Monday, June 29, 2009

At least 27 killed in Waziristan, Kurram clashes

DAWN.COM
At least 27 killed in Waziristan, Kurram clashes
By Our Correspondent 
Monday, 29 Jun, 2009 | 04:05 PM PST |
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Nearly 45,000 civilians have fled from South Waziristan as fighting intensifies, according to military estimates. — AP/File photo.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Clashes and air strikes killed at least 27 militants, including three top Taliban commanders and five civilians, as fighting surged Monday across Pakistan's northwest tribal belt, a Taliban stronghold, officials said.

Fighter jets pounded suspected insurgent hideouts in South and North Waziristan, where the military says it is using air raids to lay the groundwork for a full-scale assault against Pakistani Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud.

Pakistan has offered a 615,000-US-dollar reward for information leading to the capture, dead or alive, of Mehsud, who is holed up in South Waziristan and who has been blamed for some of the worst attacks in the country.

'At least seven militants were killed after jet fighters pounded their hideouts in Saam village of South Waziristan,' a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

In the region's Tank district, three top commanders of the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were killed during clashes with security forces.

Official sources told DawnNews, the TTP Tank chief, Rasheedullah, and deputy amir Ikramullah were killed in a clash with security forces in Ghara Buddha area of Tank.

Security forces were on a routine search and cordon operation when militants opened fire on them.

The gunbattle continued for some time which left a number of militants, including their Tank amir Rashidullah and naib Amir Ikramullah, dead.

In another incident, the body of Baitullah's aide Usman was recovered from the Gara Pathar area, after he had been shot dead by an unknown assailant.

Meanwhile, three houses and one school occupied by militants and a Taliban office, were targeted in the air strike in South Waziristan, the security official said.

The houses of Taliban commanders Zarbat Khan, Naseeb Khan and Umar Khan had been destroyed but there were no reports of any casualties.

More than 30 commanders and key supporters of Baitullah have been shot dead in Tank and Dera Ismail Khan since Turkistan Bhittani and the Abdullah Mehsud group announced they would rid the area of Baitullah's group.

In North Waziristan, five militants were killed when helicopters shelled their hideouts in the town of Madda Khel in retaliation for an ambush which killed 12 soldiers Sunday, said a security official in the region's main town Miramshah.

Overnight, 15 Afghan-bound Taliban fighters were killed in a gun battle with tribesman in the region of Kurram, which is also part of Pakistan's tribal belt, officials said.

The clash erupted when militants were crossing an area dominated by the Toori tribe of Shia Muslims late Sunday, local administration official Siddiq Ahmed told AFP.

'The gun battle left 15 militants and two Toori tribesmen dead,' he said.

Security officials confirmed the casualties near the town of Parachinar, bordering Afghanistan, and said Tooris feared the Taliban had infiltrated the area.

At least three civilians were killed in the village of Kaloosha, about 17 kilometres west of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan.

'First militants fired rockets at an army camp in Wana, after which troops responded with artillery fire,' said local government official Ghafoor Shah.

'One of the shells hit people coming out of a mosque in Kaloosha village and killed three people and wounded another seven,' Shah told AFP.

It was not clear where the shell was fired from. Security officials in the area confirmed the death toll.


SOURCE: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/11-13-soldiers--18-taliban-killed-in-n-waziristan--officials--il--07

 

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Fresh clashes in Kurram claim three lives

Fresh clashes in Kurram claim three lives
By Our Correspondent 
Monday, 29 Jun, 2009 | 05:23 AM PST |
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Sectarian clashes in Kurram agency have caused many casualties, cut off the area from the rest of the country and pushed the region to the verge of a civil war. - File photo

PARACHINAR: Three people were killed and six others injured in sectarian clashes in different areas of the Kurram agency on Sunday.

Reports of clashes have been received from Sadda, Balishkhel, Makhizai, Khar Kali and Shakerdara areas of Lower Kurram.

It is learnt that officials and elders from both sides are trying to broker a truce.

Armed groups positioned on hilltops have attacked residential areas.

A large number of people have left the conflict-hit areas and moved to safe places.

Meanwhile, an all-party conference held in Parachinar has called upon the government to launch a military operation against militants. The participants said the region, cut off from the rest of the country for two years, was on the verge of a civil war.

The conference decided that tribesmen would support every step the government would take for peace and stability in the region.

The conference demanded that the government should take immediate action to stop clashes and open the main road.


 

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Eight more die in Kurram clashes


 briefs...

Monday, June 29, 2009
Eight more die in Kurram clashes

By our correspondent

SADDA: Eight more people were killed and several others injured during the ongoing clashes in various parts of the troubled Lower Kurram Agency on Sunday, sources said. The sources told The News that armed men of the warring tribes were sporadically trading fire and targeting each other's positions in Balishkhel, Sangeena, Khar Killay, Sadda city and Mingak areas of the agency. The body of Gul Rehman, Naib Subedar of the Kurram Levies, who was killed by armed men of the Turi tribe after occupying Lakay Sar, was recovered on Saturday night and buried in Sadda on Sunday.
 

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The long wait in Kurram

Daily Times

Monday, June 29, 2009

Editorial: The long wait in Kurram

As Kurram Agency on the border with Afghanistan waits for the return of the writ of the Pakistani state for the past three years, the Taliban depredations in the guise of sectarianism continue around the headquarters of the Parachinar agency. At least 33 people were killed and 65 others injured in "sectarian clashes" in various parts of Kurram Agency on Friday night and Saturday. In the last 12 days, the casualty list includes 89 people dead and 175 injured.

The local population has virtually given up on Pakistan during the two years that have seen all roads going to Pakistan cut off and the federal government ditching them after promising to come to their help "within a fortnight". The local administration, if it can be called that, "cooperates" with the Taliban in the interim and exposes the besieged Shia majority population of Parachinar. According to a local tribesman quoted in the press: "We have had over 700 young people martyred but have not allowed these militants to secure a toehold in upper Kurram. Now the influx of Taliban from Swat, Dir and other areas is worsening the situation".

Because Pakistan has virtually said goodbye to Kurram, it is no longer possible for the people of the agency to get food and medicine from Pakistan. The Sunni Taliban and their cohorts accuse the Shia of getting help from Afghanistan; the Shia accuse the Sunni groups of getting ever-increasing fighting manpower from Waziristan and Hangu.

Kurram faces Tora Bora on the other side of the border. This is the route that Al Qaeda and its Taliban supporters took to escape from Afghanistan in 2001. The local Parachinar population, being Shia, did not cooperate because of the age-old rivalry between them and the surrounding Sunni tribes. After the establishment of the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) things have got much worse since the Sunni militias that hunt the local Shia are commanded by warlords owing allegiance to Baitullah Mehsud.

The sectarian scourge is also strengthened by the schism in the nearby Orakzai Agency where Baitullah's commander Hakimullah has nearly 8,000 fighters under him and is busy warring with the opponent Shia militia of Hussain Ali Shah with 7,000 fighters at his disposal. As this war spilled into Kurram, another commander of Baitullah Mehsud, Qari Hussain, the expert in preparing suicide-bombers in a matter of hours, has been operating against the Shia in Kurram. Qari Hussain was reported killed recently during military operation, but his partners are carrying on the sectarian massacre after him.

If and when Pakistan decides to tackle the crisis in Kurram it will find that after years of neglect, the killing machine of the Taliban has bound Kurram to Orakzai, Khyber and Darra Adamkhel through the activities of commander Hakimullah. Other NWFP cities like Hangu and Kohat have caught the virus because of the presence of the Taliban at their outskirts with local administration increasingly in the subordinate mode with them. The Taliban and Al Qaeda sympathisers in Kohat are the actual rulers in this region and have their outreach into Islamabad through the Lal Masjid clergy.

After the death of Qari Hussain, it is the warlord of Darra Adamkhel, Commander Tariq, who is carrying on the war against the Kurram population with the help of other TTP allies. Long years of neglect have tilted the Shia population in favour of some help that they get from the Hazaras of Afghanistan. Also, after the area was cut off from the rest of Pakistan, the Kurram Shias were said to be receiving some assistance from Iran. This has actually exacerbated the situation with a more intensified polarisation between the Shia and those fighting a covert war against Iran.

The people of Kurram have waited a long time for the state of Pakistan to rescue them. Now as the state asserts itself for sovereignty in South Waziristan and the TTP and Al Qaeda terrorists are on the run, the time may have come for the Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, to fulfil his pledge that Pakistan would come to the rescue of Kurram "within a fortnight". That was said many months ago. *


SOURCE: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\06\29\story_29-6-2009_pg3_1

 

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APC demands operation in Kurram Agency

Daily  Times

Monday, June 29, 2009

APC demands operation in Kurram Agency

* Politicians allege Lower Kurram administration supporting Taliban 

Daily Times Monitor 


LAHORE: An all-parties conference (APC) in Parachinar has urged the government to immediately start an operation in Kurram Agency against the Taliban, and alleged the local administration in Lower Kurram is supporting the Taliban, reported a private TV channel on Sunday. 

Addressing the APC, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Hamid Hussain, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Mehmood Jan, Awami National Party (ANP) leader Arif Khan and others said the situation in the agency was "deteriorating", with more than 700 people killed in clashes over the last 28 months. 

They claimed the political administration was not taking action against the Taliban. The speakers told the APC that Taliban fleeing Swat, Orakzai Agency, North Waziristan and South Waziristan were entering Kurram Agency. They said that local and foreign Taliban were creating a law and order situation in the agency.


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Death toll 91 as Kurram clashes spread






Death toll 91 as Kurram clashes spread

PARACHINAR (Online) - The death toll in sectarian clashes between rival groups in various parts of the Kurram Agency has reached 91, with 175 people injured. 
Fierce clashes spread to parts of Lower Kurram and the two groups were consolidating their positions. The locals said influx of Taliban from Swat, Dir and other areas is worsening the situation. Sources said the fighting started in the region 12 days ago over a dispute on construction of bunkers in Khar Kali and Balishkhel. 
Both sides have been accusing each other of seeking assistance from outsiders. Local people said that fresh clashes had erupted in Balishkhel, Khar Kali, Sangina, Mangak, Kochi Para-chamkani and Kirman. Kurram Agency has seen frequent clashes over the past two years. 
Residents said that 'movement of the militants' in the area had caused sectarian clashes. The main road from Thall to Parachinar has been closed to traffic for the past five months, causing severe shortages of foods and medicines in Upper Kurram.

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