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Islamabad steps up search for Al Qaida
Pakistan has moved troops into Bannu district in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) to carry out a search for Al Qaida fugitives, government sources said yesterday.
We heard about that yesterday, tell us more.
The transportation of troops on Wednesday combined with remarks by Pakistan’s Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat that the noose was tightening around elusive Al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden had fuelled speculation that he was hiding in the region. The operation was launched late yesterday after some 35 helicopters ferried the troops into the district on Wednesday, the sources said, adding that the focus was the village of Shamal in the area. Scores of soldiers were believed to be involved in the operation. Bannu district adjoins the semi-autonomous tribal area of North Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan and is situated opposite the Afghan provinces of Khost and Paktika.
Yeah. Yeah. We've heard it all before. A great hue and cry, with helicopters and all that sort of stuff that he can hear from 60 miles away. He's beat it for Aleppo or Medina for a week or two by now, and he'll come back when the heat's off.
The operation sparked shameless protests in the NWFP by several lawmakers belonging to the Muttahida Majlis Amal (MMA). The legislators, speaking yesterday in the assembly in Peshawar, alleged that US troops were also participating in the search operation and demanded that it should be halted forthwith. They said no Al Qaida men were present in Bannu district, the home district of provincial Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani. "There were Pakistan and US forces in the area and they were looking for Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaida operatives," a Bannu legislator from the six-party Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Abdul Razzaq, said. "There is no possibility of Osama or Al Qaida associates being present in Bannu. The operation is meant to humiliate the Muslims and it should be stopped immediately," he said.
"We keep telling you he ain’t here, why don’t you believe me?"
Local residents reported stepped up activity at the airport in Bannu. "Right now there are 12 helicopters on the ground at the airport in Bannu," in northwest Pakistan, said Inayat Khan, a resident of the area. "Yesterday there were 24 helicopters."
Somebody’s running ops in the area.
Officials said the majority of troops have moved into Angoorada and Azam Warzak areas near the Afghan border. There was no indication of who was being sought or whether there was some fresh intelligence of fugitives in the area. However, both U.S. and Afghan officials have repeatedly said fugitive Al Qaida and Taliban have taken refuge in the region, where tribesmen have expressed a willingness to hide them. There has also been speculation that suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden may have taken refuge in the region.
If he’s still alive, that’s where I’d look for him.
Posted by: Steve 2003-09-05
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=18352