The Battle for Bajaur - PA seizes control

[Windjammer]

 

[nightrider_saulat]

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!​

​

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

Tuesday, 02 March 2010
Rabi-ul-Awwal 15, 1431

Key Taliban Complex Captured in Bajaur​

DAMADOLA: Pakistan Army said Tuesday it had captured a key Taliban and Al-Qaeda complex dug into rocky mountains close to the Afghan border after killing 75 local and foreign militants.

Commanders gave journalists a guided tour of the bastion, which one general said numbered 156 caves developed over five to seven years, and carved into sheer rock within clear view of the snow-capped peaks in eastern Afghanistan.

The visit follows Pakistan's latest offensive against militants in its semi-autonomous tribal lands, to eliminate Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked groups who attack Western troops in Afghanistan.

Major General Tariq Khan accompanied journalists to the warren of caves in the area of Damadola that he said served as a key militant headquarters until troops overran the complex in an offensive launched in January.

“There were Egyptians, Uzbeks, Chechens and Afghans killed in the operation,” he told reporters.

Journalists saw bedding such as pillows and mattresses, which suggested inhabitants had camped out for significant periods.

“The first Pakistan Army uniformed soldiers have arrived in Damadola after a recent operation and the Pakistan flag has been raised for the first time since (independence in) 1947,” said Khan.

Damadola, in the Bajaur tribal region, was the scene of a 2006 US drone strike that targeted Al-Qaeda number two Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who managed to escape.

Khan described Damadola as strategically important, linked to Afghanistan, Pakistan's northern district of Chitral, the main highway to China and to northwestern valley Swat, which has been troubled by Taliban insurgency.

“Al-Qaeda was there. They had occupied the ridges. There were 156 caves designed as a defensive complex,” Khan told reporters.

The commander likened the area in 2008 to an independent state run by an Afghan warrior he identified as Qazi Ziaur Rehman, who was in charge of administration and collected tithes from local people.

Maulavi Faqir Mohammad, who headed Pakistan's umbrella Tehreek-e-Taliban faction in Bajaur, received help from neighbouring Afghan province Kunar but was now on the run, the military said.

“We will deal with him,” Khan said.

“We have now cleared this area till the Afghan border, military operation is in its final stages and policing has been started,” he added.

The army first mounted an operation in Bajaur in August 2008 and claimed victory in February last year, only for violence to return when their focus switched to Pakistani Taliban fighters in Swat and South Waziristan.

“Then this surrendered valley again turned into militant safe haven, we then came back and cleared the area,” said Khan.

Damadola covers four to six square kilometres (1.5 to two square miles) and lies 20 kilometres from the Afghan border, Colonel Noman Saeed told AFP.

He said the latest offensive killed 75 militants, arrested 76 and forced 364 to surrender. Death tolls are impossible to confirm independently.

Overall, 2,200 militants have been killed or wounded in Bajaur since 2008, Saeed said, putting the army death toll at 149.

“Now their leadership does not exist. Twenty-five per cent of them have gone to Afghanistan, 15 per cent have gone back to Swat and other native areas,” Khan claimed.

The general appealed to the international community to help the Army assist the local people with food and services in a bid to keep the Taliban at bay.

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Key Taliban complex captured in Bajaur

 

[SSGPA1]

Great stufff! What is next? Reconstruction and public works.

Many lives were lost but in the end PA has established the writ of GoP!!

May Allah accept our martyrs, this victory was not possible without their sacrifices.

 

[SSGPA1]

Well, in that case its great.Why many a time & not all the time?

However,thats not how it appears form the statement of Maj Gen Tariq Khan in post #2.

The news clip at post # 13 says Govt control has been established in that region after 15 yrs.

Glad you saw the clip, there were Pakistani flags all over the homes and shops so in general Pakistani flag is always there.

I hope that will end your curiousty

There were Talibans and drug lords in and out of that region in the last few yrs and plus our media likes to add masala so end result is a report which claims that for the last 15 yrs there was no control of the GoP.

 

[Hammy007]

please seal/mine the border completely now as soon as possible and heavily guard the border. no taliban, RAW or CIA/ americans should take any further advantage now.

 

[ajpirzada]

Pakistani army wraps up combat operations in Bajur
By YOUSAF AWAN (AP) – 3 hours ago
DAMADOLA, Pakistan — Pakistan's army said Tuesday that it has wrapped up military operations in a former Taliban and al-Qaida stronghold in northwestern Pakistan that it declared free of militants a year ago only to see violence continue.
The second declaration of victory in the Bajur tribal region along the Afghan border showed the difficulty of fully pacifying the country's volatile northwest, even with the deployment of thousands of troops.
Maj. Gen. Tariq Khan, commander of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, said the latest offensive launched in late January meant that militants in Bajur were no longer able to cross over into Afghanistan to join the fight against U.S. and NATO forces and would find it more difficult to stage attacks inside Pakistan.
"We think the Bajur operations have now more or less ended as dedicated military operations. We will switch our posture to policing operations," Khan told reporters in Bajur's Damadola area, a key Taliban and al-Qaida base that the army seized at the beginning of February.
The army took reporters on a tour of the extensive cave complex in Damadola, which Khan said militants used as a refuge. He displayed a large number of rockets, mines, rifles and other weapons that troops seized in the latest offensive launched in late January.
The paramilitary commander made a similar declaration of victory last February, saying the insurgency in Bajur had been "dismantled."
But the key area of Damadola was never invaded during the initial six-month operation launched in late 2008 because the dominant tribe in the area had promised to expel the militants. The tribe failed, but Khan said the army had to wait to launch a new offensive until it wrapped up a massive operation in the South Waziristan tribal region.
Major combat operations ended in South Waziristan late last year, but analysts believe many of the militants simply fled the area before the fighting began — a danger Khan said exists in Bajur as well. He estimated that up to 25 percent of the militants had fled to Afghanistan, and another 15 percent to other areas in Pakistan.
Khan also said that military success alone would not extinguish militancy in Pakistan's tribal region, an area that has suffered from a lack of development and effective governance for decades.
The U.S. has also urged Pakistan to step up its development efforts in the country's northwest and has allocated $7.5 billion in nonmilitary aid to the government over the next five years.
Washington has also urged Pakistan to target militants launching cross-border attacks against U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. But the Pakistani government has expressed reluctance, saying it has its hands full fighting militants waging war against the state. In response, President Barack Obama has increased the number of drone missile strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas.
The Pakistani Taliban confirmed Tuesday that a senior commander wanted in the deadly 2006 bombing of the U.S. consulate in Karachi was killed in a suspected American missile strike last week in the North Waziristan tribal area.
Mohammed Qari Zafar's death, which was reported earlier by Pakistani intelligence officials, marks the latest success from Washington's covert CIA-run drone program in Pakistan. The unmanned aircraft have carried out more than 100 missile strikes near the Afghan border since 2004, killing several senior Taliban and al-Qaida leaders.
Associated Press writer Sebastian Abbot contributed to this report from Islamabad.

The Associated Press: Pakistani army wraps up combat operations in Bajur

 

[ajpirzada]

link to these pics was provided by The Patriot in another thread. i hope he wont mind me postin it here.

?BBC Urdu? - ????????? - ???? ?????? ???? ?? ?????

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

something very artistic and attractive/mysterious about this photo


almost like a moment of serenity and tranquility, despite the fact that these soldiers are on edge and working very very hard to stabilize the situation

such fantastic scenery

 

[ajpirzada]

^^very well pointed. your sense to appreciate scenery is still intact in this mist of victory

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

Inshallah, these areas will regain their glory....and tourists will be coming in to enjoy the unique landscape and scenery there. So much potential.

For now, lets stay united and get this task done, for our own country's sake. Enemy(s) will always be out there, we must outmaneuver them.

 

[Solomon2]

The news that the P.A. has occupied Damadola - complete with pictures - is spreading through the news wires now. This is great stuff, I hope that this time the P.A. will give Western reporters tours and make Damadola a permanent base for themselves with the Pakistani flag flying high on top, just to rub in their defeat to surviving Taliban and Al Qaeda.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Congratulations to the Pakistani Army!

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Maulvi Fakir is dead , i heard the media reports claiming it ..!

 

[Awesome]

Thats great news.

How come Egypt, Uzbekistan and Chechnya are not involved into the hunt for these terrorists given that its THEIR nationals always caught fighting Pakistan Army along side our own.

Maybe Zawahiri is in touch with someone in Egypt. Use that to track him down if hes in Pakistan or Afghanistan.