The Battle for Bajaur - PA seizes control

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Ahh .. found the report.

25 militants, seven troops killed in Bajaur​

Thursday, September 25, 2008
Two senior militant commanders injured; Lashkar razes houses of Taliban, supporters

By Mushtaq Yusufzai

PESHAWAR: Thirty-two people, including 25 suspected militants and seven Pakistan Army soldiers, were killed and several others injured in fierce fighting and bombing by jet fighters and gunship choppers in the restive Bajaur Agency on Wednesday.

The militants faced a major loss when their two senior commanders suffered serious injuries. A statement issued by the paramilitary Frontier Corps media cell in Peshawar said 25 militants were killed and several others injured in the daylong bombing by jet fighters, gunship helicopters and artillery shelling by the security forces on militants' strongholds.

Military officials said seven security personnel were killed in fierce clashes near Rashakai when the militants attacked a government school housed by the troops. "Soon after the clash between the militants and the security forces, gunship helicopters and jet fighters arrived and started pounding hideouts of militants," said a military official based in Khar, headquarters of Bajaur Agency.

The security forces also targeted suspected hideouts of militants in Loisam, Tang Khatta, Gang, Shanikot, Bhai Cheena and Kausar villages with heavy artillery and bombing by warplanes and strafing by gunship helicopters.

They said several positions and hideouts of militants were also destroyed in the daylong offensive of the security forces near Tang Khatta and Loisam where militants had reportedly dug caves. Military officials said the security forces later started search operation in pursuit of the militants in Tang Khatta, Rashakai and Khazana areas. However, no arrest was made in the reported search operation.

The officials said the troops destroyed several hideouts of militants and recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition during the operation. Sources within the militants said two senior Taliban commanders, including Qari Ziaur Rahman and Qari Ali Rahman, had been injured in clashes with the security forces.

Qari Ziaur Rahman, who is an Afghan Taliban commander and was earlier operating in Afghanistan's restive Nuristan and Kunar provinces against the US-led Nato forces, was reportedly injured in fierce clashes with the security forces near Rashakai.

Qari Wali Rahman, who is the head of the Jaishul Islam militant organisation based in Mamond and Charmang Tehsils and is close to Qari Ziaur Rahman, was seriously injured near Mamond when an artillery shell fell near him.

His spokesman Qari Saifullah told The News that Wali Rahman was critically injured after being hit by an artillery shell.He said Qari Wali had just stepped out of his car and was walking towards his position in Mamond when an artillery shell fell near him, causing serious injuries to him.

He has been kept at a private health facility run by the militants where, according to his spokesman, his condition was deteriorating. In a separate incident, two volunteers of the Salarzai tribal Lashkar died and seven others sustained serious injuries when an improvised explosive device ripped through the double-cabin pick-up they were driving.

An official of Bajaur Levies force confirmed the incident to The News and said personnel of the Levies force rushed to the spot and recovered the bodies and shifted the injured to the agency headquarters hospital in Khar.

The local tribesmen assumed the roadside bomb blast could be the handiwork of the militants to avenge the onslaught of the tribal Lashkar against them. Later, the Lashkar burnt 12 houses owned by militants and their supporters in Ghakhi village and vowed to continue the crackdown against militants in their area.

It is pertinent to mention here that Salarzai tribesmen have raised an armed Lashkar and have demolished several houses of militants and their supporters in the area. The tribal Lashkar has also arrested several militants and fined their cohorts in the area.

After the operation was expedited against the militants, the situation in Khar and adjoining areas was relatively peaceful, prompting the security forces to relax curfew from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. However, curfew remained imposed for the 19th consecutive day in other parts of troubled Bajaur Agency.

25 militants, seven troops killed in Bajaur

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Five top militants among 1,000 dead in Bajaur

​

Friday, 26 Sep, 2008 | 01:06 PM PKT |

Pakistani Taliban supporters in Damadola village in the northwestern Bajaur tribal district. – AFP (File Photo)
​

KHAR: Pakistani troops have killed more than 1,000 Al Qaeda and Taliban militants, including five top commanders, in a month-long offensive near the Afghan border, the military said on Friday.

Security forces also paraded ten blindfolded rebels, said to be Afghans, in front of journalists taken by helicopter to the troubled region of Bajaur, one of Pakistan's seven lawless tribal zones along the porous frontier.

‘The overall toll is over 1,000 militants,’ Tariq Khan, inspector general of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, told reporters at the force's fortress in Khar, the main town in Bajaur.

He said 27 soldiers were also killed and 111 wounded in the operation, launched in August in response to pressure on Pakistan's new government from the United States and other allies in the ‘war on terror.’

He said four of the dead militant commanders appeared to be foreigners: Egyptian Abu Saeed Al-Masri; Abu Suleiman, an Arab; an Uzbek commander named Mullah Mansoor; and an Afghan commander called Manaras.

The fifth was a Pakistani commander named only Abdullah, a son of ageing hardline leader Maulvi Faqir Mohammad who is based in Bajaur and has close ties to Al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The operation in Bajaur was likely to continue for up to six more weeks, Khan said.

‘This is a center of gravity for the militants,’ Khan added. ‘If they lose here they lose everything.’

The alleged Afghan militants shown to journalists were ‘captured in fighting,’ Khan said.

‘There are up to 2,000 fighters including hundreds of foreigners who are fighting with the security forces,’ he said.

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Five top militants among 1000 dead ss

 

[fatman17]

^^^this is the Battle for Pakistan II. the Ist was the PAF air-war in the 65 war.

 

[batmannow]

Five top militants among 1,000 dead in Bajaur

​

Friday, 26 Sep, 2008 | 01:06 PM PKT |

Pakistani Taliban supporters in Damadola village in the northwestern Bajaur tribal district. – AFP (File Photo)
​

KHAR: Pakistani troops have killed more than 1,000 Al Qaeda and Taliban militants, including five top commanders, in a month-long offensive near the Afghan border, the military said on Friday.

Security forces also paraded ten blindfolded rebels, said to be Afghans, in front of journalists taken by helicopter to the troubled region of Bajaur, one of Pakistan's seven lawless tribal zones along the porous frontier.

‘The overall toll is over 1,000 militants,’ Tariq Khan, inspector general of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, told reporters at the force's fortress in Khar, the main town in Bajaur.

He said 27 soldiers were also killed and 111 wounded in the operation, launched in August in response to pressure on Pakistan's new government from the United States and other allies in the ‘war on terror.’

He said four of the dead militant commanders appeared to be foreigners: Egyptian Abu Saeed Al-Masri; Abu Suleiman, an Arab; an Uzbek commander named Mullah Mansoor; and an Afghan commander called Manaras.

The fifth was a Pakistani commander named only Abdullah, a son of ageing hardline leader Maulvi Faqir Mohammad who is based in Bajaur and has close ties to Al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The operation in Bajaur was likely to continue for up to six more weeks, Khan said.

‘This is a center of gravity for the militants,’ Khan added. ‘If they lose here they lose everything.’

The alleged Afghan militants shown to journalists were ‘captured in fighting,’ Khan said.

‘There are up to 2,000 fighters including hundreds of foreigners who are fighting with the security forces,’ he said.

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Five top militants among 1000 dead ss

i guss, it is the total number since, the opreation had been started, but still they were resisting hardly, the area behind them still open, so it can be one of the reasons that, mission bajur isnt going to fast pace, as it was expected earlliar, the other big reason, could be !the bombing capabilty of PAF.
I guss, every one remember the TORABORA mission of USAF, i guss PAF surly lack that capabilty.
I, think its imposible to close , all the openings, & all the exit points from bajur area therefore, the SS bombings cant be stopped even after the bajur mission?

 

[DarkStar]

To believe in these figures for militants killed would be absolutely ludicrous!!

If as they say that 1000 of 3000 militants have been killed, and I bet at least have as many would have been wounded (although often the number of wounded exceeds the number killed in combat), then that would be half the force decimated!!
If such a great rout had taken place, the rest of the militants could not have remained entrenched. As we know from past experience, Taliban is quick to mobilise and change into a guerrilla strategy when threatened with overwhelming firepower.

These 1000 killed should be seen as more of a polical statement. Something to increase our "blessings" - the words Zardari himself used yesterday.
Since the border firefight incident left a bitter taste in the mouth, this was some " good news" engineerd to keep our American Allies happy. Something for their media to get their teeth into.

If we went by the claims of militants killed by both America and Pakistan over the past few years, we wouldn't be blamed for thinking the Pashtun race is near extinction. More militants have been "killed" than perhaps there ever were to start with.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

To believe in these figures for militants killed would be absolutely ludicrous!!

If as they say that 1000 of 3000 militants have been killed, and I bet at least have as many would have been wounded (although often the number of wounded exceeds the number killed in combat), then that would be half the force decimated!!
If such a great rout had taken place, the rest of the militants could not have remained entrenched. As we know from past experience, Taliban is quick to mobilise and change into a guerrilla strategy when threatened with overwhelming firepower.

These 1000 killed should be seen as more of a polical statement. Something to increase our "blessings" - the words Zardari himself used yesterday.
Since the border firefight incident left a bitter taste in the mouth, this was some " good news" engineerd to keep our American Allies happy. Something for their media to get their teeth into.

If we went by the claims of militants killed by both America and Pakistan over the past few years, we wouldn't be blamed for thinking the Pashtun race is near extinction. More militants have been "killed" than perhaps there ever were to start with.

The numbers match up with the casualties that have been reported in the media on an almost daily basis, if you have been keeping track.

Where I doubt the government statements is on the total number of militants suspected to be in the region. Three thousand may have been the original number, but as numerous reports have indicated, those numbers have been bolstered by militants from other parts of FATA and Afghanistan, including the Afghan Taliban commander Qari Ziaur Rehman.

I think this tendencey to dismiss everything as some sort of a 'conspiracy' is extremely unhelpful. I have no issues with a factual rebuttal of the numbers provided, and I have outlined my arguments on why I believe the numbers to be correct.

 

[fatman17]

^^^total strength of all militant groups is between 10,000 & 18,000. this has been thwe highest quoted figure i have read/seen. so u see a lot of work still needs to be done.

 

[batmannow]

News Analysis
Battle of Bajaur: A Critical Test for Pakistan’s Daunted Military

NYTimes.com

By ISMAIL KHAN and CARLOTTA GALL
Published: September 22, 2008
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A full-scale battle in a remote corner of Pakistan is shaping up to be a critical test of the military’s determination to combat the country’s militants, military and intelligence officials say.

The campaign, in the tribal area of Bajaur, has taken on new seriousness with the Marriott Hotel bombing in the capital, Islamabad, this weekend, which killed 53 people in one of the most devastating terrorist attacks in the country’s history.

Some officials here see the Marriott bombing as, in effect, an extension of the battle in Bajaur, a strike by the militants deep into the heart of Pakistan and one meant at least in part to deter the government from pressing the campaign further.

“Bajaur is a litmus test,” said one military official, who like several other security and military officials interviewed asked not to be identified because of the political nature of his remarks. “It is very, very important. Its success or failure could decide the fate of other tribal areas.”

After Waziristan, Bajaur is perhaps the most significant stronghold of militants from the Taliban and Al Qaeda who have entrenched themselves in the tribal areas, officials say.

The Bajaur operation began haltingly in August and was aimed at forestalling what looked like the imminent fall of the government’s regional headquarters in Khaar. The fight is now going full throttle, said several senior security and government officials, and includes the use of tanks and fighter planes by the Pakistani Army.

The militants are using everything they have to hold their ground, the officials said, adding that they have been surprised by the militants’ resistance and the sophistication of their tactics, weapons and communications systems.
“They have good weaponry and a better communication system” than the Pakistani military, said one senior official.
“Even the sniper rifles they use are better than some of ours,” the official said. “Their tactics are mind-boggling and they have defenses that would take us days to build. It does not look as though we are fighting a ragtag militia. They are fighting like an organized force.”
One measure of the importance of the battle to the militants is that Bajaur has now become a magnet for militants who are flocking to the area from other tribal regions and even from across the border, in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar Province, to reinforce their comrades.

The influx has swelled the ranks of the foreign militants in Bajaur, who were previously thought to be few, catching many veterans of the civil-military establishment by surprise.
As the standoff and its significance have grown, the army has staked more of its resources and reputation on the outcome.

Past battles have left the Pakistani military bruised and wary of engaging the militants frontally. The army has lost hundreds of soldiers in the tribal areas since the American military drove the Taliban and Al Qaeda over the border from Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002.
Those losses and public opposition to civilian casualties have sapped the government’s appetite for a big military campaign. Instead, the tendency has been to fight to a draw and then sue for peace, which the government and military have done through peace deals that critics say have left the militants stronger.

Now, government and security officials say they are determined to take the battle in Bajaur to what they call “its logical conclusion,” meaning a defeat for the militants on the battlefield.
Whether they follow through on that commitment remains to be seen. Bush administration officials have grown increasingly skeptical this year of the Pakistani military’s willingness to fight the militants.

The stated determination of Pakistani officials about the Bajaur campaign comes as Washington has pushed them to take bolder steps against the militants, and as the United States has carried out repeated strikes in Pakistan, inflaming Pakistani sensitivities over violations of sovereignty.
The Pakistani military, which has threatened to shoot at intruding American forces, seems increasingly eager now to show that it can handle the militants in the tribal areas on its own.

“I don’t think the military will pull back,” the military official said. “Our aims and objectives are very clear. We are going to uproot militants from this place, which is a major training ground and sanctuary for foreign militants.”

“If we hit them there and uproot them from there, we will prove our point that ours is the most effective strategy, instead of hitting a compound in Waziristan and here and there,” he added, referring to recent American strikes.

For now the Bajaur fighting appears to have disrupted or diverted the flow of Taliban fighters crossing into Afghanistan’s Kunar Province, where, Western diplomats say, violence has dropped appreciably since the operation began.

Last week, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters during a visit to the Afghan capital, Kabul, that the United States was “encouraged” by the Bajaur operation. Pakistani political leaders appeared to be showing “a change in their approach” toward combating the militants, one Pakistani official said. “They seem serious,” he said.

A critical turning point seemed to arrive at a meeting in July between the leaders of the governing coalition and the chief of army staff, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, officials said. There, the general was given the full confidence of the government to tackle the problem of militants when and how he chose, they said.

The buildup of American pressure, in particular President Bush’s authorization in July for unilateral United States operations in Pakistan’s tribal areas, combined with the support of the government, has made it possible for General Kayani to move more decisively, the officials said.

As such, the Bajaur operation has taken on vital importance for the military, not only for what it means for the fight against the insurgency but also for restoring the military’s credibility at home and abroad.
Failure, or an abandonment of the operation midway through it, could be disastrous, they warned.

“Such a situation would not only embolden the militants,” said one official. “It would give the cynics in Washington and Kabul an excuse to point to Pakistan’s lack of ability and political will to fight this war.”


Ismail Khan reported from Peshawar, and Carlotta Gall from Islamabad, Pakistan.

 

[metalfalcon]

The militants are using everything they have to hold their ground, the officials said, adding that they have been surprised by the militants’ resistance and the sophistication of their tactics, weapons and communications systems.
“They have good weaponry and a better communication system” than the Pakistani military, said one senior official.
“Even the sniper rifles they use are better than some of ours,” the official said. “Their tactics are mind-boggling and they have defenses that would take us days to build. It does not look as though we are fighting a ragtag militia. They are fighting like an organized force.”

From where they are getting these advanced communication devices and state of the art sniper riffles .

And if they are fighting like a organized force who is teaching them all these tactics and from where they are getting their orders

 

[metalfalcon]

For now the Bajaur fighting appears to have disrupted or diverted the flow of Taliban fighters crossing into Afghanistan’s Kunar Province, where, Western diplomats say, violence has dropped appreciably since the operation began.

After this operation many Taliban came to BAJAUR but American and Afghans didn't stopped them from crossing the border because they don't want any " PAIN IN THE BUTT " They want Pakistani forces to Deal with them. Thats what their co operation is all about.

 

[metalfalcon]

one Pakistani official said. “They seem serious,” he said.

What is this.. Were we playing jokes with the Taliban before ?

 

[metalfalcon]

“Such a situation would not only embolden the militants,” said one official. “It would give the cynics in Washington and Kabul an excuse to point to Pakistan’s lack of ability and political will to fight this war.”

Is this our WAR first of all ?

Washington and Kabul and even Delhi has many LAMB EXCUSES to point to Pakistan for their FAILURES in dealing with the Problems in their own home

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Already posted guys - please check existing threads before opening new ones.

Threads merged

 

[dr.umer]

Militants pouring in from Afghanistan: Pakistan​

Mon Sep 29, 2008

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Militants battling Pakistani forces are getting weapons and reinforcements from Afghanistan, security officials said on Monday, vowing no let-up in their offensive in the northwest.

Government forces launched an offensive in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border in August after years of complaints from U.S. and Afghan officials that Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan were getting help from Pakistani border areas such as Bajaur.

Now the tables have turned and the militants locked in heavy fighting with Pakistani forces are getting help from the Afghan side of the border, officials said.

"The Pakistan-Afghan border is porous and is now causing trouble for us in Bajaur," a senior security source in the military told a news briefing.

"Now movement is taking place to Pakistan from Afghanistan," said the official, who along with a colleague at the briefing, declined to be identified.

The officials did not blame the Afghan government for sending militants across the border but called on Kabul and U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan forces to stop the flow.

Bajaur is the smallest of Pakistan's seven so-called tribal agencies, semi-autonomous ethnic Pashtun tribal regions.

U.S. officials say Taliban and al Qaeda-linked fighters, financed by drug money, use the tribal regions as an operating base to launch attacks into Afghanistan.

Pakistan has been under pressure from the United States to block cross-border militant incursions into Afghanistan.

But in a sign of growing frustration with Pakistan's efforts to stem the flow, U.S. forces have carried out six cross-border missile strikes by pilotless drones and a commando raid on a border village this month.

The Pakistani offensive had made Bajaur a "centre of gravity" and "magnet", and even though up to 1,000 had been killed, the region was drawing militants from as far as Central Asia via Afghanistan, the officials said.

"Stop the reverse flow in Bajaur. It's coming. Heavy weapons are coming. The militants are coming," a second Pakistani official said.

In the latest fighting, jets hit militant hideouts after the Taliban announced a ceasefire for the Muslim festival of Eid-al-Fitr, killing 10 militants, a paramilitary officer said.

REFUGEES IN AFGHANISTAN

The fighting has displaced several hundred thousand people and about 20,000 had sought refuge across the border in Afghanistan, the United Nations said

Security forces launched the offensive in Bajaur after a year of deteriorating security with militants carrying out 88 suicide attacks across the country since July last year in which nearly 1,200 people were killed. A suicide truck bomber attacked a hotel in capital Islamabad on Sept. 20 killing 55 people.

Worsening security has coincided with a widening current account deficit, an unsustainable fiscal deficit and inflation running at more than 25 percent.

An economist serving on the prime minister's economic advisory council said on Monday Pakistan needed a capital infusion of $3 billion to $4 billion "up front" to stabilise its economy and bolster rapidly dwindling foreign reserves.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan's support is crucial for the U.S. war against terrorism and for the NATO mission in Afghanistan.

The security officials said they were not sure if any top al Qaeda member was in Bajaur. Pakistani intelligence officers have said al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al Zawahri was believed to have visited in recent years. In 2006, a U.S. drone fired missiles at a house in Bajaur in the belief he was there.

The officials said tribesmen there were raising a militia to expel foreign militants from the Mamund district even though some Arabs linked to al Qaeda had family links with the valley.

"The Mamund valley is likely to erupt, in our view, in about 48 to 72 hours," one of the officials said.

The officials said could not say how long the offensive would last but said it should be followed with reconciliation efforts and aid. (Editing by Robert Birsel and Valerie Lee) (For related story see AFGHAN-PAKISTAN/REFUGEES)

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Atleast they are speaking now, finally.

 

[araz]

Militants pouring in from Afghanistan: Pakistan​

Mon Sep 29, 2008


U]---------------------------------------------------------

Atleast they are speaking now, finally.

I have been saying this for a long time that the only tangible solution to the problem s mining and fencing the border and allowing traffic through control points only. Because it is not entirelty PA s problem, the cost and the maintenance of these posts should be PA as well as ISAF.NATO should bear the cost of this effort. Once this is done Pakistan can go on an allout offensive and say that we have done our bit for the WOT, now you guys move off your ***** and sort the mess out in Afghhanistan.
This should be followed by a relative clearout of all Afghanis and foreign nationals, setting up of industrial zones and provision of work and education and health to the local populace that agrees to the terms of the peace accord and give up heavy arms.
Araz