Tension prevails in South Waziristan, after a jirga (assembly of elders) of the dominant Wazir tribe set December 5 as a deadline for Mehsud tribesmen, who live as refugees, to vacate the area. But the Mehsuds are in no mood to yield. Tahir Ali reports
Pakistani troops entered Kotkai, the hometown of Hakimullah Mehsud and his close aide Qari Hussain, also known as trainer of suicide bombers, late on Saturday night after subjecting the village to heavy bombing by fighters and attack helicopters. In the intense battle, 13 militants and two soldiers were killed.
Sources revealed that Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, the commander of Harkat-ul Jihad al Islami, who was reportedly killed in a United States drone attack in South Waziristan last month, is still alive, DawnNews reported.
The unusually heavy barrage of three missile strikes in a span of 12 hours, targeting militant hideouts in north and south Waziristan took one of the largest death toll in the controversial unacknowledged air campaign.
Eight soldiers were killed in an attack by Taliban fighters on a security check post in Pakistan's tribal belt while six others were killed in two bomb attacks in the country's restive northwest on Thursday, officials said.
The United States has refused to confirm the death of Harkatul Jihad al-Islami chief Ilyas Kashmiri in a recent drone strike in Pakistan's South Waziristan region.
Ilyas Kashmiri's death comes as a relief to security agencies across the world, especially India since he was obsessed with undertaking attacks on the Indian soil. His latest operation -- Ghazb-e-Hind aimed at unleashing a wave of destruction in India.
Although the United States have denied confirmation, but it's apparent that Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud has been killed in a recent US drone attack in South Waziristan, Pakistan. Mehsud's death signifies tremendous implications, and was possibly a result of intelligence penetration. Explains security expert B Raman
Four persons were killed and five others injured today in a missile strike by a suspected US drone in Pakistan's south Waziristan tribal region, a stronghold of the local Taliban led by Baitullah Mehsud.
Pakistani troops on Sunday killed 17 militants and recovered 22 bodies of suspected Taliban fighters in the country's restive northwest and tribal areas, while an anti-Taliban mayor survived a fifth assassination bid in a town near Peshawar.
With models strutting down the catwalk in couture fashion that was elegant and racy, the Pakistan Fashion Week showed a completely new and different image of the nation where burkas and hijabs are not uncommon.
"Mahsood, who had a head money of several hundred thousand rupees is now running his own government in the Agency and in Taliban style," says the report.
The Pakistani military on Tuesday claimed to have wrested the Taliban stronghold of Sararogha in South Waziristan, where 21 militants and a soldier were killed in fierce clashes over the past 24 hours.
Ilyas Kashmiri, the head of Harkat-ul Jihad al Islami and Al Qaeda's 313 Brigade, is reportedly alive in spite of being declared killed in an American drone strike on June 3 in South Waziristan.The 'death' of Kashmiri was a source of relief for the United States, Pakistan, India and many other nations across the world. But security officials of the United States and Pakistan have failed to confirm reports of Kashmiri's death and he is reportedly still active.
United States Commander of Joint Operations Special Command General Stanley McChrystal has facilitated the removal of scores of security check-posts from the Afghanistan side of the Pak-Afghan border as part of a conspiracy against the Pakistani military, fear Pakistani security experts."This is an intriguing move aimed at different ends. But the primary motive of it is to encourage large-scale reinforcements and infiltration," said a security expert.
Even as the Pakistan Army is all prepared and waits for a nod from the government to launch an all out offensive in South Waziristan, the Taliban's stronghold, many inside the Canadian government who deal with Pakistan and Afghanistan issues are suspicious of Islamabad's efforts.
Ali Ibrahim, a lawyer by profession, said militants should be dealt with full force as people have seen the result of half-hearted efforts in the past. "We should definitely be moving into Waziristan right now. Once you decide to take action, that should be wholehearted and made with a full effort," Ibrahim said.
New Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud surfaced on Monday and vowed to strike United States and Pakistani interests -- to avenge the killing of his slain leader Baitullah Mehsud and American drone attacks on the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. His appearance in front of a select group of reporters in the South Waziristan tribal area ended speculation over his reported death in a contest for leadership of the Pakistan Taliban, sparked by Baitullah's killing.
Pakistan's new Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud's brother was among 15 militants killed in two United States drone attacks in the country's lawless tribal belt. Hakimullah's brother Kalimullah was among six militants who were killed in the first drone attack in the Sararogha area of South Waziristan Agency on Tuesday afternoon. Nine militants were killed in the second drone attack, which was carried out in the evening in the Dandey Darpakhel area of North Waziristan Agency.
At least 38 people, including a former parliamentarian, were killed and nearly 50 others injured in a suicide attack on a mosque and two bombings across northwest Pakistan on Monday, marking a spurt in militant violence after a relative lull over the past few weeks.
According to US intelligence sources, Kaashmiri was killed in a missile attack carried out by unmanned aircraft in South Waziristan on September 7.
There have been uncorroborated rumours since Saturday afternoon, claiming that Ilyas Kashmiri, the head of the 313 Brigade, an affiliate of the Al Qaeda, was killed in a drone strike by the United States in South Waziristan on Friday night.
Pakistan's most wanted terrorist Baitullah Mehsud's death may actually embolden the Pakistanis as it marks a weakening of those Taliban factions that oppose Islamabad, a leading United States private intelligence agency has said. "With more confidence in its influence over the remaining Taliban elements, Pakistan could be even less willing to sell out its Taliban assets in Afghanistan," the Stratfor said.
The operations undertaken by the Pakistan Army in the Swat Valley of the Malakand Division in the North West Frontier Province since April have started coming in for some criticism because while the Pakistan Army has claimed to have killed over 1,500 foot soldiers of the Pakistani Taliban hardly any important leader has been killed or captured.
At least 45 Taliban fighters and four security personnel were killed when Pakistani troops repelled an overnight attack by militants on a paramilitary camp in the troubled South Waziristan tribal region, officials said on Sunday.
Annoyed over the case of its arrested national Raymond Davis, the United States has once again resumed drone strikes in the tribal belt of Pakistan.
Rejecting the news that its chief Hakimullah Mehsud died in Punjab en route to Karachi for treatment, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) says that Hakimullah never left the tribal belt either for shelter or for medication.
Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani escaped an attempt on his life when Taliban militants fired rockets at an area in South Waziristan tribal agency shortly after his visit to the troubled region.
A Filipino militant and a bomb- making expert, most-wanted by the United States, was killed in an American drone strike in Pakistan's restive South Waziristan region on January 14.
Even as the army battles Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan's militants headed by Hakimullah Mehsud, the government has decided to adopt another approach to end the spate of terror strikes on its soil. As part of this strategy, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has urged religious scholars to issue fatwas against the Taliban militants, by terming them as kafirs (non-believers).
While the Pakistani army and US troops continue to drive the Taliban out of their hideouts in South Waziristan, there is perhaps a dormant, but more dangerous, threat looming overhead.
The Pakistani military on Friday claimed its forces have entered the important Taliban stronghold of Makeen in South Waziristan even as gunmen injured an army brigadier and his driver in an audacious attack in the federal capital.
Haji Omar Khan, a lieutenant of Afghan Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, was killed when two missiles slammed into a suspected militant training camp near Ladha town in South Waziristan close to the Afghan border early on Monday morning, local TV channels reported.
Pakistan military used warplanes and attack helicopters to dislodge Taliban militants blocking its bid to overrun their strong bases as 13 militants were killed in continuing heavy fighting for the key towns of Kotkai, Makeen and Ladha in the country's lawless tribal belt.
A top Taliban commander has threatened to carry out attacks on nine more key installations in Pakistan similar to the strike on Mehran Naval Base in Karachi to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq warned of "harsh response" to any military attack on its main stronghold of South Waziristan, as Pakistani fighter jets pounded their hideouts in the area where reports said an all out offensive was imminent.
Two days after Pakistani Taliban appointed a new chief, a US drone today targeted one of the key commanders Waliur Rehman as it fired missiles on his stronghold in South Waziristan killing eight people, mostly militants and wounding another nine.
Hakimullah Mehsud appointment would fuel suicide attacks throughout Pakistan's urban areas. During Baitullah's time he said that suicide bombers would hit twice a week in the urban areas of Pakistan.
An editorial in a Pakistani daily has claimed that intelligence outfits of India and Afghanistan funded late Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
In a major catch, Pakistani Taliban's top spokesman Maulvi Omar has been arrested along with his two associates in the lawless tribal region bordering Afghanistan, reports said on Tuesday.
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