THE death toll from Pakistan’s crackdown on al-Qaeda fugitives hiding near the Afghan border rose to 100 today, when troops reportedly killed 30 locals in addition to dozens of foreign militants. Brig. Mahmood Shah, the head of security in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal regions, also said authorities were still uncertain whether any leading al-Qaeda figures were among some 70 "foreign terrorists" who died in the operation earlier this month. "We have no information about it," Shah said.
| "We know nothing! NOthing!" |
| "I mean, they're dead guys. They all look alike." |
The dead include Nek Mohammed, a renegade tribal leader accused of sheltering al-Qaeda fugitives. He was killed last week in a missile strike on a mud-brick compound near Wana, the main town in South Waziristan. Six of his associates also died in the assault. This morning, Shah said Mohammed was a "criminal" and had been supporting al-Qaeda suspects for "monetary gains."
| Oh, horrors! Not monetary gains! |
Shah said the tribal leader was targeted after admitting he was behind attacks on the army in South Waziristan and Karachi, where a senior military official earlier this month escaped an assassination attempt. "He was given enough time to change himself, but he wasted the opportunity," Shah said.
"Repent!"
"Never!"
"Hokay!" [BLAM] |
| Claiming credit for the boom was stoopid, especially since he claimed it before the boom. |
Shah said that, after Mohammed’s death, local tribesmen were helping authorities in their efforts to trace and arrest al-Qaeda figures "more willingly." He said troops had searched 172 homes in the area in the past two weeks. They found neither militants nor weapons, he said.
| They did turn up a handsome set of drums, however. |
The area is considered a possible hideout for al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, though there is no hard intelligence on his whereabouts. Government officials had said they believed a high-ranking al-Qaeda operative - possibly bin Laden No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri - was surrounded in the March attack, but no senior leaders were found. An Uzbek militant, Tahir Yuldash, was reportedly injured in the assault, but he got away.
| As Fred would say, pray for sepsis. |
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