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Troops attack pro-Taliban stronghold |
26 October 2007Security forces backed by helicopters attacked a stronghold of a pro-Taliban cleric in northwestern Pakistan, trading fire with his militant supporters near the scene of a suicide attack that killed 20 people.
The fighting broke out in the village of Imam Dheri where the cleric, Maulana Fazlullah, has a sprawling seminary. Earlier this week, some 2,500 paramilitary troops were deployed in the surrounding district of Swat to combat his militant supporters.
Militants in the village and security forces were firing with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and other weapons across the rushing Swat River, witnesses said. Hundreds of residents fled, local shop-owner Rahman Khan said.
Residents said they saw four helicopters hovering over the area and could hear loud explosions from heavy weapons fire. Mohammed Zubair, 35, said he saw one of the choppers firing rockets near Fazlullah's house.
"The security forces attacked a building where Maulana Fazlullah had been appearing in recent days to urge his followers to target the Pakistan army, police and other security forces," said Muhib Ullah, a local police official, in the nearby town of Mingora.
Ullah said it was unlikely Fazlullah was inside the seminary. In an FM radio broadcast on Wednesday, Fazlullah reportedly announced he was shifting to neighbouring mountainous district, Kohistan.
There was no immediate word on casualties.
Also Friday, militants fired at a helicopter carrying a senior army officer. They missed the target and the helicopter made safe landing, said another local police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to media.
The army declined to comment, referring questions to the provincial government.
On Thursday, a suicide car bomber hit a truck carrying Frontier Constabulary troops through a crowded area of Mingora, killing 19 soldiers and a civilian, and wounding 35.
The devastating attack underlined the worsening security situation in Pakistan, particularly in the conservative region near the border with Afghanistan where militants linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda increasingly hold sway. The rise of militancy in the region has shaken the authority of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a key US ally in its war on terror.
Fazlullah's spokesman denied the cleric's involvement in the bombing, saying he wanted peace in the region and only wanted to impose Islamic law.
Swat, until recently regarded as one of Pakistan's main tourist destinations, lies about 50 kilometres north of the city of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province.
Fazlullah is the leader of Tehrik Nifaz-e-Sharia Mohammed, a banned pro-Taliban militant group which sent thousands of volunteers to fight in Afghanistan during the US-led invasion in 2001.
The blast came a week after the bloody assassination attempt in the southern city of Karachi on ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who plans to start travelling elsewhere in Pakistan on Saturday.
26.10.2007
The Canberra Times |
26 October 2007
Pakistan
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