Thursday, February 18, 2010

Daily Times, Pakistan, MIRANSHAH:

A US drone strike killed at least three suspected Taliban on Wednesday at a compound close to the Afghan border in North Waziristan, officials and local residents said.

The unmanned aircrafts fired two missiles at local resident Sikandar’s home in Tabbi Tolkhel, five kilometres east of Miranshah – headquarters of North Waziristan – killing at least three Taliban, sources close to the political administration said. The house was being used as a guesthouse for visiting Taliban operating across the border in Afghanistan, another security official said, according to AFP.

It was the second drone attack this month as the United States has stepped up drone attacks after a “double” al Qaeda agent killed seven CIA employees in a suicide attack in Afghanistan’s Khost province on December 30 last year. staff report /afp

Six Taliban fighters killed in Kurram Agency

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Daily Times, Pakistan, PESHAWAR:

Unknown assailants killed 6 Taliban fighters believed to be associates of Taliban commander Noor Jamal alias Maulana Toofan by ambushing their vehicle in central Kurram Agency on Wednesday.

Security forces sources have confirmed their deaths. The Taliban fighters were travelling to Alisherzai area of Kurram Agency. Out of the six, two belonged to Waziristan and one was from the Orakzai Agency.

Separately, Security forces have arrested nine suspected Taliban fighters from the Khyber Agency and cleared five caves used by terrorists in the Bajaur Agency, according to a Frontier Corps (FC) statement. FC personnel also defused an explosive device in the Yousaf Talab area of the Khyber Agency.

Also on Tuesday, security forces torched houses of Taliban fighters Shah Faisal, Abdur Rehman and Khudai Khan in the Bajaur Agency while terrorists Ghulam Ullah, Gulab, Abdul Ghaffar, Khan and Jaipur were arrested in tehsil Mamoond of Bajaur Agency.

It is worth mentioning here that the deadline for Taliban fighters to surrender will expire after four days. staff report/app

Thursday, February 18, 2010

AFP, Sajjad Tarakzai -

The blast struck in the infamous Khyber district in northwest Pakistan that straddles the NATO supply line into Afghanistan and is a hotbed of both Taliban fighters and other smaller homegrown militias.

An insurgent commander was among those killed outside the mosque in Dars village of Upper Tirah valley. The attack also hit near a base of Lashkar-e-Islam, a militant outfit with some ideological ties to the Taliban.

"Ten people have been killed and dozens of others are injured in the bomb blast outside the mosque," a senior intelligence official in Peshawar told AFP.

Another intelligence official in Bara Town in Khyber confirmed the toll and said: "There are reports that a local commander Azam Khan of Lashkar-e-Islam was also killed in the blast."

Rahat Khan, a local administrative official, confirmed to AFP that a militant commander was among the dead, but there was no immediate information on whether the bomb was planted or caused by a suicide attacker.

Lashkar e-Islam -- which means Army of Islam -- have staged bombings in the past and are the target of a Pakistani military operation to oust them from Khyber, but intelligence officials blamed warring extremist factions.

"There are two militant groups fighting with each other in Tirah valley. Both of them are attacking each other. There is a possibility that the rival group attacked the Lashkar-e-Islam base," one intelligence official said.

"There is no communication system in the area. This is an inaccessible area for us," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Another official suggested the bombing could be a revival of a feud between Lashkar-e-Islam and rivals Ansar-ul-Islam, which means Companions of Islam.

On January 8, a suicide bomber targeting Ansar-ul-Islam killed five militants and wounded 12 others in Tirah Valley, about 120 kilometres (74 miles) southwest of the provincial capital Peshawar.

Lashkar-e-Islam is most active militant group in Khyber and led by feared warlord Mangal Bagh. It has loose ideological ties to the Taliban, but operates independently.

Officials said they were also investigating reports of a second blast in Orazkai district, which neighbours Khyber.

"It's a remote area. I cannot confirm anything at the moment. We are trying to get a helicopter there," said Tariq Hayat, a senior security official.

Khyber and Orakzai is part of Pakistan's wild tribal belt on the Afghan border where Taliban fighters have carved out strongholds and in what Washington calls the most dangerous region on earth.

The bombing came as Richard Holbrooke, the special US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, met Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Islamabad.

President Barack Obama's administration has called on Pakistan to place greater urgency on the fight fighters as the United States pours 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan.

Pakistan's security has deteriorated drastically since joining the US "war on terror" in late 2001. More than 3,000 people have been killed in bombings and other attacks since July 2007.