ianstone
05-19-2010, 08:50 PM
More than 100,000 flee before Pakistan army as troops take on the Taliban in 'fight to the last man'
By Mail Foreign Service (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Mail+Foreign+Service)
Last updated at 12:36 AM on 20th October 2009
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Pakistani forces backed by artillery attacked Taliban insurgents today as more than 100,000 civilians fled before the long-awaited offensive.
On the third day of fighting today, the army moved to wrest control of militant strongholds in a lawless region on the Afghan border.
The fighting is a new test of the government's determination to tackle an increasingly brazen insurgency that has seen a string of attacks in different parts of the country, including an assault on army headquarters, in which more than 150 people were killed.
American officials have pushed Pakistan to crack down on extremists who use its soil as a base for planning attacks on Western troops in Afghanistan.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/19/article-0-06DE4321000005DC-571_468x286.jpg Claims of victory: A Pakistani paramilitary soldier stands alert at a checkpoint at Pakistani Chaman border on Sunday
However a Taliban spokesman vowed the Islamist militants would fight to 'our last drop of blood' to defend their stronghold in South Waziristan, predicting the army would fail in its latest attempt to gain control over the tribal region.
Victory for the government in South Waziristan's tribal badlands would eliminate a safe haven for the Taliban militants blamed for surging terrorist attacks and the Al Qaeda operatives they shelter there.
It would also send a signal to other insurgent groups in the nuclear-armed country of the military's will and ability to fight them.
Defeat would give the militants a propaganda victory, add to pressures on the country's shaky civilian government and alarm Pakistan's Western allies.
'We know how to fight this war and defeat the enemy with the minimum loss of our men,' Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told The Associated Press.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/19/article-0-06DBE585000005DC-196_468x286.jpg A man goes through destroyed furniture outside a mosque and police building in Peshawar on Saturday, a day after a suicide car bomb killed 12 in the area
'This is a war imposed on us, and we will defend our land until our last man and our last drop of blood. This is a war bound to end in the defeat of the Pakistan army.'
Despite his comments, the some 10,000 Pakistani militants and about 1,500 foreign fighters are seen as unlikely to stand and fight.
Instead, they will likely do as they have done in other parts of the northwest: Avoid conventional battles and launch guerrilla attacks on stationary troops or long supply lines.
Accounts from residents and those fleeing Sunday suggested that the some 30,000 government troops pushing into the region from three directions were facing much tougher resistance than they saw in the Swat Valley, another northwestern region where the army defeated the insurgents earlier this year.
The army said on Monday afternoon 18 militants and two soldiers had been killed in the past 24 hours, taking the militant toll to 78, while nine soldiers had been killed since the long-awaited offensive began early on Saturday.
There was no independent verification of the tolls.
The conflict in a global hub for Islamic militants is being closely followed by the United States and other powers embroiled in Afghanistan, and on Monday General David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in the region, was in Pakistan for talks.
About 28,000 soldiers are battling an estimated 10,000 hard-core Taliban, including about 1,000 tough Uzbek fighters and some Arab al Qaeda members.
The army says it has surrounded the militants in their main zone and soldiers were attacking from the north, southwest and southeast.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/19/article-1221380-06E14FE5000005DC-716_468x472.jpg Key stronghold: Chaman, on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border
But the militants have had years to prepare their bunkers in the land of arid mountains and sparse forests cut through by dried-up creeks and ravines.
Military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said soldiers had captured high ground around the small town of Kotkai, while a senior government official based in the town of Tank said forces had faced surprisingly light opposition, for now.
"Resistance has been less than expected as the area where the fighting has been going on is barren and it's easy to hit them with helicopter gunships," said the official, who declined to be identified.
"But as soon as they get into forest-covered areas, we're expecting a real battle."
Nearby, trucks escorted by machine gun-mounted jeeps rumbled up the road carrying soldiers and supplies towards the front.
Foreign reporters are not allowed into the area, and it is dangerous for Pakistani reporters to visit. Many of the Pakistani reporters based in South Waziristan have left.
More than 100,000 civilians have fled from South Waziristan in anticipation of the offensive, with about 20,000 coming out in the last few days. Up to 200,000 people could flee, an army officer said.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/19/article-0-06DE8DF2000005DC-715_468x286.jpg A Pakistan army tank is transported by truck passing through Bara, the main town of Pakistan's tribal region Khyber
While investors in Pakistani stocks have become used to militant attacks, the violence over the past two weeks has made them nervous and stocks fell sharply on Monday, ending 4.34 per cent down at 9,411.29 points.
The army has launched brief offensives in South Waziristan before, the first in 2004 when it suffered heavy casualties before striking a peace pact.
But this time analysts say the army, the government and the general public all agree the time has come to deal with the Pakistani Taliban.
Though the military is determined, the offensive could be its toughest test since the militants turned on the state, and the army will be hoping Afghan Taliban stay out of the fight.
Analysts expect militancy to weaken as members of the main Pakistani Taliban faction are squeezed out of their stronghold.
"When forces take over Waziristan then you will definitely see the resistance waning," said retired Brigadier Asad Munir, a retired Inter Services Intelligence officer, who said he expected the offensive to take at least six weeks.
He said the militants may initially intensify bomb attacks in cities but once cleared from their strongholds "their basic capability of training and launching people in different parts of Pakistan ... is going to be diluted".
The civilian exodus is not expected to produce a humanitarian crisis similar to one this year when about 2 million people fled from an offensive in the Swat valley northwest of Islamabad.
Many of South Waziristan 500,000 people have houses on government-controlled lowland to the east. People traditionally head to Waziristan in the summer with their flocks.
The militants control roughly 1,275 square miles (3,310 square kilometers) of territory, or about half of South Waziristan, in areas loyal to former militant chief Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a U.S. missile strike in August.
His clansman Hakimullah Mehsud now leads the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or Pakistani Taliban Movement, an umbrella organization of several Islamist militant factions seeking to overthrow the secular government.
Officials have said they envisage the operation will last two months, when winter weather will make fighting difficult.
A resident in Wana - the main town in South Waziristan and in the heart of Taliban-held territory - said the insurgents had left the town and were stationed on the borders of the region, determined to block any army advance.
'All the Taliban who used to be around here have gone to take their position to protect the Mehsud boundary,' Azamatullah Wazir said by telephone on Sunday.
'The army will face difficulty to get in there.'
Once it became clear two weeks ago that a military offensive was imminent, the Taliban unleashed a torrent of attacks around the country, including a 22-hour siege of army headquarters last weekend.
Taliban spokesman Tariq said the insurgents were also behind the two latest attacks: three commando-style raids on law enforcement agencies in the eastern city of Lahore on Thursday that killed about 30 people, as well as the deadly bombing of a police station in the northwestern city of Peshawar a day later.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1221380/Pakistan-Taliban-claim-victory-border-skirmish.html#ixzz0oQUE6wAB (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1221380/Pakistan-Taliban-claim-victory-border-skirmish.html#ixzz0oQUE6wAB)
Lets hope we are on a roll
By Mail Foreign Service (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Mail+Foreign+Service)
Last updated at 12:36 AM on 20th October 2009
Comments (10) (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1221380/Pakistan-Taliban-claim-victory-border-skirmish.html#comments)
Add to My Stories (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1221380/Pakistan-Taliban-claim-victory-border-skirmish.html)
Pakistani forces backed by artillery attacked Taliban insurgents today as more than 100,000 civilians fled before the long-awaited offensive.
On the third day of fighting today, the army moved to wrest control of militant strongholds in a lawless region on the Afghan border.
The fighting is a new test of the government's determination to tackle an increasingly brazen insurgency that has seen a string of attacks in different parts of the country, including an assault on army headquarters, in which more than 150 people were killed.
American officials have pushed Pakistan to crack down on extremists who use its soil as a base for planning attacks on Western troops in Afghanistan.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/19/article-0-06DE4321000005DC-571_468x286.jpg Claims of victory: A Pakistani paramilitary soldier stands alert at a checkpoint at Pakistani Chaman border on Sunday
However a Taliban spokesman vowed the Islamist militants would fight to 'our last drop of blood' to defend their stronghold in South Waziristan, predicting the army would fail in its latest attempt to gain control over the tribal region.
Victory for the government in South Waziristan's tribal badlands would eliminate a safe haven for the Taliban militants blamed for surging terrorist attacks and the Al Qaeda operatives they shelter there.
It would also send a signal to other insurgent groups in the nuclear-armed country of the military's will and ability to fight them.
Defeat would give the militants a propaganda victory, add to pressures on the country's shaky civilian government and alarm Pakistan's Western allies.
'We know how to fight this war and defeat the enemy with the minimum loss of our men,' Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told The Associated Press.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/19/article-0-06DBE585000005DC-196_468x286.jpg A man goes through destroyed furniture outside a mosque and police building in Peshawar on Saturday, a day after a suicide car bomb killed 12 in the area
'This is a war imposed on us, and we will defend our land until our last man and our last drop of blood. This is a war bound to end in the defeat of the Pakistan army.'
Despite his comments, the some 10,000 Pakistani militants and about 1,500 foreign fighters are seen as unlikely to stand and fight.
Instead, they will likely do as they have done in other parts of the northwest: Avoid conventional battles and launch guerrilla attacks on stationary troops or long supply lines.
Accounts from residents and those fleeing Sunday suggested that the some 30,000 government troops pushing into the region from three directions were facing much tougher resistance than they saw in the Swat Valley, another northwestern region where the army defeated the insurgents earlier this year.
The army said on Monday afternoon 18 militants and two soldiers had been killed in the past 24 hours, taking the militant toll to 78, while nine soldiers had been killed since the long-awaited offensive began early on Saturday.
There was no independent verification of the tolls.
The conflict in a global hub for Islamic militants is being closely followed by the United States and other powers embroiled in Afghanistan, and on Monday General David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in the region, was in Pakistan for talks.
About 28,000 soldiers are battling an estimated 10,000 hard-core Taliban, including about 1,000 tough Uzbek fighters and some Arab al Qaeda members.
The army says it has surrounded the militants in their main zone and soldiers were attacking from the north, southwest and southeast.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/19/article-1221380-06E14FE5000005DC-716_468x472.jpg Key stronghold: Chaman, on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border
But the militants have had years to prepare their bunkers in the land of arid mountains and sparse forests cut through by dried-up creeks and ravines.
Military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said soldiers had captured high ground around the small town of Kotkai, while a senior government official based in the town of Tank said forces had faced surprisingly light opposition, for now.
"Resistance has been less than expected as the area where the fighting has been going on is barren and it's easy to hit them with helicopter gunships," said the official, who declined to be identified.
"But as soon as they get into forest-covered areas, we're expecting a real battle."
Nearby, trucks escorted by machine gun-mounted jeeps rumbled up the road carrying soldiers and supplies towards the front.
Foreign reporters are not allowed into the area, and it is dangerous for Pakistani reporters to visit. Many of the Pakistani reporters based in South Waziristan have left.
More than 100,000 civilians have fled from South Waziristan in anticipation of the offensive, with about 20,000 coming out in the last few days. Up to 200,000 people could flee, an army officer said.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/19/article-0-06DE8DF2000005DC-715_468x286.jpg A Pakistan army tank is transported by truck passing through Bara, the main town of Pakistan's tribal region Khyber
While investors in Pakistani stocks have become used to militant attacks, the violence over the past two weeks has made them nervous and stocks fell sharply on Monday, ending 4.34 per cent down at 9,411.29 points.
The army has launched brief offensives in South Waziristan before, the first in 2004 when it suffered heavy casualties before striking a peace pact.
But this time analysts say the army, the government and the general public all agree the time has come to deal with the Pakistani Taliban.
Though the military is determined, the offensive could be its toughest test since the militants turned on the state, and the army will be hoping Afghan Taliban stay out of the fight.
Analysts expect militancy to weaken as members of the main Pakistani Taliban faction are squeezed out of their stronghold.
"When forces take over Waziristan then you will definitely see the resistance waning," said retired Brigadier Asad Munir, a retired Inter Services Intelligence officer, who said he expected the offensive to take at least six weeks.
He said the militants may initially intensify bomb attacks in cities but once cleared from their strongholds "their basic capability of training and launching people in different parts of Pakistan ... is going to be diluted".
The civilian exodus is not expected to produce a humanitarian crisis similar to one this year when about 2 million people fled from an offensive in the Swat valley northwest of Islamabad.
Many of South Waziristan 500,000 people have houses on government-controlled lowland to the east. People traditionally head to Waziristan in the summer with their flocks.
The militants control roughly 1,275 square miles (3,310 square kilometers) of territory, or about half of South Waziristan, in areas loyal to former militant chief Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a U.S. missile strike in August.
His clansman Hakimullah Mehsud now leads the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or Pakistani Taliban Movement, an umbrella organization of several Islamist militant factions seeking to overthrow the secular government.
Officials have said they envisage the operation will last two months, when winter weather will make fighting difficult.
A resident in Wana - the main town in South Waziristan and in the heart of Taliban-held territory - said the insurgents had left the town and were stationed on the borders of the region, determined to block any army advance.
'All the Taliban who used to be around here have gone to take their position to protect the Mehsud boundary,' Azamatullah Wazir said by telephone on Sunday.
'The army will face difficulty to get in there.'
Once it became clear two weeks ago that a military offensive was imminent, the Taliban unleashed a torrent of attacks around the country, including a 22-hour siege of army headquarters last weekend.
Taliban spokesman Tariq said the insurgents were also behind the two latest attacks: three commando-style raids on law enforcement agencies in the eastern city of Lahore on Thursday that killed about 30 people, as well as the deadly bombing of a police station in the northwestern city of Peshawar a day later.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1221380/Pakistan-Taliban-claim-victory-border-skirmish.html#ixzz0oQUE6wAB (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1221380/Pakistan-Taliban-claim-victory-border-skirmish.html#ixzz0oQUE6wAB)
Lets hope we are on a roll