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Captured Taliban says leader in Pakistan: Afghan intelligence
Pakistan rejects claim Mullah Omar in Quetta
Suicide bomber kills Afghan soldier; three held
Insurgent killed laying bomb for Indian group in Afghanistan
Three Afghan soldiers killed in blast
US defense secretary "sympathetic" to Afghanistan troop needs
Travel problems for Foreign Minister in Afghanistan
Foreign Minister visits Norwegian troops in Afghanistan
Gates' Afghan trip throws spotlight on Pakistan
Afghan refugees to be registered till Feb 2
Pakistan-Afghanistan border: Pakistan should consider other options before mining: German envoy
US will not dictate Pak-Afghan border settlement
Afghan govt elated at US' stance on terrorism
77 dissidents join govt
8 killed in strike on militant camps in Waziristan
Captured Taliban says leader in Pakistan: Afghan intelligence
Wed Jan 17, 12:09 PM ET
KABUL (AFP) - Afghanistan's intelligence authority released a video in which a captured Taliban spokesman confesses to his role in the movement and says its fugitive leader is hiding in Pakistan under the protection of that country's spy agency.
Intelligence agents arrested Abul Haq Haqiq, who was known to the media as Doctor Mohammad Hanif, in the eastern province of Nangarhar late Monday. The last Taliban spokesman to be arrested was captured in late 2005.
The 26-year-old confirmed that he was picked up as he entered Afghanistan from Pakistan and said in the video distributed to the media that he had come to the country on a "mission," which was not specified.
Asked by an unseen interrogator about the whereabouts of the Taliban's fugitive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, the calm-looking and soft-spoken man says: "He is under the protection of the ISI in Quetta."
ISI is Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency and Quetta is a city in southwestern Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan. Afghan officials have alleged some of the Taliban's leadership may be based there.
Haqiq, who says he was well treated after his arrest, also says the regular suicide bombings in Afghanistan are "carried out by Taliban, financed and equipped by the ISI of Pakistan."
Suicide attackers are being trained in madrassas, or religious schools, in the Bajaur district, a tribally administered district near the border, he says.
"The former ISI chief general, Hamid Gul, is financing all madrassas in Bajaur.
"Suicide attackers come to Afghanistan from Bajaur, carry out suicide attacks and kill people," he says, describing such bombings -- of which the Taliban has been accused of carrying out about 140 last year -- as "evil" and forbidden in Islam.
The Afghan intelligence agency, called the National Directorate of Security (NDS), told reporters in Kabul that Hanif was being held in the eastern city of Jalalabad, near where he was arrested.
Hanif regularly contacted the international and Afghan media from secret locations about Taliban engagements in eastern Afghanistan.
He was one of the most high-profile Taliban spokesmen, along with Yousuf Ahmadi, who usually speaks about insurgency-related issues in southern Afghanistan.
Ahmadi told AFP Wednesday that the capture of Hanif was insignificant.
"He is just one spokesman and not a very important member of the Taliban," he said, adding the capture meant nothing to Taliban activities.
He said a man named Zabihullah Mujahed had already been appointed the new Taliban spokesman for eastern and northern Afghanistan.
The NDS did not comment on claims by the governor of Nangarhar province that he had been captured in a house where packets of the deadly bacteria anthrax were found.
Governor Gul Agha Sherzai did not say how it had been proven the powder was anthrax.
Haqiq was arrested late Monday with two other men in a house in Nangarhar's Rodat district, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the border with Pakistan, Sherzai told reporters.
Sherzai said documents found in the house included leaflets calling for an uprising against the government and others alleging well-known Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah was linked to the killing last month of another key commander.
US-led forces killed Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, a key associate of Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar, in an airstrike in the southern province of Helmand on December 19.
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Pakistan rejects claim Mullah Omar in Quetta
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistan denied its intelligence service was sheltering Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in the city of Quetta near the Afghan border.
"It is an absurd and sheer lie," top military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told AFP.
The claim was made Wednesday by a Taliban spokesman captured in Afghanistan where the fundamentalist movement has been waging a deadly insurgency after being ousted from power by US-led forces in 2001.
The claims by Abul Haq Haqiq were made in a video released Wednesday by Afghanistan's intelligence authority after his arrest in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border.
"The (Taliban) statement appears to have been given under pressure," said Sultan who is also Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's press secretary.
Sultan urged war-ravaged Afghanistan to stop blaming Pakistan for its troubles and sought evidence from Kabul to back up the Taliban spokesman's claims.
"We would like to have the evidence so that we can go after these people," Sultan said.
"Unfortunately by pointing fingers at others the Afghan authorities are simply facing away from the reality. They should try to put their own house in order instead of blaming others," Sultan said.
"There is a mess in their country that they have to resolve, it cannot be solved by pointing accusing fingers at others."
The Taliban spokesman, who says he was well treated after his arrest, also said the regular suicide bombings in Afghanistan were "carried out by Taliban, financed and equipped by the ISI of Pakistan."
ISI is Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency.
Afghan officials have also in the past claimed that some of the Taliban's leadership may be based in the southwestern city of Quetta.
A Taliban insurgency is raging in Afghanistan which frequently accuses Pakistan of turning a blind eye to militant training camps and support over the porous border.
Islamabad, an ally in the US-war on terror, denies the charge, saying the roots of the problem lie inside Afghanistan.
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Suicide bomber kills Afghan soldier; three held
SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber blew himself up among a group of Afghan soldiers on Thursday, killing one a day after Afghan police said they had arrested three suicide bombers entering from neighboring Pakistan.
Suicide bombings were almost unknown in Afghanistan until 2005 but the number of attacks surged to 139 last year, according to U.S. military figures, as part of a sharply intensified Taliban insurgency.
There have been several so far this year, the latest on Thursday when a man detonated explosives attached to his body near a group of soldiers in the southeastern province of Paktika, killing one soldier and wounding one, officials said.
Police in the Afghan border town of Spin Boldak did not identify the three men arrested in an explosives-laden vehicle after arriving from Pakistan, or give their nationality, but said they had confessed to being recruited and trained in Pakistan.
"They told us that they have centers in Pakistan, where people are recruited and trained as suicide bombers," Mohammad Anway, an Afghan border security official, told Reuters on Thursday.
"The car was full of explosives and they had plans to distribute some of the material to their men and carry out attacks in Kandahar," he said, referring to the nearby southern city which serves as a hub for NATO operations.
Afghan officials frequently say suicide bombers are being recruited and trained in Pakistan.
Pakistan was the main backer of the Taliban during the 1990s but officially stopped helping them after the September 11, 2001 attacks, when it joined the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
But while Pakistan has arrested or killed hundreds of al Qaeda members, Afghanistan and some of its allies say it has failed to take effective action against Taliban leaders, their networks and sanctuaries.
A Taliban spokesman arrested in Afghanistan this week said in a video recording of part of his interrogation a former Pakistani spy chief was organizing the training of suicide bombers at a religious school in Pakistan.
He also said fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was living in the Pakistani city of Quetta under the protection of Pakistan's main security agency.
Pakistan and the former spy chief dismissed the accusations.
(Additional reporting by Kamal Sadat in KHOST)
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Insurgent killed laying bomb for Indian group in Afghanistan
KABUL (AFP) - A man fixing a bomb near an Indian roadworks company in southeastern Afghanistan was killed when the device exploded ahead of schedule, officials said.
Elsewhere, Afghan troops killed three Taliban militants in continued violence linked to an insurgency launched by the extremist movement that was forced from government in late 2001.
Police said flesh and limbs littered the site where the man had been trying to attach the bomb to a pipe that ran underneath a road near the Indian company's offices in Kunar province.
"It seem that there might have been two bombers because of the pieces of flesh and parts of the body scattered in the area but it is difficult to confirm," Kunar police chief Abdul Jalal Jalal told AFP.
The Indian company that was apparently the target of the planned bomb was helping to build a road between the Kunar capital Asadabad and the nearby city of Jalalabad.
In the southern province of Helmand meanwhile, police reported that three Taliban fighters, including a local commander, were killed in a shootout with Afghan troops on Wednesday.
The Afghan force did not suffer any casualties, provincial police chief Mohammad Nabi Mullkhail said.
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Three Afghan soldiers killed in blast
17 Jan 2007 11:11:05 GMT
More KHOST, Afghanistan, Jan 17 (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed three Afghan soldiers in an eastern part of the country that President Hamid Karzai visited on Wednesday, an army officer said.
It was not clear if the president had been in the area of Khost province when the explosion went off by the soldiers' vehicle, said senior army officer Murad Ali. Four soldiers were wounded, he said.
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US defense secretary "sympathetic" to Afghanistan troop needs
Wed Jan 17, 10:16 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrapped up a visit to Afghanistan saying he was sympathetic to a request for more troops to battle an expected upsurge in the Taliban-led insurgency this year.
Gates said commanders had told him during his two-day visit that they needed more troops but he would not be drawn on how many.
"It depends on different scenarios and those are the kinds of decisions we are going to have to look at," he said.
"If the people leading the struggle out here feel they need additional help, I'm going to be very sympathetic to that kind of a request."
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) includes about 33,000 soldiers from 37 nations but is still short of the manpower it has been promised, despite pleas for more support after a year of intense fighting.
Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, the top US commander in Afghanistan, said Tuesday ISAF was about 10 percent short of the troops it had been pledged.
Gates, who met President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday, said it was "very important not to let the success in Afghanistan slip away from us, and that we keep the initiative."
"There's no reason to sit back and let the Taliban regroup," he said.
Eikenberry pressed him Tuesday for more troops to confront a major surge in Taliban attacks, notably out of Pakistan. He said he had requested that an infantry battalion with a force of 1,200 slated to move on to Iraq be retained.
Gates said Wednesday the issue would be studied by the US joint staff and also raised with NATO.
He said he would press the allies at an upcoming NATO defence ministers' meeting in Seville, Spain, to fulfill commitments they have already made.
Last year was the deadliest in the insurgency launched following the Taliban's ouster in late 2001 in a US-led operation after the regime failed to hand over Al-Qaeda leaders in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
About 4,000 people were killed in 2006, most of them rebels. The number of suicide and roadside bombings, and direct attacks on troops, rose severalfold, with some foreign commanders expressing surprise at the rebels' capacity.
Eikenberry predicted more violence this year, telling reporters Tuesday: "I would expect that the enemy will have its main effort against southern Afghanistan and what we'll see is more violence in the south."
He anticipated terror attacks in Kandahar and other urban centres, attempts to restrict the movement of coalition and Afghan forces and attacks in southern district centers and outlying areas.
He said there had already been a doubling in the past month in the number of cross-border incidents in Afghan areas opposite a Pakistani tribal zone where the government struck a peace deal with tribal leaders in September.
In one such attack, three Afghan soldiers were killed in the border province of Khost Wednesday by a remote-controlled bomb of the type often used by the Taliban.
Rowing between Afghanistan and Pakistan over the roots of the insurgency peaked last year as the neighbours accused each other of not doing enough to round up insurgent leaders and shut down their facilities.
Top US officials have joined Afghanistan in recent weeks in saying that Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants have found safehavens in Pakistan. Islamabad rejected the allegations.
ISAF said in Kabul Wednesday that the first intelligence and operation centre staffed jointly by Afghanistan, Pakistan and ISAF was due to start working in the city this month.
This should go some way towards improving ties between the neighbours' armies, spokesman Major Richard Nugee said.
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Travel problems for Foreign Minister in Afghanistan
18.01.2007 08:13 The Norway Post
Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere has encountered problems on his visit to Afghanistan. Wednesday evening his plane had to make an emergency landing at Kandahar.
The plane was on its way back to Kabul after a visit to a military base in the south of Afghanistan, when the plane lost cabin pressure, and the pilots decided to make an emergency landing at Kandahar.
The landing was made without problems, and a surprised Stoere, who had been sleeping, said he was sure he was in Kabul, when the plane landed.
The loss of pressure made it impossible for the plane to go high enough to cross a mountain range before reaching Kabul.
On Tuesday morning the Kandahar Air Port was closed due to a heavy snowfall, and it became evident that the Norwegian Foreign Minister would not reach a scheduled meeting with ISAF leaders in Kabul.
However, the plane was later able to take off for Kabul, where Stoere would meet with President Hamid Karzai, Foreign Minister Dr Rangeen Dadfar Spanta and other central ministers of the Afghan government.
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Foreign Minister visits Norwegian troops in Afghanistan
17.01.2007 08:05 The Norway Post
Strict security measures were enforced when Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere on Tuesday visited Norwegian NATO troops at Meymaneh in Northern Afghanistan.
The reason for this was the explosives charge found just outside the Norwegian camp on Monday.
It was not believed that the bomb had anything to do with the Norwegian Foreign Minister's visit, but extra security was mounted from when he landed at the airport, NRK reports.
Stoere said that Norway will increase its civilian aid to Afghanistan, and he repeated earlier statements saying that civilian aid is just as important as military support.
- One's opinion that the solution in Afghanistan is political, economic and social, has been strengthened. There is no military solution alone to Afghanistan's problems, and the military know this, Stoere said.
The Norwegian military and civilian engagements in Afghanistan will this year alone cost around NOK 1.1 billion. According to Stoere, quoted by Aftenposten, the civilian aid alone will add up to around NOK 400-500 million.
This makes Afghanistan the second largest recipient of Norwegian development aid. Only the Palestinians get more.
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Gates' Afghan trip throws spotlight on Pakistan
By Andrew Gray Reuters Wednesday, January 17, 2007
BAGRAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates met U.S. commanders at the main U.S. base in Afghanistan on Wednesday on the second day of a visit that has thrown a spotlight on Taliban infiltration from Pakistan.
Gates traveled to the sprawling Bagram air base from the capital, Kabul, where on Tuesday U.S. military commanders told him militant attacks from Pakistan into Afghanistan had surged, several-fold in some areas.
Violence in Afghanistan intensified last year to its bloodiest since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001. Fighting has eased since winter set in but U.S. and NATO forces expect a renewed Taliban offensive in the spring.
U.S. military officials in Kabul told reporters traveling with Gates on Tuesday command and control of the Afghan insurgency came from the Pakistani side of the border.
Training, financing, recruitment, indoctrination, regeneration and other support activities were also taking place in Pakistan, a U.S. military intelligence official said.
U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte said last week it would be necessary to eliminate the Taliban safe havens in Pakistan's tribal areas to end the Afghan insurgency.
Pakistan was the main backer of the Taliban during the 1990s but officially stopped helping the hardline Islamists after the September 11 attacks, when Pakistan joined the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
But while Pakistan has arrested or killed hundreds of al Qaeda members, including several major figures, critics say it has failed to take effective action against Taliban leaders and their sanctuaries.
Afghan anger over the infiltration from Pakistan has damaged relations between the neighbors but Pakistan rejects accusations it is not doing enough. Pakistan has sent 80,000 troops to its side of the border and has lost hundreds of them fighting militants.
But it has also sought political ways to isolate the militants to reduce the risk of sparking a wider conflict in its semi-autonomous tribal areas.
Those have included peace deals in tribal regions aimed at ending attacks on Pakistani forces and cross-border incursions but U.S. commanders said raids into Afghanistan had increased sharply from areas where the deals were struck. Nevertheless, Pakistan says the Taliban are an Afghan problem.
"The basic problem is in Afghanistan but we don't deny that there are some people from Pakistan in the FATA region supporting them," Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri told reporters in Islamabad on Tuesday, referring to Pakistan's border lands officially known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
"We are doing everything to reduce the movement to the minimum, but basically it's Afghanistan's problem. Pakistan can only help to the extent that it controls the cross-border movement but for that, too, we need support of the international community."
Gates said Pakistan was "an extraordinarily strong ally" of the United States in the war on terrorism but militancy on the Pakistani side of the border would have to be dealt with.
There are more than 40,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, the highest level since 2001, about 22,000 of them American.
Gates said it was important to take the initiative in dealing with the security threat and if commanders in the field believed more forces were required, "then I certainly would be strongly inclined to recommend that to the president."
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Afghan refugees to be registered till Feb 2
By Naveed Ahmad The News International (Pakistan)
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday announced the extension of registration of Afghans refugees till February 2 to cope with the high turnout at registration centres.
So far more than 1.56 million Afghan refugees, who have been registered in the government exercise since October, have been issued a proof of registration (PoR) card, which is valid for three years, recognising the bearers as Afghan citizens temporarily living in Pakistan.
Large crowds at some of the centres have prompted UNHCR and the authorities to boost staff strength and improve crowd control. In specific locations, Nadra has provided mobile registration vehicles (MRVs) to ease the pressure on existing centres.
"We're doing our best to cater to the remaining groups," said Indrika Ratwatte, the UNHCR official in charge of the registration exercise. "But the Afghans also need to be patient and to remain calm, especially now that they have been given more time."
More than 2.8 million Afghans have been repatriated to Afghanistan with UNHCR assistance since 2002. Voluntary repatriation will resume in March this year after the winter break, with an enhanced return package and new repatriation modalities linked to the PoR card.
Only Afghans who were enumerated in the census of February-March 2005 can take part in registration while the remaining have been asked to approach the registration centres in their areas with documents to prove they were present in Pakistan at the time of the census.
The registration exercise is conducted by the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) with the support of the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees (CAR) and the UN refugee agency.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has already decided to shut down four Afghan refugee camps near its border with Afghanistan. Two camps would be closed in March and the other two later.
The refugees in two of the camps, near Peshawar and Quetta, respectively, would soon be sent home as part of a new programme to better control the 2,500km shared border.
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Pakistan-Afghanistan border: Pakistan should consider other options before mining: German envoy
Daily Times (Pakistan)
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan should consider other options before mining its border with Afghanistan, German Ambassador Gunter Mulack said on Wednesday.
“We think that landmines are dangerous and Afghanistan is still suffering from those laid down by the Soviets,” Mulack told a press conference organised in connection with Germany having assumed the presidency of the European Union (EU). However, Mulack said that Pakistan was a sovereign country and had the right to make its own decision.
“We want to help Afghanistan stabilise and EU is one of the biggest donors to that country,” he said, adding that peace in Afghanistan was in Pakistan’s interest. “We are not Pakistan’s security partners, but will be looking into the problems,” he added. Mulack acknowledged Pakistan’s efforts in fighting terrorism, but said that Taliban activity was continuing in Afghanistan and posed a problem. “These issues will be discussed with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz during his forthcoming visit to Brussels,” he added. Flanked by EU Commission representative Balthasar Benz, Mulack said the EU and its members would support the election process in Pakistan, financially and technically. He added that the EU would allocate $7 million for this purpose. “We will support the process of democracy in Pakistan. We are for free and fair elections and want all parties to have an equal chance. The EU will monitor the general elections in Pakistan,” he said. Mulack said the EU would welcome progress in the Pakistan-India peace process, but he refused to be drawn into the controversy over President General Pervez Musharraf’s uniform. staff report
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US will not dictate Pak-Afghan border settlement
Daily Times (Pakistan)
LAHORE: Nicholas Burns, the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, said Afghanistan and Pakistan should resolve their border issues mutually and his country would not dictate a settlement.
In an interview with Voice of America, Burns said the US wanted strong and healthy ties between Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, and wanted trade among the countries to flourish.
Commenting on the US State Department’s fresh advisory asking US citizens not to travel to Pakistan, he said it was the US government’s duty to provide fresh information to its people before their travel to Pakistan. Burns rejected the impression that the US wanted to harm Pakistan’s tourism industry said his country would not discriminate against Pakistan. He said the US wanted democracy “in most parts of the world” but Pakistan was facing serious problems in restoring true democracy. “Pakistanis will have to make their own history,” he said. daily times monitor
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Afghan govt elated at US' stance on terrorism
KABUL, Jan 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Presidential spokesman Karim Rahimi on Tuesday said the international community, especially the United States had supported Afghanistan's stance on the issue of cross-border terrorism.
Speaking at his weekly press conference here, Rahimi said, in recent times, there was a visible tilt in US policy towards Afghanistan on the issue of terrorism, which would prove helpful for the country to get rid of the menace.
He referred to the recent remarks by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who asked Pakistan to do more to curb terrorism. The US secretary of state, Rahimi said, had noted that Taliban were using the tribal areas of Pakistan as their safe havens.
He also cited the statement of coalition commander General Benjamin Freackly who was reported as saying that Taliban leaders were hiding in Pakistan and were sending fighters to Afghanistan for disruptive activities.
The remarks, he said, were pointing to realities on the other side of the border and it should not be considered as an intervention. In the backdrop of those remarks by a responsible official, drastic and practical measures must be adopted against terrorists, said the spokesman.
Rahimi also quoted the US National Intelligence Director (NID) John Negroponte, who was reported as saying that al-Qaeda had found secure hideouts in Pakistan, from where it was rebuilding its strength.
Rahimi said President Hamid Karzai had time and again emphasised the need for eliminating the sources of Taliban, who existed outside Afghanistan. "We are getting closer to this fact and those remarks (by the US officials) reveal that it will yield positive results," said the spokesman.
Regarding the fencing and mining of the border, Rahimi reiterated the officials stance adopted by the Afghan government that the step would separate families and tribes instead of stopping terrorists from crossing into Afghanistan.
To a query about the holding of the proposed Peace Jirga, Rahimi said preparations were in progress on both sides. The two countries had completed formation of a commission to organise the jirga.
Lailuma Sadid
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77 dissidents join govt
KABUL, Jan 16 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Seventy seven dissidents of different provinces on Tuesday shun violence and joined government under the government grand amnesty policy.
Of these former militants 35 former militants belonged to Khost, Nangarhar, Kunar, Kapisa and Parwan provinces vowed giving up violence in presence of head of the National Reconciliation Commission Sibghatullah Mujaddedi.
One of the dissidents, wearing a grey beard, requesting anonymity, told Pajhwok Afghan News they offered their demands to Mujaddedi and abandoned violence on their acceptance.
Though not disclosing their demands, he said: "If their demands were not accepted they are not ready to support the government." According to officials of the NRC, the former militants have submitted their weapons to the authorities.
Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, head of the NRC, thanked the dissidents who gave up violence and demanded of them to help them in getting support of the other militants.
He assured the former dissidents that he would take up their problems with government and Americans.
He said he had discussed with government and would grant jobs to the educated Taliban in the coming year. He said governor of Nangarhar had also assured him of granting plots to the former dissidents.
Maulvi Habibullah, a resident of the eastern Kunar province, told this news agency they switched over to violence due to certain problems. He said :" We thought we will restore peace to Afghanistan through war, but now we have understood that peace could never be brought through fighting." About 162 former militants also joined government under the grand amnesty policy last month.
Habib Rahman Ibrahimi
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8 killed in strike on militant camps in Waziristan
By Iqbal Khattak – Daily Times (Pakistan)
PESHAWAR: Attack helicopters of the Pakistan Army struck hideouts of suspected militants in South Waziristan early on Tuesday morning, leaving eight “terrorists” dead and 10 injured.
Military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said the latest reports he got from the area indicated eight terrorists had been killed and 10 wounded in the airstrike launched at 6:55am. “The compounds were being used for training purposes,” he told Daily Times.
“Intelligence sources had confirmed the presence of 25-30 foreign terrorists and their local facilitators, occupying a complex of five compounds in the area,” Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. “Three out of the five compounds have been destroyed killing most of the terrorists present in those compounds.”
Tribal MP from South Waziristan Maulana Mirajuddin said that eight “innocent” labourers were killed in the “unjustified” airstrike. He denied that the place was being used as a training facility for militants.
Sources in Wana said the raid involving four gunship helicopters targeted five mud-walled hideouts in the middle of thick forest in the Saloomat Raghzai area in Ladah sub-division, which lies close to the South and North Waziristan border.
The air strike, the first of its kind in the area since November 2004 when the government inked peace agreements with senior tribal militants, came hours after US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Kabul for talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Residents in Ladah said 10 bodies were dug up and three were identified as local Mehsuds while five others were Afghan nationals. The other two bodies were charred beyond recognition.
The raid followed days of reconnaissance of the area where intelligence agents spotted “unusual activities”, said Gen Sultan. Among the dead militants were foreigners also, the military spokesman added. But he denied that the raid aimed at “a high-value target”.
Reports reaching here from Wana said that between eight to 10 people appeared to have survived the raid with injuries. Sources in Wana said the Baitullah Mehsud-led militants were using the compounds.
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