Green Energy
Cross-posted @ THE GENERATION Y CONSERVATIVE BLOG
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Minister says Pakistan will not hand captured Taliban leaders to United States ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan will not turn over the Afghan Taliban's No. 2 leader and two other high-value militants captured this month to the United States, but may...
- Attack On Volleyball Tournament In Pakistan
MSNBC: Deaths in volleyball tournament bombing at 88 Man drove SUV onto field; police fear second vehicle might have explosives PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A suicide bomber blew himself up in an SUV at an outdoor volleyball tournament in northwest Pakistan on...
- Pakistan Taliban Say Fighters Going To Afghanistan
Newsmax: Pakistan Taliban Say Fighters Going to Afghanistan Wednesday, 23 Dec 2009 07:29 AM By: ISHTIAQ MAHSUD A top Pakistani Taliban commander says he has sent thousands of fighters to neighboring Afghanistan to rebuff incoming U.S. troops, a claim...
- Scores Die In ‘full-scale’ Pakistan Offensive
MSNBC: Scores die in ‘full-scale’ Pakistan offensive Army claims 143 militants killed in 24 hours; U.N. says one million displaced msnbc.com news services MINGORA, Pakistan - Pakistani jets screamed over a Taliban-controlled town Friday and bombed...
- Pakistan Hampers U.s. Hunt For Bin Laden In Border Region With Afghanistan / Suicides In Russki Nuke City?
From Gertz - SUB REQ Excerpted Pakistan’s government is limiting U.S. military and intelligence forces from pursuing Al Qaida terrorists on Pakistani territory, according to U.S. officials. The restrictions have curbed operations aimed at locating and...
Green Energy
Pakistani troops capture militant stronghold
LOI SAM, Pakistan (AP) - A two-month offensive by Pakistani forces has driven militants from a stronghold through which Taliban and al-Qaida fighters had poured into neighboring Afghanistan to attack U.S. troops, the army said Saturday.
But operation claimed the lives of at least 95 civilians—whose deaths are a critical issue here that observers warn can only increases sympathy for the militants.
The military said its forces captured Loi Sam in the Bajur tribal region Friday after a long and bloody struggle. The town sits on a vital intersection linking the border to three neighboring Pakistan regions.
"Now we have complete control in this area from where miscreants used to go to Afghanistan, Mohmand, Dir and Swat," army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told reporters flown in to Bajur by military helicopter. "Miscreants have been expelled or killed."
Bajur is part of Pakistan's tribal belt that has become the stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaida fighters waging an intensifying insurgency on both sides of the border.
The army offensive in Bajur was launched in early August, after government officials declared it a "mega-sanctuary" for militants who had set up a virtual mini-state, complete with Taliban-style courts.
U.S. officials worried about record fatalities among their forces in Afghanistan have praised the operation and said it was helping reduce violence on the Afghan side. But the Americans have not halted missile strikes on suspected militants hide-outs in other parts of Pakistan's wild border region, despite Islamabad's protests that the attacks violate its sovereignty.
The army says it faced stiff resistance near Loi Sam from Taliban militants reinforced by foreign fighters, including some from Afghanistan.
Maj. Gen. Tariq Khan, who commands a paramilitary force, said it could still take six months to a year to gain complete control of Bajur.
Violence and government restrictions have made it virtually impossible to verify accounts of the fighting.
Khan said a total of 1,500 suspected militants had died in the operation along with 73 army soldiers.
The region has been seen as a possible hiding place for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, but Khan said the troops had not picked up their trail. THE RESTr
Cross-posted @ THE GENERATION Y CONSERVATIVE BLOG
-
Minister says Pakistan will not hand captured Taliban leaders to United States ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan will not turn over the Afghan Taliban's No. 2 leader and two other high-value militants captured this month to the United States, but may...
- Attack On Volleyball Tournament In Pakistan
MSNBC: Deaths in volleyball tournament bombing at 88 Man drove SUV onto field; police fear second vehicle might have explosives PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A suicide bomber blew himself up in an SUV at an outdoor volleyball tournament in northwest Pakistan on...
- Pakistan Taliban Say Fighters Going To Afghanistan
Newsmax: Pakistan Taliban Say Fighters Going to Afghanistan Wednesday, 23 Dec 2009 07:29 AM By: ISHTIAQ MAHSUD A top Pakistani Taliban commander says he has sent thousands of fighters to neighboring Afghanistan to rebuff incoming U.S. troops, a claim...
- Scores Die In ‘full-scale’ Pakistan Offensive
MSNBC: Scores die in ‘full-scale’ Pakistan offensive Army claims 143 militants killed in 24 hours; U.N. says one million displaced msnbc.com news services MINGORA, Pakistan - Pakistani jets screamed over a Taliban-controlled town Friday and bombed...
- Pakistan Hampers U.s. Hunt For Bin Laden In Border Region With Afghanistan / Suicides In Russki Nuke City?
From Gertz - SUB REQ Excerpted Pakistan’s government is limiting U.S. military and intelligence forces from pursuing Al Qaida terrorists on Pakistani territory, according to U.S. officials. The restrictions have curbed operations aimed at locating and...