FATA Situation

[Spring Onion]

About 5 security personnel were killed when militants attack a check post in Waziristan while in retaliatroy firing 37 militants were also killed today.

 

[Trooper]

WANA: Seven security personnel were martyred Tuesday in attacks in South and North Waziristan tribal regions, while in counter attacks by the security forces at least 37 miscreants were killed.

Five of the soldiers were martyred and seven others wounded after miscreants attacked a security forces check post and a fort in Ladha in South Waziristan before dawn, chief military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told Geo News. The security forces in counter offensive targeted the positions of the attackers and killed 37 militants, he said.

The sources claimed that militants have kidnapped 13 security personnel during the pre-dawn attack, but the DG ISPR has denied kidnapping of the security men.

In a separate incident in North Waziristan, two security personnel were killed and six others were injured when miscreants fired rockets at FC camp in Razmak, the military spokesman Athar Abbas further said.

According to eyewitnesses power and telephone systems were also affected in rocket attacks in Razmak.

 

[Spring Onion]

Wed Jan 23, 7:13 AM ET
Pakistani forces pound militant hideouts: military


WANA, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistani troops hammered militant hideouts and reinforced outposts in a tribal area where days of clashes have left more than 20 troops and 100 rebels dead, the army said.

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There were no immediate details about casualties in the latest fighting in South Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan, the hideout of a rebel commander accused of masterminding the killing of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

In the neighouring tribal zone of North Waziristan one soldier was killed and two wounded when Islamist fighters fired rockets at a paramilitary fort.

"Troops are engaging miscreants and attacking their hideouts," chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.

"We are reinforcing the (military) posts in South Waziristan because of the continued attacks from miscreants."

He said additional troops had been sent out to secure the posts which had come under repeated attack from militants.

Troops exchanged fire again on Wednesday with militants at Ladha fort in South Waziristan, a day after clashes there left five soldiers and nearly 40 militants dead.

Islamic militants last week briefly seized control of a paramilitary fort and were repulsed when they tried to capture another in the troubled district.

The troubles have spread to North Waziristan in recent days.

Two soldiers were killed there on Tuesday in an attack on a security post at Razmak and militants attacked again in the early hours of Wednesday.

"One security forces personnel embraced shahadat (martyrdom) and two others were injured. Security forces retaliated with artillery and mortar fire," the statement said.

Fighting between security forces and militants in the rugged tribal belt along the Afghan frontier has escalated since last month's assassination of former premier Bhutto.

Pakistan and the US Central Intelligence Agency have blamed the killing on Baitullah Mehsud, an allegedly Al-Qaeda-linked tribal warlord who is based in South Waziristan's rugged mountains.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Troops advance with tanks for major assault: Clashes continue in S. Waziristan
​

By Our Correspondent


WANA, Jan 23: The army sent reinforcements, for the first time with tanks, to the troubled South Waziristan tribal region on Wednesday after clashes between security forces and militants intensified in the Mehsud area.

Official sources and local people said that the infantry, backed by tanks and heavy artillery, were seen heading towards the Spinkai Raghzai fort from a base in the adjoining Frontier Region of Jandola. Infantry units comprising 600 troops reached Spinkai Raghzai from Jandola amid fierce clashes.

“For the first time the movement of battle tanks has been seen in the area,” a security official said.

The sources said the troops had launched an operation in three areas — Makin, Spinkai Raghzai and Tiarza — inhabited by Mehsud tribesmen. They have been pounding militants’ hideouts with heavy and light artillery since Tuesday night while helicopter gunships were also seen flying over the area.

Loud explosions caused by artillery, rockets and missile attacks rocked the area. Two soldiers and four militants were killed in a gun-battle while nine security personnel suffered injuries. Security forces arrested five wounded militants in the Razmak area of the adjoining North Waziristan region.

Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that checkpoints and camps were being reinforced in the troubled region. It said that troops were targeting a stronghold of militants in Razmak and their hideouts in Tiarza. However, the official statement did not mention the movement of tanks in the area.

The statement said that two personnel were wounded in an explosion in Ghathundai and a convoy also came under fire near Jandola. No loss of life or damage to property was reported, according to the ISPR.

But unconfirmed reports said that five soldiers had been injured in the ambush and four of them were taken to a military hospital in Dera Ismail Khan.

One soldier was killed and two others were wounded when militants attacked forces in the Nawaz Kot area of North Waziristan.

As clashes intensified, militants’ spokesman Maulvi Umar told Dawn that the conflict could expand to other areas of Waziristan if the government did not halt the operation.

“We are ready to fight and will attack army anywhere in Waziristan.”

He claimed that security forces would not be able to what he called subjugate the tribal region and they would be forced to withdraw.

Meanwhile, pro-government commander Maulvi Nazir has invited the people displaced from the Mehsud area to come to the Ahmadzai Wazir.

“We welcome the displaced Mehsuds if they live peacefully in our area,” Maulvi Nazir said.

The pro-government commander, who is a staunch opponent of Uzbek militants, had asked the Mehsud tribesmen to leave the areas dominated by the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe after his offices were attacked early this month.

Meanwhile, on a call given by elders of the Mehsud tribe, a strike was observed in Tank and Jandola on Wednesday against the military operation. Bazaars and markets remained closed and processions were taken out.

A 35-member committee comprising Mehsud elders was set up to contact Pukhtoon nationalist and religious parties in the NWFP and Balochistan to get the army operation stopped in Waziristan.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) has given a call for a protest day in Tank on Friday against the operation.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s younger brother Attaur Rehman visited Tank on Wednesday and expressed sympathy with the tribesmen.

Our Correspondent adds from Miramshah: Militants attacked the base of Shawal Rifles in the Razmak area of North Waziristan on Wednesday.

Sources said the first attack, carried out at about 3am on Tuesday, left one soldier dead and two wounded. In another attack, two soldiers were killed and four others were wounded.

AGENCIES ADD: Reinforcements are heading to the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border where government forces are trying to wipe out strongholds of a militant accused of killing opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

The announcement on reinforcements came a day after a top US commander met Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani, and after a week of militant attacks on paramilitary bases in the region and military counter-attacks.

“In the past one week there was an escalation in attacks by the militants ... therefore it was felt necessary to reinforce these forts,” military spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas said on Wednesday, referring to remote paramilitary bases.

He denied the military had launched an offensive against Mehsud and his men but said government forces wanted to clear out his hideouts once and for all.

“There is no offensive in the region but there are strongholds and hideouts of the militants and they are being engaged so they are knocked out of the area on a permanent basis,” he said.
Troops advance with tanks for major assault: Clashes continue in S. Waziristan -DAWN - Top Stories; January 24, 2008

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This seems a bigger assault than that in Swat, and I must say that I was taken by surprise, though I have had a sneaking suspicion something was up ever since the CIA declared that it believed B Mehsud was responsible for BB's assassination, among other things. That followed closely on the heels of the fort takeover by the militants and the strong and almost immediate military response. And now the visit of the CENTCOM Commander Fallon. And what of the 3000 marines being sent to Afghanistan? A possible reinforcement on the Afghan side to prevent Taliban leadership from escaping into Afghanistan?

It is also interesting to note that at the same time that the PA is stepping up ops in S Waziristan, and consolidating its control in Swat, a "shariah" proposal is in the works for Swat, allegedly through talks with the TNSM leadership:

Government links Sufi’s release to new Shariah law in Swat​

* Talks with TNSM continue
* Nizam-e-Adl to repeal jurisdiction of courts in Malakand

By Akhtar Amin

PESHAWAR: The government has said it would release Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) Chief Sufi Muhammad after the implementation of its proposed Shar’i Nizam-e-Adl Regulation of 2008 in Malakand division. The proposed regulation is aimed at ending the unrest created by rebel cleric Fazlullah.

Talks between government and the leaders of the banned outfit have accelerated in the last two weeks, officials and TNSM leaders said. TNSM acting chief Muhammad Alam said TNSM leaders wanted their ailing leader released, while the government wanted to implement its proposed Shar’i Nizam-e-Adl Regulation.

The proposed new law will repeal the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and high courts in Malakand (including Swat district) to “speed up the justice delivery system in the aftermath of the unrest created by cleric Maulana Fazlullah”.

“TNSM will definitely accept the reforms under which Islamic laws are being imposed,” Alam said. A government official, seeking anonymity, told Daily Times that the government would soon announce the promulgation of the proposed regulation to “deal with the Swat crises politically”. The government would announce several important decisions regarding Swat, he said, including the release of the TNSM chief. He said that a committee formed by the government had recommended that “the Supreme Court and high courts Extension of Jurisdiction to Tribal Areas Act, 1973 (Act XVII of 1973) be repealed and the Federal Shariah Court have an exclusive jurisdiction there.”

I am not comfortable with this idea, especially in the long run. However the rationale behind introducing it at this point would be to offer the militants and their supporters a "carrot" of sorts and a way out other than blowing themselves up. Surrender, and the GoP is willing to consider implementing a form of "Shariah". It offers the ideologically driven militants some manner of victory, in the sense that they do not have to consider themselves betraying their faith by giving up.

If the Shariah system can be coupled with disarmament and renunciation of violence, the benefits from the reduction in violence and increase in stability (nation wide) would definitely be worth it - IF, and a big if it is, the Federal Shariah Court (which has restrained itself from getting into the business of correlating "Islamic Law" with obscurantist and bankrupt thought) can have final jurisdiction over this "Islamic Court System", it would be able to hold at bay the more backward, intolerant and discriminatory interpretations of the Taliban school of thought. It may in fact set the precedent for a central authority on Islamic Jurisprudence, a void that has been associated with the inability of mainstream Muslim scholars to reign in the radical fringe.

If however the local Qazis get to retain the majority of the power, then it wont be long before we return to this state of affairs.

So, I would support this if:

1. The implementation is associated with a renunciation of violence.
2. Disarmament
3. Acceptance of the Federal Shariah Court as the final authority on Islamic Law in the areas where this is implemented.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Pakistan kills 40 militants, apprehends 30 more near Afghan border: ​

military ISLAMABAD, Jan 24 (AP/Reuters): Pakistani troops backed by artillery and helicopters attacked militant hideouts in tribal regions near the Afghan border, killing 40 rebels and arresting 30 others, the military said Thursday. Pakistani forces have cleared militant strongholds from three parts of South Waziristan on the Afghan border and 40 militants and eight soldiers were killed in fighting, the military said. “Forty miscreants have been killed in the last 24 hours and 30 miscreants apprehended while many are injured,” the military said in a statement. Eight soldiers were killed and 32 wounded, it said. The militants were killed in raids Wednesday and early Thursday in South Waziristan, the army said in a brief statement. (Posted @ 09:30 PST)

Update to the "operation" posted above.



COAS General Kayani visiting soldiers in Swat.

 

[xtive]

DARRA ADAMKHEL: Some 34 militants have been killed in Darra Adamkhel in security forces operation against militants who hijacked four civilian trucks carrying supplies and ammunition.

Heavy shelling has been taking place with artillery and gunship helicopters while militants claim to have taken control of Zarghoonkhel checkpost.

The entire area has been cordoned off as the situation remains tense. Earlier, 6 hired civilian trucks were on the Indus Highway when they were attacked by militants and four of them were hijacked and driven away to an unknown destination.

After the failure of negotiations by the political administration, the army is reported to be heading towards the village of Akhurwal -- where they suspect two of the stolen ammunition trucks were unloaded.

The ISPR says that this assault is aimed at recovering the trucks and clearing the area of militants.

 

[MOSABJA]

The situation isvery serious because now TALIBAN ARE UNITED.Operation in south waziristan has caused disturbances as far as BAJAUR MOHAMMAND and AURAKZAI AGENCY DARRA ADAM KHEL(which was the only agenc where troops werent deployed).Kurram and Khybe are already in grip of sectarian clashes.

What government should do

1) enforce shariah in the region because in shariah it is not possible for any one to rebel against the ruler who enforces it .In Islam it is forbidden.So if gov enforces shariah then the militants woulld have to go for peace if not then they would be exposed.There would even be a disagreement aomng the militants because in Islam the obediance of the ruler who enforces shariah is MUST.So ordinary people would like to settle with gov.

2) stop the operation carried out on the behest of US.Make peace.

3) the americans and the NATO are the REAL ENEMY.

4) Make peace with the real taliban and CRUSH THE ROGUE JIHADIS LIKE FAZLULLAH WHO DARED TO TAKE OUT PAKISTANI FLAG.

If these things are not done after the elections then the morale of army would further get down because HONESTLY the soldiers dont want to fight against their own brothers.My own relative had refused to fight in Waziristan.

 

[Proud to be Pakistani]

The situation isvery serious because now TALIBAN ARE UNITED.Operation in south waziristan has caused disturbances as far as BAJAUR MOHAMMAND and AURAKZAI AGENCY DARRA ADAM KHEL(which was the only agenc where troops werent deployed).Kurram and Khybe are already in grip of sectarian clashes.

What government should do

1) enforce shariah in the region because in shariah it is not possible for any one to rebel against the ruler who enforces it .In Islam it is forbidden.So if gov enforces shariah then the militants woulld have to go for peace if not then they would be exposed.There would even be a disagreement aomng the militants because in Islam the obediance of the ruler who enforces shariah is MUST.So ordinary people would like to settle with gov.

2) stop the operation carried out on the behest of US.Make peace.

3) the americans and the NATO are the REAL ENEMY.

4) Make peace with the real taliban and CRUSH THE ROGUE JIHADIS LIKE FAZLULLAH WHO DARED TO TAKE OUT PAKISTANI FLAG.

If these things are not done after the elections then the morale of army would further get down because HONESTLY the soldiers dont want to fight against their own brothers.My own relative had refused to fight in Waziristan.

I donot disagree with you but in my opinion GoP should also show the FATA region that the Government is incharge and should maintain that all should follow the rule of GoP.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Taliban seize Nato supplies in Pakistan​

By Isambard Wilkinson in Tank, Pakistan
Last Updated: 3:38am GMT 25/01/2008

The suspected mastermind behind Benazir Bhutto's assassination has stolen sophisticated Nato equipment by raiding the alliance's supply lines running through Pakistani territory.

Baitullah Mehsud, the Taliban commander who American officials hold responsible for Miss Bhutto's death, has emerged as a threat to the flow of supplies for British and American forces fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Mehsud's increasing prominence shows how Pakistan under President Pervez Musharraf is steadily falling under the sway of Islamist militants.

Mr Musharraf, who is touring Europe, will speak in London today on "a vision for Pakistan and regional harmony". His critics believe, however, that turmoil in Pakistan is fuelling the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and helping to destabilise South Asia as a whole.

A senior government official, based near the frontier town of Tank, told The Daily Telegraph that Mehsud's men regularly ambushed container lorries carrying hardware bound for Nato forces in Afghanistan.

Their latest target was a supply convoy outside the town of Dera Ismail Khan on the Indus Highway, one of Pakistan's main arteries.

"They managed to single out the most important lorries, removed the drivers and then vanished the consignment lock stock and barrel," said the official.
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"Among the booty they discovered trucks carrying cargos of pristine 4x4 military vehicles, fitted with the most modern communications and listening technology," he added.

The official added that Mehsud's gunmen lacked the expertise to operate the equipment. So they enlisted the help of Uzbek and other foreign militants who are based in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas lining the north-west frontier.

Gen Athar Abbas, Pakistan's military spokesman, declined to comment on this incident. A Nato spokesman in Kabul did not rule out that material had been stolen in transit through Pakistan, but denied that any weapons or military equipment had been lost.

"This may hinge on what people's definition of 'equipment' is," he said. "I have been assured that no military equipment has been lost."

About 40 per cent of the supplies needed for Nato's 42,000 soldiers in Afghanistan pass through Pakistan. The vital supply routes follow the Indus valley from the port city of Karachi to the border town of Peshawar.

They enter Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass. Other border crossings from Pakistan's province of Baluchistan are also used.

Now we have conflicting versions of the event regarding the ownership of those supplies. The initial reports suggested that the trucks hijacked were PA, this report is claiming NATO. Regardless, I hope that if Arms were present on the truck they are recovered promptly.

 

[Spring Onion]

Now we have conflicting versions of the event regarding the ownership of those supplies. The initial reports suggested that the trucks hijacked were PA, this report is claiming NATO. Regardless, I hope that if Arms were present on the truck they are recovered promptly.

it said

This may hinge on what people's definition of 'equipment' is," he said. "I have been assured that no military equipment has been lost."

And one more thing Isnt it that sophisticated equipement are transported through air ????

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Jana,

The response from the Military has been quite rapid and forceful. Is this simply the new doctrine - that militant transgressions are not goign to be tolerated to any degree, or is it because the supplies were destined to NATO, or were there Arms on them?

Pakistani troops kill 30 militants in hunt for stolen trucks: army PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Jan 25 (AFP) - Pakistani troops battled militants during a search for several hijacked trucks full of ammunition on Friday, with up to 30 rebels and two soldiers killed, the army said. Helicopter gunships were also involved in the clashes in Dara Adam Khel tribal area, near the city of Peshawar, where the lorries were seized by militants a day earlier, officials and residents said. “Reportedly, 25-30 miscreants have been killed... Two Frontier Corps personnel embraced martyrdom and 10 others were injured,” an army statement added. Chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said skirmishes were continuing in the region including near a Japanese-built tunnel leading from Peshawar to the northwestern city of Kohat. Residents said gunship helicopters were pounding militant bunkers in the hills around the arms bazaar and the tunnel. The main road was also closed, they said. Separately, troops on Friday continued to comb mountains in the tribal region of South Waziristan around the hideout of warlord Baitullah Mehsud, officials said. “A house-to-house search operation is underway in the areas where the security forces have consolidated their positions,” military spokesman Abbas told AFP. More than 200 militants and 30 soldiers are said to have died during three weeks of fighting in South Waziristan.(Posted @ 17:16 PST, Updated @ 18:51 PST)

 

[Spring Onion]

Jana,

The response from the Military has been quite rapid and forceful. Is this simply the new doctrine - that militant transgressions are not goign to be tolerated to any degree, or is it because the supplies were destined to NATO, or were there Arms on them?

well Agno to share more indepth info with you the operation was looming for last two days.

Plus there is also some more information to it. i can not share it on forum will share it with you on personal level.

Darra Adam Khel has been very peacful but since December there has been an organized activity the strings of which are somewhere else.
i will tell u .

Regards.

 

[bhangra12345]

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

Militants capture Kohat Tunnel

* Security forces continue advance, plan operation to recapture tunnel
* 20 militants killed
* Convoy escapes blast

By Manzoor Ali Shah

SPINA THANA: Military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said on Saturday that the Kohat Tunnel was “in the control of militants”.

Reports, however, said the tunnel – also known as the Pak-Japan Friendship Tunnel – was only “attacked and damaged” by militants. The extent of damage to the tunnel was, however, not clear. Security experts feared the Taliban could blow up the tunnel, and with the tunnel under their control, Peshawar is disconnected from southern districts and traffic is being diverted via Rawalpindi.

Operation planned: Abbas said security forces were “progressing” and operation for the control of the tunnel would be launched any time soon.


http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/images/2008/01/27/20080127_01.jpg

Can somebody give a backgrounder on this tunnel? How important/unimportant it is? its length and so on.

 

[Proud to be Pakistani]

1.9 km..

Joins Dara Adam Khel with Kohat ....
Just an alternate route to the Kohat Pass, situated between the cities of Peshawar and Kohat. Reduces the travel time, Not so much Important thou, but since its the smaller route mostly it is used.

 

[bhangra12345]

1.9 km..

Joins Dara Adam Khel with Kohat ....
Just an alternate route to the Kohat Pass, situated between the cities of Peshawar and Kohat. Reduces the travel time, Not so much Important thou, but since its the smaller route mostly it is used.

Thanks for the info,

http://www.blythe.org/afghan-maps/pakistan_pol96.jpg
if the above map of major road ways in Pakistan is correct and the comment about rerouting through rawalpindi is correct, then it seems to increase the travelling distance from about 75kms to an whopping 450 kms!!

no wonder this smaller route was used.