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Hunt for Abdullah Mehsud intensifies
Pakistani soldiers were fanning out across mountains near the Afghan border on Friday in search of Al Qaeda-linked militant chief Abdullah Mehsud, after commandos killed five of his men who had been holding two Chinese engineers hostage, AP reported. A senior security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the army was "using all its resources" to hunt down and capture Abdullah. Army spokesman Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan said on Friday investigators were still trying to determine the nationality and identity of the kidnappers. Earlier on Thursday, Maj Gen Sultan dispelled the impression that the army action against the captors of two Chinese engineers was taken in haste, AFP reported. "If both the Chinese were killed, people would have said that the army didn't take any action and that was why they were killed," he told the BBC. He clarified that force was not used in haste; rather the action against the captors was taken after all options had failed and action was taken on the sixth day of the kidnapping. Meanwhile, rescued Chinese engineer Wang Ende reached China on Friday, APP reported.Posted by: Fred 2004-10-16 |
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