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Don't fire rockets because target not there, Pakistani official tells U.S.
A senior Pakistani government official urged the United States on Friday not to extend missile strikes into southwestern Baluchistan province in its pursuit of Taliban leader Mullah Muhammed Omar because he is not there.
| "Nope, we asked around, nobody's seen him, so take your missiles and go home." |
"A person who is making war against the NATO forces, he must be present in Afghanistan, in [the Afghan province of] Kandahar or somewhere," said Mohammad Aslam Raisani, head of the Baluchistan provincial government.
"There is no justification for drone attacks in Quetta or other parts of Baluchistan," he said.
Taliban students studying peacefully in religious schools in Pakistan are not the same as Taliban militants fighting in Afghanistan, he added.
| The students have yet to finish their indoctrination ... |
This comes after security forces launched a hunt Friday for suspected Taliban insurgents who fired rockets toward a base late Thursday near the Khyber Pass in northwest Pakistan, killing 10 people. The rockets missed the base in Landi Kotal but hit the town's commercial area, where it also injured 38, started a fire in a timber yard and destroyed nearby shops.
Posted by: john frum 2009-03-22 |
