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Afghanistan

Nine Taliban killed in Afghanistan: police

2008-06-06

Militant attacks on international soldiers in Afghanistan Thursday left several civilians wounded and nine rebels dead in return fire that included air strikes, officials said. In one attack, a suicide bomber ran at a NATO patrol in the town of Qalat, the capital of Zabul province, and detonated explosives that he was carrying, deputy police chief Faridullah Khan told AFP. The international troops suffered no casualties but four young civilian men were wounded, he said from the town which is about 400 kilometres (250 miles) south of Kabul. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has US and Romanian soldiers in Qalat. No one immediately claimed responsibility but the attack was similar to scores of others carried out by the extremist Taliban movement, which makes heavy use of bombings in an insurgency against the Western-backed government. Also in Qalat, Taliban militants attacked a joint Afghan and ISAF patrol on the main road travelling through the province, Khan said. The ambush sparked a clash and ISAF aircraft were called in. "Nine Taliban were killed in the aerial bombing. Their bodies were left at the battlefield and we have the bodies," Khan said. Afghan and NATO troops suffered no casualties.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan frees Sufi Muhammad, surrenders to makes peace with TNSM

2008-04-22

Pakistan freed a pro-Taliban cleric and quickly signed an accord with his hard-line group Monday, the first major step by the new government to talk peace with Islamic militants and break with President Pervez Musharraf's policy of using force. The day's developments began with the release of Sufi Muhammad, who is believed in his 70s, after more than five years in custody following his dispatch of thousands of followers to fight in Afghanistan. The followers he dispatched arrived on pickup trucks, most without training, some unarmed, fired up to fight the infidel. The real mujaheddin, to whit the Northern Alliance, didn't really fight them -- they harvested them. Most of Sufi's heroes didn't make it back home, and the ones who did mostly had to be ransomed. Perv put Sufi in jug as much for the old horror's own protection as anything else. But memories in NWFP seem to be short, even though the droves of dead guys remain dead. Go figure. A few hours later, the government of North West Frontier Province said Muhammad's group signed a pact renouncing violence in return for being allowed to peacefully campaign for Islamic law. Security forces have the right to "act against" any extremists who attack the government. "Peacefully" in NWFP means nothing over .50 caliber for small arms and 107mm for artillery. Really calms things down a lot. Analysts cautioned it would take time to judge the new approach, noting Musharraf also struck truces with some groups that U.S. officials have complained gave Pakistani militants as well as Taliban and al-Qaida fighters a chance to build up their strength. The anti-government sentiments in the region affected by Monday's deal are seen as less intractable than those held by Taliban sympathizers in the tribal regions of Waziristan, where U.S. officials believe Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders are hiding. Provincial government spokesman Faridullah Khan said the pact covers the Swat Valley and neighboring districts in this area along the Afghan frontier. It was not clear if the deal was accepted by Muhammad's son-in-law, Mualana Fazlullah, whose fighters seized control of the Swat Valley last year, prompting a bloody army offensive. Fazlullah's spokesman could not be reached for comment late Monday. Fazlullah is reportedly at odds with Muhammad, and experts expressed doubts the younger militant would change. "I think Maulana Fazlullah will continue with whatever he is doing," said Mehmood Shah, former security chief for Pakistan's tribal areas.

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Afghanistan

Battle leaves 4 Taliban dead in Zabul

2008-03-24

(Xinhua) -- Four Taliban insurgents were killed as in clash with Afghan police in Afghanistan's southern Zabul province Saturday, a local police official said Sunday. "The clash took place in Shahjoi district on Saturday, in which four rebels were killed and three others made captive," a police officer Faridullah Khan told Xinhua. In the meantime, Taliban purported spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi denied the casualties, saying two policemen were killed in the firefight which lasted for few hours. Conflicts and Taliban-related violence have left more than 220 people dead so far this year in the war-torn central Asian country, where anti-government militants have vowed to intensify their guerrilla-style attacks.

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India-Pakistan

Military suspects suicide attacker targeted Waziristan base

2006-08-06

The military suspects that Friday’s attack on a security forces’ command base in South Waziristan was a suicide attack, army spokesman Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan ... the very model of a modern major general... said on Saturday. “We suspect it was a suicide attack,” Sultan told Daily Times. The attack is the first of its kind in South Waziristan and comes when a grand tribal jirga is trying to broker peace between militants and the government in the neighbouring North Waziristan. Surely that's coincidental... Official sources said a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into the boundary wall of the base in Shakai Valley, once a stronghold of foreign militants. Five soldiers were reported injured in the attack, which also left a dozen military vehicles “damaged”. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. “The base has been set up in the private rest house of slain tribal elder Faridullah Khan and the attack appears to be the work of foreign militants,” sources said. A tribal source in Wana said that foreign militants were roaming around in Rustam Bazaar, a few hundred yards from the Zarinoor military base.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

13 arrested in connection with the killing of a former senator

2005-06-01

The South Waziristan political administration arrested 13 people from the sub-tribe of the Battani tribe to track down killers of former senator Malik Faridullah Khan, tribal areas security chief Arbab Arif told Daily Times on Tuesday. The official said the political administration also demanded the handover of the accused from the Battani sub-tribe since Khan was assassinated in their area," the security official said. The administration also sealed business centres of the sub-tribe in Tank city and impounded several vehicles while raids were being conducted to arrest more members of the tribe. A unnamed tribal source told Daily Times that the arrests would help the government little to find out the perpetrators of the crime since "they are no ordinary men" to have made the successful assassination attempt on Khan. "The government knows my tribe was not involved but it is arresting our people to complete paperwork," he added. The authorities made the arrests in Frontier Region Tank near South Waziristan tribal region on Tuesday under the territorial responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulations. Under the law, a whole tribe is held accountable for any crime in their areas and given collective punishment as well.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

Pro-govt senator killed in South Waziristan

2005-05-30

Assailants ambushed a vehicle carrying a senator from the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas on Sunday, killing him and two of his companions, an official said. Senator Malik Faridullah Khan was killed in the attack in the Krirh Wam area in the South Waziristan, an intelligence official told AP from Tank, asking not to be named. Khan, a former federal minister and chief of the Ahmedzai Wazir tribe, was travelling to Tank, the official said. AFP said that Khan and two others travelling with him were killed in the attack, launched from two cars coming from the opposite direction.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

Anti-terrorist politician killed in Pakistan

2005-05-29

A politician known for supporting the fight against Al Qaeda-linked militants was gunned down with two others in a restive Pakistani tribal district near Afghanistan border, witnesses said Sunday. Unidentified gunmen opened fire at the vehicle of Faridullah Khan, a former federal minister and chief of the Ahmedzai Wazir tribe, near Jandola, a town on the border of the South Waziristan tribal district, witnesses said. Khan and two others travelling with him were killed in the attack, launched from two cars coming from the opposite direction, they said. Two more people travelling in his vehicle were wounded, they said. Khan's driver Habib Shah, who was also hurt in the attack, told AFP that Khan was returning from South Waziristan after a meeting with military commanders. "When we reached near Jandola, two cars came from opposite direction and opened fire at us. We also returned the fire but they fled," Shah said.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

Bomb destroys guesthouse in Shakai

2005-03-24

"Binny? Are you okay?" LADAH: A powerful bomb exploded outside a guesthouse in the Shakai area late on Tuesday, damaging the main gate and the boundary wall, a security official said on Wednesday. The guesthouse in owned by pro-government tribal elder and former federal minister Malik Faridullah Khan, the official said. Bomb attacks are common in South Waziristan. Militants often target pro-government tribal elders and political agents in such attacks. South Waziristan Agency chief administrator Asmatullah Gandapur was also targeted in one such attack in Tank in December 30, 2004.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

Shakai tribesmen to be freed: ISPR

2005-01-13

Peshawar Corps Commander Lt Gen Safdar Hussain continued meeting an 80-member jirga (tribal delegation) from South Waziristan Agency on Wednesday to restore trust between tribesmen and the army. He announced the release of all tribesmen belonging to Shakai Valley arrested for their involvement in militancy and for harbouring foreign terrorists. No doubt they're promised on the Koran to be good little tribesmen and never, ever do it again... An Inter-Services Public Relations statement said that in recognition of the tribesmen's support and cooperation, the military had decided to release tribesmen from Shakai Valley before Eidul Azha (January 21). Edda Khan and Dawar Khan, who were prime suspects for harbouring foreign terrorists in Shakai Valley, were among the men to be set free. Compensation for the victims of the Mandata operation was also announced during the meeting. "With the active cooperation of all tribes, terrorism has been eradicated and peace has returned to South Waziristan Agency," Lt Gen Safdar told the delegation led by Senator Malik Faridullah Khan.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

Lashkars to stake out wanted men’s homes

2004-07-07

"Where's my turban and drum, honey? I gotta go on a stakeout!" "Yer drum's in the closet, but yer turban's not back from the cleaners. Here. Wear this!" "I can't go on a stakeout in a porkpie hat! The other Muslims'd laugh at me!" The search for two wanted tribesmen in South Waziristan Agency has met with little success as a tribal lashkar will now guard their houses to arrest them if they visit family. "Yar! Just let 'em try and come home! Arrrrr!" A tribal elder told Daily Times that a 60-man lashkar each will stay at Maulvi Abbas and Muhammad Javed’s homes, both men wanted by the government for terrorism. "Is Maulvi Abbas home?" "He ain't here. Come back later!" "We'll wait. Mahmoud, bring the drum!" They will be arrested if they try to meet their families. The political administration set a July 10 deadline for the surrender of the two men, warning that partial lifting of sanctions could be withdrawn if no progress was made by Saturday. "Yeah! Youse guys're gonna get it!" Meanwhile, a 30-member delegation from Shakai will leave Wana for Peshawar on Wednesday to meet NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah. The meeting follows Monday’s agreement with the government by four tribes in Shakai to fight foreigners and support the government. "Yeah! We'll murderlize 'em! Hrowf! Hrowf!" Former federal minister Faridullah Khan, who helped broker the agreement and the surrender of wanted men Eda Khan and Dilwar Khan, will lead the delegation. Official sources said that the governor might announce a special development package for Shakai after the tribes agreement to support the government against foreigners linked to Qaeda.

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