Pakistani Troops Battle Militants Near Afghanistan

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By DAVID ROHDE

Published: March 17, 2004

KABUL, Afghanistan, March 16 — Hundreds of Islamic militants and Pakistani government paramilitary troops engaged in heavy fighting for more than six hours on Tuesday at a fort in the Pakistani tribal areas, just miles from the Afghan border, Pakistani officials said.

At least 8 soldiers and an estimated 24 Islamic militants were killed, officials added, while 18 soldiers were reported missing.

Pakistani officials said the fighting had not involved Osama bin Laden or other senior leaders of Al Qaeda, who are believed to be hiding in the border area. But the officials said it was by far the heaviest clash since Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, sent 70,000 troops into the country's isolated tribal areas two years ago to capture suspected Qaeda members.

In the past several weeks, Pakistani and American forces have stepped up operations in the border region in a spring offensive intended to rout Taliban fighters from their hiding places and, apparently, to capture Mr. bin Laden.

Pakistani officials have said they are under enormous pressure from Washington to find him. This week, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is to visit Islamabad, the capital, to discuss the hunt for the Qaeda leaders and other matters.

Pakistani officials said the clashes had erupted when a force of about 300 Pakistani paramilitary fighters had tried to detain suspected Qaeda members and local tribesmen believed to be sheltering them in a mud-brick compound in the village of Kaloosha in South Waziristan.

Before they could get inside, they found themselves surrounded by 400 to 500 militants, officials said.

The officials expressed surprise at the strength and breadth of the resistance, which they said had come from both local and foreign militants. "Their level of training and resilience has surprised us all," said a senior government official in Wana, the administrative center of South Waziristan.

The government forces were eventually rescued when reinforcements arrived, but not before they suffered heavy casualties, the senior official said. Militants also ambushed government forces in at least two other locations in South Waziristan, including the village of Dabkoot.

An alliance of hard-line religious parties has accused General Musharraf of bowing to American pressure and has warned that civil war will erupt in the tribal areas if the government continues its raids.

In the last six months, the death toll from raids in South Waziristan has sharply risen. Last month soldiers mistakenly killed 11 civilians at a checkpoint. In January four soldiers died in attack by militants. And in October, 8 soldiers and 18 suspected Qaeda members died in a clash. Before that, 10 Pakistani soldiers were killed in a failed raid in June 2002.

Officials in Islamabad played down the clashes on Tuesday. "Let me make it clear that it is a routine search operation," said the army's official spokesman, Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan.

But a statement from the government agency that administers the tribal areas said at least 8 soldiers had been killed and 15 wounded when "foreigners supported by local harborers" opened fire with "heavy and light weapons." The statement said only 2 of an estimated 24 militants killed in the clashes were foreigners.

The battle began at 6:30 a.m. when roughly 300 Pakistani paramilitary troops, known as Scouts, surrounded a large mud-brick compound, said government officials and residents of Azam Warsak, a nearby village.

When the raid began, several vehicles were able to escape while militants inside the compound provided covering fire, the senior government official said.

Later, militants were able to take positions in apple orchards and virtually encircle the paramilitary forces, including their local commander, Col. Khalid Usman, government officials said. Four hundred Pakistani regular army troops sent to the scene rescued them.

Residents reached by telephone in Azam Warsak, described the fighting as fierce and the atmosphere as tense. They said efforts by local religious leaders to calm the situation had failed, including calls for restraint broadcast from local mosques.

They also complained that the clash had come after three months of Pakistani officials putting pressure on tribes along the border to hand over suspected militants and those who harbor them. American military officials say Taliban and Al Qaeda forces use the Pakistani side of the border as a base to attack American forces inside nearby Afghanistan.

But Al Qaeda and the Taliban are believed to enjoy widespread popular support in the mountainous and isolated tribal areas, the poorest and most religiously conservative parts of Pakistan.

South Waziristan, the scene of the fighting on Tuesday, is the largest and poorest of seven federally administered tribal areas where fiercely independent tribes have been allowed to govern their own affairs for centuries.

Mohammed Khan contributed reporting from Peshawar, Pakistan, for this article.

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Waziristan clashes death toll rises

PESHAWAR/WANA: Military and civil officers belatedly conceded on Wednesday that 15 Frontier Corps militiamen instead of the eight they had previously announced died in Tuesday’s clashes with foreign and local militants in South Waziristan tribal agency.

A Pakistan Army soldier, Mir Zaman, was also reported to have died in the fighting. It raised the death toll for government forces to 16. Another 22 sustained injuries, some critically.

Of greater concern for the government was the whereabouts of 19 Frontier Corps personnel, who were reportedly made hostage by the militants near Kaloshah village in the Azam Warsak area. Government officials either denied it or declined to comment on reports about the missing militiamen. Some reports said militants drove them away in pick-up vehicles from near Kaloshah Wednesday morning to an unknown destination.

Two tehsilders, who wield immense powers in the administrative set-up in Fata, and four khassadars, recruited from among the tribes to maintain law and order in the tribal areas, have also gone missing. Mir Nawaz Marwat, tehsildar for Wana area, and Matiullah Burki, tehsildar for Birmal, were not traceable after getting caught in the fighting on Tuesday.

Officials in Peshawar and Wana claimed the six men had taken refuge in the homes of sympathetic tribesmen and were waiting for an opportunity to seek a safe passage to Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan. Brig (retd) Mahmud Shah, secretary (security) for Fata, said the tehsildars would be safely recovered soon.

There were unconfirmed reports about negotiations between emissaries of the government and the militants for arranging a possible swap of the prisoners and of the bodies of those killed in action.

The government’s claim about the killing of 24 "foreign terrorists" and their Pakistani accomplices in Tuesday’s clashes remained unsubstantiated. The authorities admitted that they were in possession of bodies of only two militants, both foreigners and ostensibly Chechens. The remaining 22 bodies were unaccounted for, raising doubts if that many militants were killed. Tribal sources said only six militants, including the two Chechens, were killed.

The others were local tribesmen. The Chechens, or Uzbekistanis as some tribal sources wanted us to believe, reportedly had belts of explosives tied to their waists. Many tribesmen claimed they were blown up when the explosives went off.

The government forces arrested 16 men during their search operations. Tribal sources said Tila Mohammad, an Afghan refugee belonging to the Kharoti tribe, and Atta Mohammad, from Lahore, was among those apprehended. All of them were undergoing interrogation in Wana.

The number of military vehicles destroyed on Tuesday explained the intensity of the fighting and the ferocity of the ambush by the militants. Eyewitnesses said 13 Hino military trucks, three pick-up trucks, three armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and four mortars abandoned by the retreating Frontier Corps personnel were found burnt on the road leading to Kaloshah. The militants allegedly put the vehicles and mortars on fire after seizing them in Tuesday’s fighting.

Cameramen shot the burnt out vehicles on Wednesday and sent the footage to foreign television companies. Eyewitnesses said they saw three charred bodies of militiamen in those vehicles.

Two tribal journalists, Mujibur Rahman Wazir and Mohammad Yunis, were detained by the troops while filming them and the site of fighting on Tuesday. They were freed on Wednesday after the intervention of the political authorities. The Tribal Union of Journalists condemned their detention and demanded unhindered access to the place of action.

Tribal elders and commoners, who requested anonymity, said the militants displayed exceptional fighting skills when they besieged the Frontier Corps troops that were moving towards Kaloshah to raid the homes of wanted tribesmen, Nek Mohammad and Nur Islam. They said four well-trained fighters on two motorcycles lobbed hand grenades into trucks carrying the militiamen and fired at them before fleeing. They said the Frontier Corps personnel were harassed and ambushed at Zha Ghundai hill while returning to Wana.

Meanwhile, families were leaving villages in Azam Warsak area and shifting to safer locations due to growing fears that the Pakistan Army could send warplanes to bomb the place. Many tribesmen feared the US warplanes too could take part in the bombing of their villages. Eyewitnesses said households were using trucks, tractor-trolleys and other vehicles to shift their more precious belongings to places in Wana and beyond.

Another disturbing news was the rocketing of a Frontier Corps fort in Tiarza area in the Mahsud tribe’s territory in South Waziristan. The Mahsud area has remained largely peaceful at a time when the Ahmadzai Wazir tribal territory from Wana to the Angoor Adda on Afghanistan’s border has witnessed violent clashes involving the militants and Pakistani troops.

Tribal sources said unknown persons fired 15 rockets at the fort but all missed the target. One of the rockets hit the house of a tribesman, Wazir Jan, and demolished his wall. No loss of life was reported.

The 15 Frontier Corps militiamen whose death was confirmed by the authorities were identified as Zakir Hussain, Syed Jaffar Hussain, Salim Khan, Gohar Ali, Lal Mir, Ghazi Marjan, Ashfaq, Haya Khan, Awwal Badshah, Khan Wali, Tikka Khan, Neknam, Rafiq Khan, Sulaiman, and Israel Khan. Their bodies were brought to the hospital in Wana Tuesday and Wednesday and their Nimaz-i-Janaza was held in the Scouts Camps. Later, the bodies were sent to their respective villages for burial.

APP adds: Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat has said no military personnel were among those martyred in Wana operation on Tuesday. The operation was conducted by paramilitary forces and eight Jawans of Frontier Corps have been martyred, the Minister told BBC Radio.

He denied the impression that people of Wana were fleeing from their homes. He said the place where operation started Tuesday is about ten to twelve kilometers from Wana. He said the local population has nothing to worry about the operation which is focused against terrorists only.

Sana adds: Director General of Inter Services Public Relations Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan has said operation in Wana would continue. Talking to BBC, he said many foreigners were arrested in operations in South Waziristan in recent past but the government was not disclosing their names and nationality because it did not want to spoil its relations with these countries.