Karachi, 13 April (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - Pakistani security officials have said they have killed a top al-Qaeda leader, Abdul Rahman Al-Mohajir, in the tribal area of North Waziristan, but local sources on Thursday cast doubt on the report by a private Pakistani TV channel. According to officials cited on Wednesday by the channel, Geo News, the Egyptian born Abdul Rahman was one of seven people killed in a military operation in the troubled region."The operation was conducted at 11:15 pm on Wednesday involving two special gunship helicopters which have special night navigation facilities," a local source told Adnkronos International (AKI) in a telephone interview from North Waziristan which lies on the Pakistan-Afghan border. "They had specific target information on which a specific hide-out was hit in Angar Village situated 6 kilometres south of Miranshah (the district headquarter of North Waziristan)," the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AKI.
"Several people were killed in the air radi but there is no confirmation on who they were, because the Pakistani armed forces do not have any land access to that place and immediately after the raid, local pro-Taliban (militants) surrounded the whole area and took away the bodies of the deceased. The casualties could only be confirmed from the blood spots at the site," the local source explained.
The name of the militant allegedly killed is similar to one of several aliases known to have been used by Muhsin Musa Matwalli Atwah, for whom the US government has set a bounty of 5 million dollars for killing or capture. Pakistan's military spokesperson Major General Shaukat Sultan said he had no information on the Geo News report, when asked about it by the Reuters news agency.
According to Pakistani sources, the US government has provided special gunship helicopters to the Pakistani armed forces which have special night navigation facilities. There are 10 such helicopters based in North Waziristan to carry out such operations. Pakistani forces generally carry out operations in the night for their own safety as the heavy presence of pro-Taliban militants in the area makes it difficult for the military to operate in broad daylight.
According to sources, there are some 27,000 pro-Taliban fighters gathered in North Waziristan to support the TalibanÂ’s spring offence against the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan and to deter the movement of the Pakistani forces in North Waziristan. Many of them have recently come various districts of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, the province of Punjab and the southern-port city of Karachi, besides those from the local North Waziristan tribes and Afghan refugees. Sources say that they are all organized under the command of Maulana Sangheen Khan Zadran, a commander of Afghan origin.
Additional: MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani army helicopters struck a militant hideout in northwestern Pakistan in an attempt to kill a wanted senior al-Qaida operative, security officials said Thursday, Seven suspected militants and two children were believed killed, but it was unclear if the operative was among them. The target of the Wednesday-night raid in the North Waziristan tribal region village of Anghar Kalai was identified as Mohsin Matawalli Atwah. Pakistani authorities were trying to determine the identities of the slain militants who were quickly buried in the area.
The two Pakistani security officials, based in the capital, Islamabad, said Wednesday's operation targeted Atwah and another al-Qaida militant, identified as bomb-making expert Abdul Rahman al-Masri. An intelligence official in Miran Shah, a town on the Afghan border in North Waziristan, said the raid targeted a house where a group of militants were being sheltered by a local tribesman.
The attack, which was backed by helicopter gunships, killed seven militants, including five non-Pakistanis, and two young brothers who lived in the house, aged two and two months, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
U.S, and Egyptian diplomats in Islamabad could not confirm if Atwah was targeted in the attack.
Maj.-Gen, Shaukat Sultan, the top Pakistan army spokesman, confirmed the raid but did not have information on suspected militant casualties, "We had information about the presence of foreign militants, It was a sting operation and the target was knocked out." Sultan said.
| Sting operation, huh? Invite him to a Tupperware party, did you? |