PAKISTAN: COLIN POWELL ARRIVES ON VISIT, PAKISTANI TROOPS CLASH WITH SUSPECTED AL QAEDA FIGHTERS ON BORDER WITH AFGHANISTAN.

Record ID: 588528

  • Title: PAKISTAN: COLIN POWELL ARRIVES ON VISIT, PAKISTANI TROOPS CLASH WITH SUSPECTED AL QAEDA FIGHTERS ON BORDER WITH AFGHANISTAN.
  • Date: 18th March 2004
  • Summary: (EU) ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (MARCH 17, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/GV/PAN: VARIOUS OF COLIN POWELL ON TARMAC AT AIRPORT (2 SHOTS) 0.42 (W6) WANA, TRIBAL AREAS OF PAKISTAN (MARCH 17, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 2. GV/LV/PAN: PARAMILITARY TROOPS PATROLLING ROAD; PARAMILITARY TROOPS WALKING THROUGH VILLAGE; ARMOURED CAR RACING THROUGH VILLAGE (5 SHOTS) 1.12 (W6) WANA, TRIBAL AREAS OF PAKISTAN (MARCH 17, 2004) (REUTERS - NO ACCESS INTERNET) 3. GV: CHARRED BODY 1.17 (W6) WANA, TRIBAL AREAS OF PAKISTAN (MARCH 17, 2004) (REUTERS - NO ACCESS INTERNET) 4. GV/MV/CU: BURNT VEHICLES; UNUSED MORTAR LYING ON THE ROADSIDE; MORE BURTN VEHICLES (6 SHOTS) 1.44 (W6) WANA, TRIBAL AREAS OF PAKISTAN) (MARCH 16, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 5. GV/MV: PARAMILITARY TROOPS GETTING READY FOR ATTACK; TROOPS INSIDE MILITARY VEHICLE; TWO PARAMILITARY SCOUTS STANDING; WIDE OF AREA WITH PARAMILITARY TROOPS ON GUARD (4 SHOTS0 2.11 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 2nd April 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ISLAMABAD AND WANA, TRIBAL AREAS OF PAKISTAN
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Reuters ID: LVA6KVZ19L64LLCYJMIJ5H13SB34
  • Story Text: Colin Powell arrives in Pakistan. Families living
    near the Afghan border flee their homes amid violence.



    U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in
    Pakistan from Afghanistan on Wednesday, a day after
    Pakistani troops fought with suspected al Qaeda fighters in
    the bloodiest clash of a crackdown on militants.

    Powell is in Islamabad for talks on the hunt for al
    Qaeda militants, including Osama bin Laden, and a recent
    nuclear proliferation scandal.

    The day before his arrival, Pakistani paramilitary
    forces launched the latest in a series of operations aimed
    at flushing out foreign Islamic fighters in its
    semi-autonomous tribal belt in which at least 16 soldiers
    and 24 militants were killed.

    Speaking to reporters in Kabul before he left for
    Islamabad, Powell welcomed the latest crackdown.

    "The action in Pakistan yesterday suggests that
    Pakistanis have picked up the pace and we hope they
    continue to do that," he said. "It shows the intention on
    the part of Pakistan not to allow these tribal areas to be
    used as a haven."
    U.S.-led forces numbering some 13,500 troops on the
    Afghan side of the border have also launched a fresh
    operation against militants, including al Qaeda fighters
    and remnants of the ousted Taliban militia.

    Intensified efforts on both sides of the border have
    been seen as part of a concerted effort to find the world's
    most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, blamed for masterminding
    the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

    Bin Laden, his al Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahri,
    Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and notorious
    renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are all believed to be
    in the border area, possibly slipping across the frontier
    to evade capture.

    Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the
    U.S.-led war on terror, has vowed to stamp out Islamic
    extremists, who continue to pose a threat to stability in Pakistan and
    Afghanistan.

    Musharraf narrowly survived two attempts on his life in
    December blamed on al Qaeda militants, and a huge car bomb
    was found and defused outside the U.S. consulate in the
    southern port city of Karachi on Monday.

    As the death toll from clashes between Pakistani
    paramilitary forces and suspected al Qaeda militants rises,
    families living near the Afghan border have fled their
    homes.

    A charred body was lying near one of the vehicles in
    Watchadana, 12 km (eight miles) from the town Wana and near
    the Afghan border.

    Many families living near the Afghan border fled their
    homes on Wednesday, fearful of fresh clashes between
    paramilitary forces and suspected al Qaeda militants being
    sheltered by local tribesmen.

    Some residents said they feared the area would be
    bombed.

    Hundreds of people, including many women and children,
    were driven away on tractors and trucks from Kaloosha, near
    the scene of the heaviest clashes, to the nearby town of
    Wana 15 km (eight miles) away.


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