10 Taliban killed in Orakzai

The Daily News, Pakistan, Sunday, April 25, 2010

* Forces kill 10 Taliban in Orakzai’s Sangra village, fighter jets pound three hideouts killing 10 more

MIR ALI:

Pakistani Security forces killed 10 Taliban in Lower Orakzai Agency on Saturday, local administrator Jehanzeb Khan said.

Troops raided a (Taliban) ammunition depot in Sangra village of Orakzai, killing 10 Taliban fighters, while a soldier was also injured in the clash.

Fighter jets later pounded three more hideouts, killing another 10 Taliban, AP quoted Khan as saying.

Orakzai Agency is dominated by the Taliban from the Sirajjuddin Haqqani network, which launches attacks against American and NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan. Washington wants Islamabad to take action against these groups.

The government says it has its hands full with military engagements in other tribal regions, including the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan.

The military has been engaged with the Taliban in Orakzai Agency for the last five weeks.

Clashes like Saturday’s are a routine in the Tribal Areas ever since the army launched its offensive in Swat last April to clear the former tourist resort of the Taliban.

Swat slipped out of Islamabad’s control in July 2007 after radical cleric Fazlullah mounted a violent campaign to enforce Islamic sharia law. ap

U.S. drone attack kills seven in Pakistan 

Saturday, April 24, 2010, 06:34 pm

A U.S. drone aircraft fired three missiles into Pakistan's North Waziristan region on the Afghan border Saturday, killing seven alleged Taliban fighters, Pakistani intelligence officials and residents said.

The strike targeted a militant compound in the town of Mir Ali, some 24 km east of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan.

"The place where the missiles struck is still on fire and (Taliban fighters) have surrounded the area and were not letting anyone close to the site of the attack," said an intelligence official who declined to be identified.

"We have reports of seven (Taliban fighters) killed in the attack."

The United States has stepped up missile strikes in Pakistan's north-western region since a Jordanian suicide bomber killed seven CIA employees at a U.S. base across the border in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost in late December.

Most of the attacks this year have been in North Waziristan.

U.S. ally Pakistan officially objects to the drone strikes, saying they are a violation of its sovereignty and fuel anti-U.S. feeling, which complicates Pakistan's efforts against militancy.

(Reporting by Haji Mujtaba; Writing by Augustine Anthony; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

12 oil tankers burnt, four policemen killed

The Daily News, Pakistan, Sunday, April 25, 2010

* Talagang DSP says armed men fired at police van before setting tankers on fire

CHAKWAL/ISLAMABAD:

Four policemen were killed by unidentified men, who also set 12 NATO oil tankers on fire, at the Talagang-Mianwali Road on Saturday, police said.

Talagang Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ghaffar told APP that the incident took place around two kilometres from Talagang, Chakwal district. The DSP said Sub-Inspector Iqbal, driver Fareed and two unidentified police personnel died in the incident, as some armed men started firing at a police mobile van before setting the NATO oil tankers on fire. The DSP said the fire also engulfed the nearby Ehsan Filling Station.

Fire Brigade vehicles reached the spot and started efforts to control the fire while police cordoned off the area to arrest the perpetrators.

Separately, a man was killed when a NATO oil tanker overturned near Saranan, Pishin district on Saturday. According to police, the deceased was identified as Sadiq Shah. His body was handed over to his family after an autopsy.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani condemned the attack on the NATO oil tankers, in which four policemen also lost their lives. The prime minister said the terrorists wanted to spoil the image of the country. staff report/app

Ten policemen injured in suicide strike

The Daily News, Pakistan, Sunday, April 25, 2010

TIMERGARA:

A suicide attack targeting a police van wounded at least 10 policemen along the Timergara bypass near a girls’ college and the district jail, officials said on Saturday.

According to sources, a Swat police van was en route from the Balamabat police line to the Timergara district jail and was carrying the three sons of Maulana Sufi Muhammad along with four other prisoners to be presented before an anti-terrorism court. No sooner did the van reach the area just between the jail and a girls’ college that a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden vehicle while trying to ram into the police van.

“The bomber blew up his explosives-packed car near the van, wounding 10 policemen, two of them seriously,” senior police official Shakil Ahmad told AFP.

Mumtaz Zarin, the district police officer told journalists that the suicide attack’s prime target had been the Swat police van. staff report/afp