Taliban Fighters Kill Police Chief Khurshid Khan, 5 Aids, Kidnap 11 Police Officers in NW Pakistan, Obama Vows No Troops in Pakistan

Taliban fighters kidnap, kill police in NW Pakistan

By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writer Riaz Khan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan –

Taliban fighters fired rockets at police chasing them after a kidnapping, killing a senior police official and five other people in Pakistan's northwest Sunday, a government official said.

Elsewhere in the region, Taliban fighers kidnapped 11 police officers in a tribal area that is home to a major U.S. military supply route and where a suicide bomber recently killed dozens at a mosque, another official said.

Parts of Pakistan's northwest — especially the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan — are strongholds for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, and security forces stationed in the area are routinely targeted for kidnapping and killing.

Cracking down on Taliban fighers along the Pakistan-Afghan border is a major focus for President Barack Obama. In unveiling a new strategy for Afghanistan, Obama warned last week that for Americans, "this border region has become the most dangerous place in the world."

The six deaths occurred in Balambat area of Lower Dir, a rough region just outside the semiautonomous tribal belt.

A group of police officials, including the district police chief Khurshid Khan, were chasing Taliban fighters suspected in the kidnapping of a local resident, said Syed Mohammed Javed, a high-ranking government official in the province.

In the resulting crossfire, the heavily armed Taliban fighters managed to hit a vehicle carrying Khan and two guards, killing all three. Also caught in the crossfire were a former local mayor and his two nephews, Javed said.

Police were unable to recover the kidnapped man, and Taliban fighters managed to capture two police officers as well. The Taliban fighters were believed to have suffered some casualties, though no details were available.

In Khyber tribal area, meanwhile, officials began hunting for the 11 police officers after they failed to show up for duty at their post in Sheen Qamar in the Bara sector, said Manzoor Khan, a local government official.

Security in Khyber is of particular concern because a large number of supplies bound for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan pass through the region. Taliban fighters have targeted the legendary Khyber Pass as well as transport terminals in the nearby city of Peshawar.

Early Saturday, dozens of Taliban fighters allegedly fired rockets at a transport terminal in Peshawar, damaging a dozen shipping containers.

That attack came less than a day after a suicide bomber blew himself up in a packed mosque in the Jamrud area of Khyber, killing at least 48 people and wounding scores more.

Obama vows no US troops on the ground in Pakistan

by Jitendra Joshi Jitendra Joshi –

March 29, 2009

WASHINGTON (AFP) –

President Barack Obama said US troops would not go in hot pursuit of Taliban fighters across the Afghan border into Pakistan -- but demanded Islamabad hold up its end of the struggle.

"I haven't changed my approach," Obama said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS program "Face the Nation," referring to US missile strikes on Taliban fighters.

"If we have a high-value target within our sights, after consulting with Pakistan, we're going after them," the president said.

Asked if he would send US troops on the ground into Taliban fighters safe havens inside Pakistan, Obama stressed: "No.

"Our plan does not change the recognition of Pakistan as a sovereign government," he said. "We need to work with them and through them to deal with Al-Qaeda. But we have to hold them much more accountable."

Asked if this was now his personal war, Obama said: "I think it's America's war."

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