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Pakistan "quizzes" al-Qaeda suspects
EFL:
The Pakistani army has started to interrogate the 18 al-Qaeda suspects it captured during Thursday’s fiercely fought anti-terrorism operation on the Afghan border. Eight al-Qaeda suspects were killed along with two Pakistani soldiers in the operation near Angor Adda in South Waziristan. The security official said of those being interrogated: "It is a mixed bag. There are Chechens, Uzbeks, an Algerian and some Arab-speaking nationals. We are trying to determine their exact nationalities."
"They have so many passports, it’s hard to say."
An official in Wana, the capital of the South Waziristan tribal region, told the Reuters news agency that Pakistani soldiers were conducting house-to-house searches around Angor Adda on Friday but that no new arrests had been made. Fighting continued throughout Thursday until nightfall, with helicopter gunships backing up hundreds of Pakistani troops who met stiff resistance. The army began the operation "upon the receipt of credible intelligence about the presence of al-Qaeda elements", an army statement released on Thursday said.
Ummm... Al-Qaeda elements, huh? Like the guys that answer to Ayman? The guy who said for the Paks to dump Perv? Gotcha... Wonder why the Paks are thumping them now? Though there does seem to be a pretty high incidence of Chechens and such riff-raff around Wana. There was another shootout there in June of last year. The Chechens were holed up in the home of one of the tribal elders...
Elite Quick Response Force troops surrounded a complex of six mud-walled compounds after a group of suspected militants was seen crossing back from Afghanistan. The troops fought for 14 hours with the militants, who returned grenades and machine-gun fire. Military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said the operation was launched because "these foreign elements were causing nuisance to the local inhabitants".
First Pakistan picks up the Islamic students from asian JI groups, and now attacks the "foreign elements" of al-Qaeda. Anyone begin to see a trend?
Posted by: Steve 2003-10-03
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=19414