 Pakistan has told a former Guantanamo Bay inmate wanted for the kidnapping of two Chinese men to surrender by January 15 or face a military onslaught, officials said yesterday. Abdullah Mahsud was given the deadline on Monday by a Pakistani army commander in charge of hunting down Al Qaeda-linked militants in the tribal region of South Waziristan.
| "Drop the rod and come out witcher hands up, Mahsud!" |
Meanwhile Pakistani security forces captured an Uzbek suspected Al Qaeda member in a nearby region on the Afghan border, also on Monday, while his five Chechen comrades managed to flee. Mahsud, 29, has been on the run since and Pakistan recently offered a five-million-rupee reward for information leading to his capture. Pakistani commander Lieutenant-General Safdar Hussain warned that if Mahsud and his fellow militant Baitullah did not lay down their arms before mid-January "stern military action would be taken against them".
| "No lashkar drums for you this time!" |
The general told a tribal delegation on Monday to get rid of foreign militants hiding in South Waziristan, adding: "You should kick them out of your areas or hand them over to us."
| "Or you can just kill them, it's okay with us." |
The Uzbek Al Qaeda suspect was captured in neighbouring North Waziristan after Pakistani troops intercepted a car heading towards Afghanistan's Khost province, officials in the region's main town Miran Shah said. One of them, identified as Abdullah, surrendered after an exchange of fire on Monday night while five others made off under cover of darkness, local administration official Jamil Khan told AFP. The authorities impounded their vehicle and recovered two assault rifles, he said. |