At least 15 more soldiers were killed by al-Qaeda-linked fighters in Pakistan’s wild north-western tribal area, security officials said, as resistance to a massive operation against militants appeared to spread. In the past two days attackers struck army bases as far as 150km from the scene of the week-long assault, reviving fears of a rebellion by the region’s fiercely independent Pashtun tribes.
| I thought there was a difference between Waziris and Pashtuns? |
The two deadly ambushes came despite a two-day halt in Pakistan’s largest-ever offensive against 500 al-Qaeda-linked militants and their Pashtun tribal supporters near the town of Wana, the capital of South Waziristan tribal district, 20km from the Afghan border. Troops suspended fire for a second consecutive day to allow a second attempt by tribal elders to negotiate the surrender of the militants. The first attempt failed to extract any reply from the fighters.
| I doubt greatly anything'll come of the second, except to see an increase in the madrassa population in the area in the next week... |
Rockets were fired at dawn on an army camp in the town of Parachinar, 150km north-east of Wana, killing three soldiers and wounding four, a security official told AFP. On Monday, 12 soldiers were killed when their convoy was ambushed 30km from Wana. The assailants have not been identified and it was not immediately clear if they were connected to the bloody siege of hundreds of militants holed up in mud-walled fortresses in the towns of Kalushah and Shin Warzak, 12km south-west of Wana. But many of the fiercely independent and well-armed Pashtun tribes who have lived largely under their own laws for centuries are angry at the offensive, branding it an attempt to please the United States. "There is a possibility of rebellion by the tribal people if the government continues with such action in the tribal areas," Bazar Gul, president of the Khyber Union tribal organisation, told a protest rally by some 1,000 tribesmen near the main north-west border city Peshawar.
| Seems like governments should expect to be in control of their own territory. If not, they've got no bitch when somebody else comes in and shoots up the place, do they? |
The toll of Pakistani troops killed or missing in tribal areas since the assault began a week ago stood at least 49, by far the highest in Pakistan’s two-year al-Qaeda hunt. The toll does not include troops believed to have been killed in the main assault at Kalushah and Shin Warzak since March 18, when the attack escalated. Western diplomats estimate the full military toll at between 60 and 100. Thousands of army and paramilitary troops have pounded the fighters near Wana with attack helicopters and artillery since March 16, killing at least 31 militants according to military figures. |