25 Taliban fighters killed in operation in FR Peshawar

The Daily Times, Pakistan

Monday, March 01, 2010

* Security forces say several militants taken into custody
* Bodies of 17 suspected militants found in Darra Adamkhel

PESHAWAR:

Security forces have killed 25 Taliban fighters in Peshawar’s frontier region in the first four days of in ‘Operation Spring Cleaning’, according to officials.

Addressing a joint press conference in the Spina Thana near Darra Adamkhel on Saturday, city police chief Liaqat Ali Khan, Frontier Constabulary Commandant Safwat Ghayur, the Frontier Corps’ (FC) Brigadier Faiz and the army’s Col Qaiser said the operation was launched on the basis of intelligence reports that around 300 militants were setting up a “command-and-control system” in Pastowany area of Peshawar’s frontier region, intimidating the local population and using the area in a bid to mount an attack on Peshawar.

The officials said that operation was jointly launched on February 24, and would continue until the elimination of militants form the area. They said one a FC troop had been killed in fighting and five others injured.

The officials said while several militants had been taken into custody, they put up “tough resistance”. They said the arrested Taliban fighters belonged to Darra, Peshawar, Bannu, Kohat, Dera Ismail Khan and Fateh Jang.

They said huge caches of arms and ammunition and eight suicide jackets had been seized during the operation and “militant headquarters and hideouts destroyed”. They said “training material” and “literature” had also been confiscated.

According to the APP news agency, police said on Sunday 17 bullet-riddled bodies of suspected militants had been found in Darra Adamkhel.

7 killed, 44 injured in DI Khan, Faisalabad sectarian violence

Monday, March 01, 2010

The Daily Times, Pakistan

* Barelvi Eid Miladun Nabi rally comes under fire, mob attacks Deobandi seminary in DI Khan
* Six injured in Faisalabad violence, scores of vehicles torched

PESHAWAR:

Authorities on Sunday lifted a curfew imposed earlier in the day in Dera Ismail Khan after at least seven people were killed in clashes and gunfights described as sectarian violence, according to officials and police.

The violence erupted in Paharpur on Saturday as hundreds rallied to celebrate Eid Miladun Nabi. Gunmen started firing at a rally of the Barelvi sect, killing one person and prompting the angry crowd to attack a seminary of the Deobandi sect.

“Seven people were killed and 38 others injured ... all the dead are Sunnis, there are some Shi'is among the injured,” district police chief Gul Afzal Afridi told AFP.

An official at the hospital Dera Ismail Khan hospital confirmed the death toll, and said the 38 people wounded were still being treated.

The authorities on Sunday ordered people to remain in their houses night and day in the main city and other parts of the district, including Paharpur. Security forces patrolled the streets.

“We have arrested more than 20 suspects and are conducting more raids. There is a curfew in the main city and some of the outskirts,” said Afridi.

Afridi had refused to comment on Saturday on who might be responsible for the initial shooting, saying the area was troubled by both sectarian unrest and attacks by militant groups.

In Faisalabad, at least six people were injured in sectarian violence over 24 hours, according to a private TV channel. It said more than two dozen people had also been taken into custody.

Faisalabad DCO Saeed Iqbal said Section 144 had been imposed in the city. Top district administration officials also held a meeting with representatives of various religious organisations in a bid to facilitate the return of normalcy in the area.

The channel said although Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and Home Secretary Nadeem Hassan Asif were present in Faisalabad, they did not attend the meeting.

Furious protesters set a police station and dozens of vehicles on fire after an Eid Miladun Nabi procession came under firing. The attack was preceded by a clash between rival groups, one of which fired at the procession.

Police have arrested more than 15 people, including a cleric for allegedly to instigating violence.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has ordered an investigation into the violence in Dera Ismail Khan and Faisalabad. agencies

Four killed in Pakistan suicide bombing

Saturday, February 27 01:09 pm

  AFP, Lehaz Ali -

"The attacker detonated his pick-up van at the gate of the main police station in Karak town" in North-West Frontier Province, local police chief Sajid Mohmand told AFP.

"Two policemen were killed on the spot and two civilians later succumbed to their injuries in the hospital," he added.

At least 26 people were wounded, including 21 policemen, two of whom were in a "critical" condition.

"It was a powerful blast, at least six rooms were demolished," local administration chief Ajmal Khan said, adding that one bus and two police vehicles were damaged.

A nearby mosque and five houses were also damaged, he said.

Karak lies 150 kilometres (94 miles) southeast of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, which has been plagued by militant violence.

The attack came as thousands of Muslims staged rallies across the country to celebrate Eid Milad-un-Nabi, which marks the Prophet Mohammed's birthday, despite security fears.

Elsewhere, in the northwestern district of Dera Ismail Khan, gunman opened fire on an Eid Milad un-Nabi procession, killing one man and wounding several others, officials said.

The attack in Karak follows a clash in the nearby garrison city of Kohat on Friday in which Pakistan security forces killed 17 militants, officials said.

Pakistan's military has launched a number of offensives against Islamist militants in the tribal belt where the United States says Al-Qaeda has carved out its headquarters in the most dangerous terrain on Earth.

Pakistan is under increasing US pressure to do more to act against militants who stage cross border attacks in Afghanistan against NATO and US forces fighting an eight-year war against the Taliban.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan since July 2007 in a deadly campaign blamed on Islamist militants opposed to the government's alliance with the United States.

In the attack on the religious procession in Dera Ismail Khan district, police said, two or three armed men hiding behind the trees opened fire on hundreds of people carrying banners and reciting hymns.

Senior police officer Bashar Khan said rally in the district's Dhaki More neighbourhood was organised by a Sunni Muslim party. No arrests were reported.

Khan said seven participants in the rally were wounded in the attack, one of whom died in hospital. Health officials confirmed the casualties.

Officials refused to speculate who could be behind the attack. The town has been hit frequently by sectarian violence and extremist attacks.

"Dera Ismail Khan has been target of both militant attacks and sectarian violence," local police chief Gul Afzal Afridi told AFP.

"We cannot immediately blame any group, we are investigating," he said.

Firing also took place on a religious rally in the industrial city of Faisalabad, in central Punjab province, where four marchers were wounded.

An angry mob attacked a nearby police station and torched dozens of motorbikes and private cars, police said.

Shiites account for about 20 percent of Pakistan's Sunni-dominated population of 167 million. Although the two communities usually coexist peacefully, more than 4,000 people have died in outbreaks of sectarian violence since the late 1980s.

Taliban fighters destroy NATO tanker in Pakistan

Press TV, Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:26:04 GMT

Security forces fought with Taliban fighters early Monday and killed one of them, said Peshawar police chief Liaquat Ali Khan.

The other attackers escaped and the tanker was destroyed, he added.

The militants often attack trucks carrying fuel and other supplies for foreign troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

Most of the supplies destined for US and NATO troops in Afghanistan pass through volatile northwestern Pakistan.

AGB/TG/DT