to be significantly higher than at the army headquarters, which was relatively relaxed by the standards of other nations. Thousands of people and vehicles enter the headquarters compound in Rawalpindi daily, and the 10 attackers, while able to take dozens of hostages Saturday and kill 14 people before a commando raid ended the siege, never penetrated to the heart of the complex.

Pakistan is estimated to have between 70 and 90 warheads, according to Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project of the Federation of American Scientists.

Shaun Gregory, an expert on Pakistani security at the University of Bradford in Britain, said militants have struck near an air base in Sargodha, where nuclear missiles are believed to be stored, and the Wah cantonment, where missiles that could carry nuclear weapons are believed to be assembled. He added that the attacks did not appear to have targeted nuclear weapons.

Pakistan uses armed forces personnel to guard nuclear weapons facilities, and it physically separates warhead cores from their detonation components, Gregory wrote in the July issue of The Sentinel, the monthly journal of the Combating Terrorism Center.

The components are stored in protected underground sites. The warheads themselves are electronically locked to ensure that they cannot be detonated even if they fall in terrorists' hands, Gregory said.

The Pakistan military carefully screens and monitors the officers vested with protecting the warheads, drawing them almost exclusively from Punjabi officers who are considered to have fewer links to religious extremists or with the Pashtun area of Pakistan, where the Taliban garners much of its support.

No action or decision involving a nuclear weapon can be undertaken by fewer than two persons. But Gregory acknowledged the possibility of collusion between cleared officers and extremists.

The personnel assigned to sensitive nuclear posts go through regular background checks conducted by Pakistan's intelligence services, according to a 2007 article in the journal Arms Control, co-written by Naeem Salik, a former top official at Pakistan's National Command Authority, which oversees the nuclear arsenal.

"It is being acknowledged by the world powers that the system has no loopholes," Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, a military spokesman, said Monday. "The system is foolproof, as good and bad as their own systems."

The U.S. and the British governments agree there is little risk of a weapon falling into militants' hands.

In London, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said there is no evidence "that has been shown publicly or privately of any threat to the Pakistani nuclear facilities, said.

Gregory said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that he did not share Miliband's assertion, adding that "there is plenty of evidence of threat."

Individuals in the Pakistan military have colluded with al-Qaida in providing safe houses for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and individuals in Pakistan's civil nuclear sector have met with al-Qaida figures, including Osama bin Laden himself, Gregory said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton dismissed any suggestion militants could overthrow the government and gain control of the nuclear arsenal. "We have confidence in the Pakistani government and military's control over nuclear weapons," she said.

Kristensen said that while U.S. officials have said they have helped Pakistan increase security at its nuclear facilities, "they have not been allowed to go to those sites, so it's something they've had to do remotely."

Saturday's attack "somehow seems to show that the Pakistani military is perhaps a little overly confident" about some of its most important military facilities, he said.

"If a relatively small group of people is able to penetrate into their 'Pentagon,' then it might show something about the overconfidence of the Pakistanis, and that is worrisome — it's surprising that they were able to go in there relatively simply," Kristensen said.

He noted that the military headquarters is different from a nuclear facility. "One cannot compare insurgents going into an office building to them going into a nuclear facility for the nation's crown jewels," he added.

While stringent security checks on personnel are meant to prevent militant sympathizers from working at the facilities, Pakistan's nuclear establishment has seen serious leaks of nuclear knowledge and materials by insiders.

Top government scientist A.Q. Khan operated a global black market nuclear network for more than a decade until he was uncloaked by U.S. intelligence. And the CIA has confirmed a meeting between Khan associates and bin Laden before 9/11.

Israel has not taken a formal position on the danger of Pakistan's nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists. However, in a parliamentary briefing last year, Defense Minister Ehud Barak mentioned such a scenario as a nightmare for the world, according to security officials speaking on condition of anonymity because the session was closed.

"Pakistan's weapons are less secure today than they were five years ago, and it seems they're even less secure than under the Musharraf government," said Gerald Steinberg, professor of political studies and conflict management at Bar Ilan University in Israel, referring to the previous administration of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

Steinberg said Israelis are becoming less confident of the U.S. ability to control events and put plans into action that would protect Pakistan's nuclear stockpile.

___

Hess reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London, Ravi Nessman in Islamabad and George Jahn in Vienna contributed to this report.

 

[CougarKing]

Another attack...this time on Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency building:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091015/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

LAHORE, Pakistan – Gunmen entered a federal law enforcement building in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore on Thursday, firing shots and terrifying employees in the latest in a string of attacks to rock this U.S.-allied nuclear-armed country as it prepares to launch a major offensive in a Taliban and al-Qaida stronghold.

In the Taliban-riddled northwest, meanwhile, a suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle next to a police station, killing at least eight people, while a suspected U.S. missile strike killed four alleged militants, officials said.

The attack in Lahore occurred at a building housing the Federal Investigation Agency, a premier law enforcement organization that deals with matters ranging from immigration to terrorism. Local media channels reported that hostages were being held.
"We are under attack," said Mohammad Riaz, an FIA employee reached inside the building via phone by The Associated Press. "I can see two people hit, but I do not know who they are."

The attack appeared similar to a siege mounted on the army's headquarters over the past weekend that left 23 people dead and was claimed by the Taliban as their work. The militants have also claimed credit for other attacks in recent days, warning Pakistan to stop pursuing them in military operations.

The Pakistani army has given no time frame for the expected offensive in South Waziristan, but has reportedly already sent two divisions totaling 28,000 men and blockaded the region.

Fearing the looming offensive, about 200,000 people have fled South Waziristan since August, moving in with relatives or renting homes in the Tank and Dera Ismail Khan areas, a local government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

 

[CougarKing]

Multiple targets were attacked in this one day, it seems.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091015/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

LAHORE, Pakistan – A Pakistani police official says gunmen have attacked a second police training center near the eastern city of Lahore.

Senior police official Chaudhry Shafiq says the attack on the elite police commando training center on the outskirts of the city is the third militant assault to hit the city Thursday morning.

Gunmen had earlier attacked a federal building in Lahore and a police training center near the city in attacks that killed at least seven people.
The attacks took place less than two hours apart and plunged the city into chaos.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani official says seven people have been killed when a team of gunmen attacked the federal law enforcement building in the eastern city of Lahore.

Senior official Sajjad Bhutta said Thursday the attack lasted about 1 1/2 hours and was over by 11 a.m.
He said the dead included two attackers, four government employees and a bystander.

The attack came as gunmen also attacked a police academy on the outskirts of Lahore.

 

[CougarKing]

Good. Hopefully they can wipe out these Taliban scum soon.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091016/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

ISLAMABAD – The Pakistani military is setting its sights on the Taliban's remote sanctuary after nearly two weeks of big bombings across the country, as hundreds flee the Afghan border region each day before what promises to be the army's riskiest offensive yet.

With the first snows of winter less than two months away, the army has limited time to mount a major ground attack. The U.S. is racing to send in night vision goggles and other equipment. The Pakistani military insists it's sealing off supply and escape routes, forcing the militants to rely on goat paths.

The army has tried three times since 2001 to dislodge Taliban fighters from their stronghold in South Waziristan, part of the lawless tribal area along the border. All three previous attempts ended in negotiated truces that left the Taliban in control.

More at link- (...) 

 

[tomahawk6]

Pakistans support of fundamentalists is the seed that could undo their government and country. I would hope that the government has decided to do what needs to be done. Maybe they can head off civil war and maybe they cant. But its a fight that is for the very soul of Pakistan. A taliban victory will surely spark a war with India as they wont tolerate a nuclear armed taliban. They certainly cannot rely on support from Washington. Another scenario is that Pakistani nuclear weapons are seized by taliban/aq attackers. All they need is an inside guy or two. The attack on Army Headquarters is very distrubing. Just as disturbing is this report from Debka. I know take it with a grain of salt. But all you have to do is look at a map and see where the terror attacks have occured and I think that gives the Debka article substance.

Taliban gunmen attacked three law enforcement facilities in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore early Thursday, Oct. 15, their fifth large-scale strike in 10 days. At least 38 people were killed. Interior minister Rehman Malik announced a nationwide red alert. He said: "The enemy has started a guerilla war."

DEBKAfile's military sources report: Five days ago, Taliban gunmen and bombers hit Pakistan's army headquarters in Islamabad and at the same time advanced on the northwestern Kohat road to Peshawar and a cluster of air bases holding its nuclear arsenal around Kamra in the North West Frontier Province.

Thursday, Taliban struck further northeast toward the Kamra nuclear center, aiming to cut it off from Islamabad, 150 kilometers east of Kohat. They have begun encircling the Sargodha air base, the location of nuclear warheads stores. En route, suicide attackers flattened a police station in the Saddar suburb of Kohat town, killing 10 people and wounding 20.

Taliban has stepped up the tempo of its large-scale assaults in an effort to throw central government and the military command off-balance as they prepare a major offensive against terrorist bastions in South Waziristan.

Lahore descended into chaos Thursday as one team of gunmen attacked the Federal Investigation Agency and took hostages before the attack was over, and two other groups struck police and commando training centers.

At the same time, an unidentified missile hit a Taliban compound in North Waziristan. At least four people were killed.

After the Oct. 10 siege of army HQ, which left 23 dead, Taliban warned that harsher acts were coming unless Pakistan called off its military operations against its strongholds and stopped working with the US.

 

[CougarKing]

Finally.

Ground offensive begins in Pakistan al-Qaida haven
MUNIR AHMAD, AP
10/17/2009 | 04:29 PM

ISLAMABAD — More than 30,000 Pakistani soldiers launched a much-awaited ground offensive in an al-Qaida and Taliban stronghold along the Afghan border early Saturday, officials told The Associated Press — the nuclear-armed U.S. ally's toughest test yet against militants aiming to topple the state.
The offensive in South Waziristan follows months of airstrikes intended to soften up militant defenses that have also forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee. The full-scale operation also comes after two weeks of militant attacks that have killed more than 175 people and ramped up the pressure on the army to take on the insurgents.

Aside from being the nerve-center for Pakistani insurgents opposed to the U.S.-backed central government, South Waziristan is a key base for foreign and national jihadi groups planning attacks on American and NATO targets in Afghanistan and beyond. The U.S. is racing to send in night-vision goggles and other equipment to aid the latest operation.

The region is remote and mountainous. It has a leaky border with Afghanistan and fiercely independent tribes who have long resisted government interference. With winter snows just weeks away, the army has limited time to pursue a major ground attack there, and even if it does manage to wipe out its intended targets, it's unclear whether troops will occupy the area or for how long.

Even if the operation is largely successful in South Waziristan, many of the militants could escape to Afghanistan or other parts of Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt.

The officials Saturday — two with intelligence, three with the government and one senior army official — gave few details but said the troops were pursuing militants holed up in the region, including in major trouble spots such as Ladha and Makeen towns.

The army has sent more than 30,000 troops to the region to participate in the combat, said one of the intelligence officials. He said the ground forces were attacking from different directions while helicopter gunships and other aircraft also were bombing various sites.

The military already has said it already has sealed off many supply and escape routes.

All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information or because they did not have authority to release it to media on the record. It is nearly impossible to verify information from the region independently. Foreigners require special permission to enter tribal areas and many Pakistani journalists from other parts of the country are at risk there.

The army has tried three times since 2001 to dislodge Taliban fighters from South Waziristan. All three previous attempts ended in negotiated truces that left the Taliban in control. This time the military has said there will be no deals, partly to avoid jeopardizing gains won earlier this year when Pakistani soldiers overpowered the Taliban in the Swat Valley, another northwest region.

In a previous interview with AP, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the assault would be limited to slain Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud's holdings — a swath of territory that stretches roughly 1,275 square miles (3,310 square kilometers). That portion covers about half of South Waziristan, which itself is slightly larger than the U.S. state of Delaware.

The plan is to capture and hold the area where Abbas estimates 10,000 insurgents are headquartered and reinforced with about 1,500 foreign fighters, most of them of Central Asian origin. "There are Arabs, but the Arabs are basically in the leadership, providing resources and expertise and in the role of trainers," he said.

Taliban spokesmen could not immediately be reached for comment Saturday. Communications in and around the region appeared jammed, making it difficult to reach local residents or other witnesses.

The army expects the militants to use guerrilla tactics including ambushes, suicide attacks and roadside bombs. A roadside bomb hit a security convoy in Ladha early Saturday, killing one soldier and wounding three others, two other intelligence officials said.

Despite sometimes rocky relations with the Pakistani military, the U.S. is trying to rush in equipment that would help with mobility, night fighting and precision bombing, a U.S. Embassy official told The Associated Press in a recent interview, speaking on condition of anonymity because the issue is politically sensitive.

In addition to night-vision devices, the Pakistan military has said it is seeking additional Cobra helicopter gunships, heliborne lift capability, laser-guided munitions and intelligence equipment to monitor cell and satellite telephones.

The army has considered the weather in the timing the offensive. Snows in the region could block major roads. At the same time, a harsh winter could work to the army's advantage by driving fighters out of their unheated mountain hideouts.

Amnesty International said Friday that its research teams in the area report 90,000 to 150,000 residents have fled South Waziristan since July, when the military began a long-range artillery and aerial bombardment in the region.

Although the military has been hitting targets in South Waziristan for the past three months, it waited until two weeks ago to say it would definitely go ahead with a major ground offensive into the region.

What followed was a rash of major bombings that killed 175 people and demonstrated the militants' ability to attack cities across the county. One attack involved a siege of the army's headquarters that lasted 22 hours and left 23 people dead. In the latest bombing, three suicide attackers, including a woman, struck a police station in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday, killing 13 people.

 

[CougarKing]

And the battle continues:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/091018/world/international_us_pakistan_violence

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani forces fought fierce battles with Taliban militants on Sunday, a day after launching a long-awaited offensive aimed at bringing the writ of state to lawless tribal lands on the Afghan border.


The offensive on the global Islamist hub of South Waziristan follows a string of brazen militant attacks in different parts of the country, including an assault on army headquarters, in which more than 150 people were killed.


About 28,000 soldiers are battling an estimated 10,000 hard-core Taliban, including about 1,000 tough Uzbek fighters and some Arab al Qaeda members, after surrounding militant territory and pushing in from three direction.


Heavy clashes erupted on Saturday as soldiers backed by aircraft and artillery encountered resistance, and four soldiers were killed and 12 wounded, the military said. There was no information about militant casualties.


Security forces captured a Taliban stronghold at Spinkai Raghzai on Saturday after the militants withdrew from their fortifications and took refuge in nearby mountains, officials said.
"It is a flat area so whenever they tried to put up resistance, the helicopter gunships fired at them so they decided to flee to the mountains," said a senior government official in the northwest. In a show of unity before the offensive, government and political party leaders gave the military full backing on Friday, vowing to weed out militants.


Nuclear-armed Pakistan has been under U.S. pressure to crack down on Islamist militancy as President Barack Obama considers a boost in troop numbers fighting in neighboring Afghanistan.


Many al Qaeda and Taliban members fled to northwest Pakistan after U.S.-led troops ousted the Taliban in Kabul in 2001 and the region has become a global hub for Islamist militancy.


The offensive could be the army's toughest test since the militants turned on the state and it will be hoping Afghan Taliban factions elsewhere in South Waziristan and in North Waziristan stay out of the fight.


Up to 100,000 civilians have fled from South Waziristan in anticipation of the offensive, the army said, while the United Nations said 500 people were leaving every day.


Security force are on alert across the country in case of retaliatory strikes.

 

[CougarKing]

Another update: US Gen. Petraeus and Sen. John Kerry bringing new US aid?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091019/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – Pakistani soldiers killed at least eight advancing Taliban fighters as they waged a major offensive against militants along the Afghan border Monday, intelligence officials said, while a top U.S. senator and general met with officials in the nuclear-armed nation.

Both the Pakistani army and the Taliban have claimed early victories in the clashes in South Waziristan, a tribal region that al-Qaida and other Islamist extremists use as a base to plot attacks on the Pakistani state, Western troops in Afghanistan and civilian targets throughout the world. The U.S. has backed the military offensive in the remote, rugged area.

The army said Sunday that 60 militants and six soldiers have been killed since the offensive began Saturday. Two intelligence officials said at least eight more militants died Monday in a fierce battle in the Khaisur area, where they were coming closer to troop positions.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge the information to media on the record. They did not speak of any military casualties.

The Taliban claimed Sunday to have inflicted "heavy casualties" and pushed advancing soldiers back into their bases. It is nearly impossible to independently verify any of the claims because the army is blocking access to the battlefield and surrounding towns.

The military offensive is focused on eliminating Pakistani Taliban militants linked to the Mehsud tribe, who control roughly 1,275 square miles (3,310 square kilometers) of territory, or about half of South Waziristan. Part of the strategy involves striking deals with other militant groups and tribes in the region.

Some 10,000 Pakistani militants and about 1,500 foreign fighters are believed to operate in the region, though many are likely to avoid conventional battles in favor of guerrilla attacks.

(...)


U.S. Central Command chief David Petraeus, who oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was in Pakistan on Monday visiting top officials, while U.S. Sen. John Kerry also was meeting political and military leaders, the U.S. Embassy said.

Kerry in particular was expected to try to ease tensions with Islamabad and the army over a multibillion dollar U.S. aid package for the country that some here says comes with unacceptable strings attached.

____

Associated Press Writers Rasool Dawar from Mir Ali, Zarar Khan in Islamabad and Hussain Afzal in Parachinar contributed to this report.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Taliban are Taliban, or, mashing Mr Margolis.  If at first you don't succeed (see 2) here),
http://forums.milnet.ca/forums/threads/89771/post-882787.html#msg882787
try again: a letter of mine in the Ottawa Sun (comment in parentheses theirs):

Terror by any name
http://www.ottawasun.com/comment/letters/2009/10/18/11443796.html

RE “War next door creates havoc in Pakistan” (Oct. 18)
http://www.ottawasun.com/comment/columnists/eric_margolis/2009/10/18/11439631-sun.html
Eric Margolis writes that the Pashtun insurgents — who are also terrorists, note their suicide bombings of civilians — the Pakistani government is fighting are ‘wrongly called “Taliban.”

I guess Mr. Margolis has somehow managed to avoid noticing that the umbrella group for these people is called “Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan” (the Taliban Movement of Pakistan).

Seems pretty clear to me who they are. But then there are none so blind as those who will not see. And who would rather ceaselessly criticize the United States than recognize real enemies.

Mark Collins

(We aren’t sure how much a name is worth, but the results seem awfully similar)

And this poseur has been nominated for a Governor General's Literary Award--for non-fiction!

An award for a true prince of darkness?
http://dustmybroom.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12621:an-award-for-a-true-prince-of-darkness&catid=100:hating-america

Mark
Ottawa

 

[The Bread Guy]

Shared in accordance with the "fair dealing" provisions, Section 29, of the Copyright Act.

TTP gets Afghan Taliban support
Mazhar Tufail, The News, 18 Oct 09
Article link

The Pakistani militants based in South Waziristan Agency committed the terrorism acts in the past couple of weeks or so with the help of the Afghan Taliban, The News learnt here on Saturday.

“Leaders of various militant groups active in Pakistan under the banner of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have succeeded in winning support of the Afghan Taliban for committing terror acts in Pakistan,” a source in the security forces disclosed on condition of anonymity.

“They have mounted the deadly attacks in Peshawar, Bannu, Rawalpindi and Lahore with the help of Afghan Taliban,” he said.

The source said the top leaders of outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi have established links with the Afghan Taliban and all its operatives who have been operating in the Punjab have reached South Waziristan or Afghanistan to evade arrests as the law-enforcement agencies have launched a crackdown on such elements in the Punjab province.

“Initially, this group was involved in sectarian violence and has been targeting people belonging to a particular religious sect but now it is targeting the security forces,” the source said.

According to the source, the security forces have, however, launched the operation - codenamed Rah-e-Nijat - in South Waziristan with full determination to eliminate the terrorists from the restive tribal region. He said majority of the troops participating in the operation have an extensive experience of warfare in mountainous terrain and have earlier been fighting terrorists in Swat, Malakand and elsewhere.

“As directed by the army chief and other commanders involved in the military operation in South Waziristan, the security forces will exercise utmost care to avoid collateral damage during the operation. The commanders are very optimistic about the completion of the operation well before the end of the stipulated time and its positive outcome,” the source said.

The Pakistan Army launched operation against the extremists in South Waziristan Agency on the night between Friday and Saturday. According to military sources, 1,000 to 1,500 militants are present in South Waziristan and the operation has been launched after three-month siege of the militants.

The political administration of South Waziristan has, however, said that over 4,000 to 5000 terrorists are present in the area with most of them hiding in Mahsuds-inhibited area.

South Waziristan is the nerve centre of the TTP and the main source of terrorism across Pakistan. It is from here that TTP renders support to other terrorist groups operating from the nearby Khyber, Bajaur, Orakzai and Mohmand agencies.

“The root of the terror is in South Waziristan where this group is present. It is a must to root out this terror and curse,” the source said.

After the death of Baitullah Mahsud in a drone strike on August 5, TTP is being led by Hakimullah Mahsud with the assistance of Waliur Rehman and Qari Hussain, who runs a suicide training camp in Kotkai area of the region.

According to the source, in the last three months, the TTP militants intensified attacks on security forces deployed in South and North Waziristan agencies, including five suicide missions in Razmak area, kidnapping of 15 security personnel, killing three of them, over 300 rocket attacks and 78 improvised explosive device (IED) attacks.

“Given all of the recent terrorism acts in various parts of the country, a final showdown against Taliban and their al-Qaeda Uzbek allies in South Waziristan has become an absolute necessity,” the source said.

The source said no doubt the country’s security forces were faced with a far stronger enemy in South Waziristan than one they have confronted and overcame in Swat.

 

[CougarKing]

Divide and conquer:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091020/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – Pakistan's army, in the midst of a major new offensive against Taliban militants, has struck deals to keep two powerful, anti-U.S. tribal chiefs from joining the battle against the government, officials said Monday.

The deals increase the chances of an army victory against Pakistan's internal enemy No. 1, but indicate that the 3-day-old assault into the Taliban's strongholds in South Waziristan may have less effect than the U.S. wants on a spreading insurgency across the border in Afghanistan.

Under the terms agreed to about three weeks ago, Taliban renegades Maulvi Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur will stay out of the current fight in parts of South Waziristan controlled by the Pakistani Taliban. They will also allow the army to move through their own lands unimpeded, giving the military additional fronts from which to attack the Taliban.
In exchange, the army will ease patrols and bombings in the lands controlled by Nazir and Bahadur, two Pakistani intelligence officials based in the region told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because revealing their identities would compromise their work.

An army spokesman described the deal as an "understanding" with the men that they would stay neutral. The agreements underscore Pakistan's past practice of targeting only militant groups that attack the government or its forces inside Pakistan.

Western officials say South Waziristan is also a major sanctuary and training ground for al-Qaida operatives. The mountain-studded region has been under near-total militant control for years and is considered a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden.

The United States has responded cautiously to the initial Pakistani strategy, publicly welcoming the offensive but saying little about the specific choice of targets.

"We have a shared goal here, and the shared goal is fighting violent extremism," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Monday.

Kelly said he was unaware of an agreement to keep some militant factions out of the fight for now, but other U.S. officials said the strategy is not surprising or necessarily worrisome.

Because the faction loyal to Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud poses the most direct threat to the Pakistani government and army, it is the logical first target, U.S. officials briefed on the offensive said.

While a broad offensive that takes on all comers at once might be ideal, it is not practical, U.S. military officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the United States has no direct role in the operations of another country.

U.S. officials are watching the offensive closely with the hope that the Pakistani army will not pull back after the initial onslaught, and will eventually widen the offensive to cover other militant factions and the more forbidding ground of North Waziristan.

The army's offensive in South Waziristan is pitting some 30,000 troops against 11,500 militants belonging to the Pakistani Taliban, an umbrella grouping of the country's main militant factions blamed for 80 percent of the attacks in this nuclear-armed nation over the last three years.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for a surge in strikes over the past two weeks that has killed more than 170 people. The attacks have included a 22-hour siege of the army headquarters and a bombing of the U.N. building in the capital, Islamabad.

Pakistani security analysts said the army had little choice but to cut deals with rival Taliban factions to have a chance of success. The campaign will likely be far tougher than in the Swat Valley, a northwest region where government troops overpowered insurgents this year. The army has conducted three previous offensives in South Waziristan since 2004, all unsuccessful.
"If the army opens up multiple fronts, they will be deluged," said Khalid Aziz, a former top administrator in the northwest. "It's like having a patient suffering from multiple diseases — you tend to treat those that are life-threatening first."

The army is setting its sights on Hakimullah Mehsud, who became leader of the Pakistani Taliban after its former chief, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a U.S. missile strike in August.

Bahadur's area of influence lies in North Waziristan just across the border from South Waziristan, abutting land controlled by the Pakistani Taliban. He and his followers come from a different tribe than the Mehsuds, who make up the majority of the Pakistani Taliban. Nazir controls territory in South Waziristan.

Both allow their lands to be used by fighters who cross into Afghanistan and are loyal to the Mullah Omar, the head of the Afghan Taliban. Omar is believed to be living in Pakistan.

As the region's British colonial rulers did decades ago, the army is exploiting tribal rivalries to try to gain control in the region. Nazir is an old-time opponent of the Mehsud tribe, while Bahadur is reportedly angry over the appointment of Hakimullah as Taliban chief.

Being able to move unimpeded through their territory gives the Pakistani army a massive boost in its current campaign.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said there was no agreement with the two men, but "there is an understanding with them that they will not interfere in this war."

He said the army "had to talk to the devil" to isolate its main target.

Asked whether the agreements were holding, he said: "Obviously, they are not coming to rescue or to help" the Pakistani Taliban.

The army said Monday that troops backed by aerial bombing were steadily advancing on three fronts into the region and meeting stiff resistance in places. It said 78 militants and nine soldiers were killed over the last three days. Militants were not available for comment, but said Sunday they had the upper hand.

It is nearly impossible to verify independently what is going on in South Waziristan because the army is blocking access to it and surrounding towns. There are no reporters traveling with the army, and few — if any — local journalists in the area.

Residents, some fleeing, reported fierce fighting and said Pakistani forces were using artillery and air attacks.

"There is lots of bombardment: on houses, on mosques, on Islamic boarding schools, on everything," said Fazlu Rehman as he arrived in the town of Dera Ismail Khan, which lies close to South Waziristan.

As many as 150,000 civilians — possibly more — have left South Waziristan in recent months after the army made clear it was planning an assault, with several thousand over the last few days. Authorities say that up to 200,000 people may flee in the coming weeks, but don't expect to have to house them in camps because most have relatives in the region.

In Dera Ismail Khan, government employees registered hundreds of people who lined up for cash handouts and other aid.

"The situation in Waziristan is getting worse and worse every day," said Haji Sherzad Mehsud, one of the refugees.

___

Associated Press writers Zarar Khan in Islamabad and Anne Gearan and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.

 

[CougarKing]

Good. The offensive has made progress:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091021/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

PARACHINAR, Pakistan – Soldiers fought for control of the Pakistani Taliban chief's hometown Wednesday, pressing forward with a major offensive targeting an insurgent stronghold along the Afghan border, authorities said.

The battle raged as intelligence officials said suspected U.S. missiles killed two militants in a neighboring region — a potentially troubling strike because it hit territory controlled by another militant faction the army has coaxed into neutrality during its offensive.

(...)

The military is advancing on three fronts in South Waziristan. The fight for Kotkai town is symbolically key because Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud and a top deputy, Qari Hussain, hail from there. It also lies on the way to the major militant base of Sararogha.[/B]

An army statement Wednesday said forces were engaged in "intense encounters" in heights surrounding Kotkai and had secured an area east of it. Two intelligence officials said troops had secured parts of the town and also destroyed houses belonging to Mehsud and Hussain in controlled explosions, but army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas denied that late Wednesday, saying most of the fighting was on hillsides and the outskirts of the town.

Security forces also cleared Khaisura, a village on another front in the offensive, according to the army statement. Heavily fortified bunkers were found, some with two-meter thick concrete walls, the army said.

It reported three more soldiers were killed, bringing the army's death toll so far to 16, while 15 more militants were slain, bringing their overall death toll to 105.


(...)

 

[CougarKing]

The ongoing campaign:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091022/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

Residents fleeing a 6-day-old Pakistani army offensive in a Taliban stronghold along the Afghan border reported Thursday that the insurgents are digging in for a fight and travel the roads freely.

Tired and dusty refugees arriving in this northwestern town Thursday from different parts of South Waziristan reported intense army bombing by jets and helicopters but said they had seen no ground troops.

The accounts by a dozen refugees to Associated Press reporters are a sign of just how much fighting remains before the military can even hope to clear the area, which in recent years has become a major global hub for al-Qaida and other extremist groups who carry out attacks against U.S. troops in Adghanistan.

The militants were believed to control roughly 1,275 square miles of territory before the offensive began. That portion covers about half of South Waziristan, which itself is slightly larger than Delaware.

The military say its troops are progressing steadily and retaking land on three fronts. But officers have made it clear that the campaign will be long and bloody and acknowledged resistance is tough.

As the army presses into their heartland, the militants are trying to bring the war to the rest of Pakistan.

Over the last 20 days, they have killed more than 170 people in a series of suicide bombings and raids on Western, civilian and security-force targets across the country.

In the latest attack, suspected insurgents on a motorbike shot and killed a senior army officer and a soldier Thursday in a residential part of the capital, Islamabad. The slain officer, Ahmed Moinuddin, was on leave from his job as deputy commander of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Sudan.

The attack came despite ramped-up security nationwide. It was believed to be the first targeted killing of an army officer in the capital, a sign of evolving militant strategies.

The United Nations says 110,000 people have fled South Waziristan in recent months as speculation rose of an army offensive, about 30,000 of them in the last few days. Most are staying with relatives or in rented homes in Dera Ismail Khan and nearby districts.

New arrivals said the Taliban were preparing for a fight.

"We saw no ground forces on the way, nothing except helicopters and airplanes. But we saw a lot of Taliban movement," said Awal Jan, a refugee from the town of Sarwakai. "They were roaming around in their vehicles and digging trenches in the mountains."

Pakistan is under intense pressure to eliminate Islamist militant groups sheltering in its northwest that also attack U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. The military has battled them in various districts, losing hundreds of soldiers, but questions remain about its overall strategic commitment to the fight.

The army has previously moved into South Waziristan three times since 2004. Each time it has suffered high casualties and signed peace deals that left insurgents with effective control of the region. Western officials say al-Qaida now uses it and neighboring North Waziristan as an operations and training base.

One refugee said Taliban fighters had told villagers they must join them or flee.

"They said, 'If you want to side with us, you may. If you are scared of death, then leave immediately,'" said Habibullah, who gave only a single name.

Maadi Shah, his wife and five children walked for a day to escape.

"Earlier there was aerial bombing once a day, but now it is happening countless times," he said. "We saw the Taliban shifting to the mountains toward Makeen (the main town). They are well-entrenched there," said Shah, who stopped talking after a man warned him of possible Taliban retaliation for meeting reporters.

The current offensive pits 28,000 troops against some 12,000 militants, 1,000 of them believed to be foreign fighters, mostly Chechens and Arabs. They are fighting in an unforgiving landscape of hulking mountains, rock-strewn valleys and sparse vegetation.
A military statement Thursday reported two more soldiers were killed, bringing the army's death toll to 18, and that 24 more militants were slain, bringing their death toll to 129. Reporters are blocked from entering the region, meaning verifying information is all but impossible.

Authorities say they are not expecting a major humanitarian crisis like the one triggered by an offensive in the northwestern Swat Valley earlier this year. Still, many refugees have complained of receiving little or no government assistance.

In Paharpur town, some 30 miles outside Dera Ismail Khan, police clubbed refugees swarming an aid distribution center run by Pakistani authorities. The lines were long, and some refugees tried to climb a wall to get inside. Several people were injured, one with a bloodied head.

"We came here for bread, but the police beat us up," said Rahmatullah Mehsud. "There, the Taliban were messing with things and the army was showering bombs. Here, we have to bear the clubs."

Aid administrator Javed Shaikh said there was plenty of food, but that the refugees were "impatient."

___

AP reporter Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.