PAKISTAN: TRIBESMEN FLEE SCENE OF FIGHTING AS PAKISTANI ARMY ATTACKS MILITANTS LINKED TO AL-QAEDA NEAR BORDER WITH AFGHANISTAN

Record ID: 376225

  • Title: PAKISTAN: TRIBESMEN FLEE SCENE OF FIGHTING AS PAKISTANI ARMY ATTACKS MILITANTS LINKED TO AL-QAEDA NEAR BORDER WITH AFGHANISTAN
  • Date: 10th June 2004
  • Summary: (W6) SHAKAI, TRIBAL AREAS OF PAKISTAN (JUNE 10, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS OF TRIBESMEN WALKING AWAY FROM FIGHTING, AS PAKISTANI ARMY LAUNCHES MAJOR OFFENSIVE AGAINST MILITANTS LINKED TO AL-QAEDA (3 SHOTS) 0.13 2. VARIOUS OF TRIBESMEN FLEEING IN VEHICLES (3 SHOTS) 0.26 3. MORE OF PEOPLE WALKING THROUGH RUGGED REGION (3 SHOTS) 0.38
  • Embargoed: 25th June 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SHAKAI, TRIBAL AREAS OF PAKISTAN/ RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Reuters ID: LVA1YL74BGDOISMRA0BYQVF28PS4
  • Story Text: Tribesmen flee scene of fighting as Pakistani army
    attacks militants linked to al-Qaeda near border with
    Afghanistan.


    Pakistan upped the stakes against al Qaeda-linked
    militants on Friday (June 11), bombing and shelling their
    positions in a remote tribal region where it said more than
    53 people had been killed in three days of fighting.

    Military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told a
    news conference in Rawalpindi on Friday (June 11) that
    Pakistani forces had destroyed a house of a tribesman where an al
    Qaeda member used to come and stay, while the forces were
    also targetting a militant training camp and an al Qaeda
    safehouse in the same area.

    " The activity that has gone on today is that the
    security forces they have struck at these targets - these
    three sets of targets that I've indicated. Fighting is going
    on almost on all the targets. They've destroyed at least
    one, that is A-1," Sultan said.

    At least two aircraft bombed two houses where militants
    were thought to be holed up in the Shakai area, about 400 km
    (250 miles) southwest of Islamabad and 17 km (11 miles)
    west of the regional capital, Wana.

    Sultan said the army had killed 35 militants and lost
    15 of its men in fighting on Wednesday (June 9) and
    Thursday (June 10) but he did not have casualty figure
    from the latest fighting on Friday.

    " Since the situation is quite fluid, we don't have the
    exact number of casualties, but there are a few casualties
    of the miscreants," Sultan said.

    " Those dead bodies that have been recovered they have
    the proper vendoliers on them that are used by the
    fighters. Large cache of arms and ammunition, including few
    heavy weapons, have also been recovered.

    The mortar positions have been taken on by
    the gunship helicopters. And till the last reports that
    I've received the fighting is still continuing," he added.

    Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat told Pakistan's
    parliament the military would continue its assault in the
    Shakai area of South Waziristan, a mountainous region
    bordering Afghanistan, until it had been cleared of
    militants.

    But Sultan said although the government was determined
    to root-out foreign militants it could not use "overwhelming
    force" or "indiscriminate fire power."
    Pakistan has said up to 600 foreign militants,
    including Arabs, Chechens and Uzbeks linked to Osama bin
    Laden's al Qaeda network, have been hiding out in tribal
    areas close to the Afghan border, protected by Pakistani
    tribesmen.

    Many people, including women and children, walked for
    miles to safety after authorities ordered residents of
    Shakai to evacuate the battle zone.

    Pakistan used helicopter gunships in heavy clashes
    against the militants in March in which more than 120
    people, including at least 46 soldiers, 63 militants, and
    some civilians died. But this is the first time its forces
    have bombed with aircraft. Troops also fired dozens of
    artillery rounds.

    The interior minister told Reuters the government
    suspected a link between the fighting and an attempt to
    kill the military commander in the southern port city of
    Karachi on Thursday.

    The Karachi corps commander, Lieutenant-General Ahsan
    Saleem Hayat, survived but 10 people were killed in the
    ambush.

    " It is because they feel, the terrorists feel, that it
    is basically the army that is cutting across their agenda,"
    Sultan said. " The terrorists have an agenda; they have a
    political agenda; they want to destabilize the country," he
    added.

    Six months ago Pakistani President General Pervez
    Musharraf dodged two assassination attempts blamed on al
    Qaeda-linked militants, although Musharraf later revealed
    several low ranking military personnel were also involved.

    Hardline Muslim groups in Pakistan are bitterly opposed
    to Musharraf's decision to back the United States after the
    September 11 attacks in 2001.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register