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âSenior al-Qaeda operative deadâ
A senior al-Qaeda figure has been killed in the latest Pakistani offensive against militants near the Afghan border, the army has said. A military spokesman identified the dead man as "Mr Abdullah", who, he said, was an intelligence chief. There was no other information about him, Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan said.
Pakistan says it will continue operations to clear suspected foreign militants from villages along the Afghan border. The army said it had dismantled a "terrorist structure" in a prolonged operation in the South Waziristan tribal area that ended on Sunday. It was aimed against al-Qaeda and Taleban members and tribesmen sheltering them. Pakistan says 46 soldiers have died so far in nearly two weeks of fighting, as well as 63 opposition fighters. Another 163 have been arrested. Cordon lifted "This stage of the operation is over," Gen Sultan told the BBCâs Urdu service. He said the "basic objectives" of the operation were met - one of which was " to dismantle the terrorist structure" in South Waziristan. The army on Sunday lifted a cordon around the area of the fighting and began withdrawing some of its troops. But the spokesman said troops would remain in the tribal areas until they were "purged of militants". There were reports that another key militant, the Uzbek Islamist Tahir Yuldashev - said to rank 10th in the al-Qaeda leadership - was wounded and still at large in the region. On Sunday fighters linked to al-Qaeda released 12 hostages they seized at the beginning of the army offensive. Two more hostages are expected to be released soon. The Yargulkhel tribesmen had insisted they would not release the hostages until the army ceased its operation in South Waziristan. The army operation in South Waziristan focused on an area west of the town of Wana. US co-ordination Pakistanâs largest military operation in the tribal areas began on 16 March with the aim of catching or killing al-Qaeda leaders and their supporters in the area. Initially, al-Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri was believed to have been among them. However, a tape recording purportedly by Mr Zawahri was aired on Arabic television during the offensive - and deemed by the American CIA to be probably authentic, even though the time of its recording could not be established. The army conceded during the operation that suspects may have escaped through a network of secret tunnels. The Pakistani operation was being co-ordinated with a similar sweep by US forces on the other side of the border. The US has announced it is sending up to 2,000 more marines to Afghanistan to step up the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and other al-Qaeda and Taleban leaders. Posted by: Howard UK 2004-03-29 |
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