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Pakistan Hold Men Linked to U.S. Shooting
Pakistani troops working with U.S. soldiers captured two men trying to retrieve the body of a rebel from the scene of a gun battle that also left two U.S. troops dead. U.S. soldiers backed by A-10 tankbuster fighter planes and Apache helicopter gunships rushed to the area Sunday after men were spotted at the scene of Friday's battle in Shkin, Col. Roger King said. In a sign of increasing cooperation with the Pakistani military on the border region, U.S. commanders immediately contacted the Pakistani authorities who agreed to help trap the men at the border, King said. Is this the first time they've done this? King did not identify the two captured men. However, he said that at least one of the rebels killed Friday apparently was a foreign fighter who may have belonged to the al-Qaida terrorist network. He did not reveal the fighter's nationality. The deaths happened after U.S. soldiers engaged at least 20 rebels in a brief gunbattle about 1,000 yards from the Pakistani border. The soldiers were investigating reported activity by a group of men armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and AK-47 assault rifles. U.S. soldiers said they killed three rebels, although only two bodies have been found. Four American soldiers and an Afghan militia fighter also were wounded. Coalition forces have been seeking greater cooperation with Pakistan to stop holdouts from the Taliban regime, fugitive members of the al-Qaida terrorist network or loyalists of renegade Afghan commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar from escaping across the border. I'll bet the guys they picked up are foreign Taliban without Pak political connections. Hek seems to have a "Get out of jail free" card. Posted by: Steve 2003-04-28 |
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