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Jun 9, 11:27 AM EDT
Pakistani army backs up citizens fighting Taliban
By MUNIR AHMAD
Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD (AP) -- Pakistan's military dispatched helicopter gunships to the volatile northwest in support of thousands of angry tribesmen who have laid siege to a group of Taliban fighters, police said Tuesday.
In another part of the northwest, the army began shelling Taliban hide-outs being protected by another group of tribesmen, a local official said.
The two battles - one by citizens fighting the Taliban, the other involving villagers sheltering the militants - underscore the volatile nature of alliances and rivalries in the Afghan border region where al-Qaida and the Taliban have been able to entrench themselves.
The fighting in Upper Dir and Bannu districts came even as troops continued a separate major military offensive to expel the Taliban in the Swat Valley region, also in the northwest.
In the Upper Dir district, a citizens' militia that sprang up over the weekend to avenge a deadly suicide bombing at a mosque grew to more than 2,000 members, area police official Atlas Khan said.
"People back in the villages, especially children, are fetching them food and other supplies. They are doing it because they think the fighters are fighting for their sake, they think it is their common war," Khan said.
He said helicopter gunships struck two villages, Shatkas and Ghazi Gay, where the militants have strongholds, late Monday and Tuesday morning. Some of the Taliban were blocked Tuesday when they tried to get away to nearby Malik Bai village, which the tribesmen also encircled, police said.
In the Bannu district, about 150 miles (220 kilometers) south of Dir, the military started shelling in the tribal-controlled area of Jani Khel after tribesmen refused to hand over Taliban militants taking refuge there, senior local government official Kamran Zeb Khan said.
Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas did not confirm the shelling, but said an operation was planned in area against Taliban blamed for the recent hijacking of a convoy of military college students. The students were all freed.
Bannu is near South and North Waziristan, districts on the tribal belt along the Afghan border that militants are believed to be using to plan and stage attacks on U.S. and other forces in Afghanistan.
Washington has strongly backed the Swat offensive, and officials have said privately they would like Pakistan to follow up by launching an operation in South Waziristan tribal region, the main base for Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
No plans for an operation in South Waziristan have been announced, and the military has refused to comment directly. Abbas said Tuesday that connecting the Bannu operation to a possible broader offensive in the Waziristan districts was "speculation."
The growing pressure on militants who have held sway in parts of Pakistan's northwest comes as the army bears down on their one-time sanctuary in the Swat Valley. Talk has also turned to the possibility of another operation against al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in the nearby tribal belt along the country's border with Afghanistan, something U.S. officials privately say they would like to see.
Upper Dir district police chief Ejaz Ahmad said some 200 militants, including foreigners, were putting up tough resistance, with sporadic fighting continuing.
"Reports we are getting say that the foreigners among them are around 20 to 25. Most of them are Afghans, but some of them are Central Asians and Arabs too," Ahmad said.
Ahmad said the militia was foiling the fighters' efforts to flee.
"Villagers have encircled them completely, and they cannot run away," he said.
"The militants are well-entrenched in their strongholds," he said. "The area is large and consists of tough terrain, which also has thick forests. I cannot say when, but it will take time to expel or kill all the militants completely."
Officials have said the Taliban carried out Friday's mosque bombing that killed 33 in the Upper Dir town of Haya Gai because they were angry that local tribesmen had resisted their moving into the area, where minor clashes between the two sides occurred for months.
At least 14 insurgents have died in the fighting since Saturday.
Abbas on Monday urged civilians to consider the kind of rule the Taliban was trying to impose - they stand accused of whippings and beheadings in the name of Islamic law in Swat - and rise up against them if they disagreed.
Talat Masood, a Pakistani military and political analyst, said the tribesmen in Upper Dir had probably been encouraged by the military operation in Swat.
"They're encouraged, and they're also frightened," Masood said. "They think that if the Taliban come in, the military will also come in and they'll be displaced," as has happened elsewhere in the conflict zone.
A tribal elder said villagers won't go home until the militants are gone - one way or another.
"We are out on a mission to kill or flush out all the Taliban," Malik Motabar Khan told The Associated Press by wireless phone from the Ghazi Gay fighting area. "We are here 'round the clock. We will stay here until we kill all of them."
He said the Taliban had set up bunkers and dug tunnels, and villagers were worried about improvised bombs.
"We are meeting a tough resistance, but our morale is high," the elder said.
Pakistani army backs up citizens fighting Taliban
By MUNIR AHMAD
Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD (AP) -- Pakistan's military dispatched helicopter gunships to the volatile northwest in support of thousands of angry tribesmen who have laid siege to a group of Taliban fighters, police said Tuesday.
In another part of the northwest, the army began shelling Taliban hide-outs being protected by another group of tribesmen, a local official said.
The two battles - one by citizens fighting the Taliban, the other involving villagers sheltering the militants - underscore the volatile nature of alliances and rivalries in the Afghan border region where al-Qaida and the Taliban have been able to entrench themselves.
The fighting in Upper Dir and Bannu districts came even as troops continued a separate major military offensive to expel the Taliban in the Swat Valley region, also in the northwest.
In the Upper Dir district, a citizens' militia that sprang up over the weekend to avenge a deadly suicide bombing at a mosque grew to more than 2,000 members, area police official Atlas Khan said.
"People back in the villages, especially children, are fetching them food and other supplies. They are doing it because they think the fighters are fighting for their sake, they think it is their common war," Khan said.
He said helicopter gunships struck two villages, Shatkas and Ghazi Gay, where the militants have strongholds, late Monday and Tuesday morning. Some of the Taliban were blocked Tuesday when they tried to get away to nearby Malik Bai village, which the tribesmen also encircled, police said.
In the Bannu district, about 150 miles (220 kilometers) south of Dir, the military started shelling in the tribal-controlled area of Jani Khel after tribesmen refused to hand over Taliban militants taking refuge there, senior local government official Kamran Zeb Khan said.
Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas did not confirm the shelling, but said an operation was planned in area against Taliban blamed for the recent hijacking of a convoy of military college students. The students were all freed.
Bannu is near South and North Waziristan, districts on the tribal belt along the Afghan border that militants are believed to be using to plan and stage attacks on U.S. and other forces in Afghanistan.
Washington has strongly backed the Swat offensive, and officials have said privately they would like Pakistan to follow up by launching an operation in South Waziristan tribal region, the main base for Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
No plans for an operation in South Waziristan have been announced, and the military has refused to comment directly. Abbas said Tuesday that connecting the Bannu operation to a possible broader offensive in the Waziristan districts was "speculation."
The growing pressure on militants who have held sway in parts of Pakistan's northwest comes as the army bears down on their one-time sanctuary in the Swat Valley. Talk has also turned to the possibility of another operation against al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in the nearby tribal belt along the country's border with Afghanistan, something U.S. officials privately say they would like to see.
Upper Dir district police chief Ejaz Ahmad said some 200 militants, including foreigners, were putting up tough resistance, with sporadic fighting continuing.
"Reports we are getting say that the foreigners among them are around 20 to 25. Most of them are Afghans, but some of them are Central Asians and Arabs too," Ahmad said.
Ahmad said the militia was foiling the fighters' efforts to flee.
"Villagers have encircled them completely, and they cannot run away," he said.
"The militants are well-entrenched in their strongholds," he said. "The area is large and consists of tough terrain, which also has thick forests. I cannot say when, but it will take time to expel or kill all the militants completely."
Officials have said the Taliban carried out Friday's mosque bombing that killed 33 in the Upper Dir town of Haya Gai because they were angry that local tribesmen had resisted their moving into the area, where minor clashes between the two sides occurred for months.
At least 14 insurgents have died in the fighting since Saturday.
Abbas on Monday urged civilians to consider the kind of rule the Taliban was trying to impose - they stand accused of whippings and beheadings in the name of Islamic law in Swat - and rise up against them if they disagreed.
Talat Masood, a Pakistani military and political analyst, said the tribesmen in Upper Dir had probably been encouraged by the military operation in Swat.
"They're encouraged, and they're also frightened," Masood said. "They think that if the Taliban come in, the military will also come in and they'll be displaced," as has happened elsewhere in the conflict zone.
A tribal elder said villagers won't go home until the militants are gone - one way or another.
"We are out on a mission to kill or flush out all the Taliban," Malik Motabar Khan told The Associated Press by wireless phone from the Ghazi Gay fighting area. "We are here 'round the clock. We will stay here until we kill all of them."
He said the Taliban had set up bunkers and dug tunnels, and villagers were worried about improvised bombs.
"We are meeting a tough resistance, but our morale is high," the elder said.