Security forces capture training centre in Kurram

Friday, 27 Nov, 2009

Security forces stand armed in South Waziristan region. – Reuters (File Photo)

PESHAWAR: Security forces on Friday took over an important militant training centre in lower Kurram Agency and cut off link routes to Orakzai Agency.

According to official sources, during the military operation against militants in Kurram, security forces secured Badama and Taindo villages. They also arrested a number of local and foreignl militats from the area. Link routes from check posts inside Kurram to Orakzai agency have also been cut off in order to stop fleeing militants from infiltrating the area.

Security forces also took over an important training center comprising three bunkers of TTP Cheif Hakimullah Mahsud in Shash area of lower Kurram and recovered important documents, explosives and land mines.

=http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/03-security-forces-capture-training-centre-in-kurram-ss-04

Friday, November 27, 2009

Kurram residents remain delinked from country on Eid!

By: Javaid-ur-rahman | Published: November 27, 2009

ISLAMABAD – Just like on Eid-ul-Fitr, hundreds of residents of the restive Kurram Agency may not be able to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha with their loved ones due to the continued blockade of the only road that links the area with the rest of the country.

It is appalling that Pakistanis belong to Parachinar, Headquarter of Kurram agency, have to adopt the route through Afghanistan to reach areas in their own country, as the Thall-Parachanar road is unofficially under the control of a handful of militants, which compels the residents of the area to use the Afghanistan route.
“Every person can’t take risk to go from this long and risky as well as expensive way as residents of these areas have to go in shape of caravans,” said Ali Toori, a resident of Parachinar living in Islamabad for his job, while talking to TheNation.
People belonging to Kurram Agency working in Islamabad and Rawalpindi have a deep sense of insecurity and are posing questions about the tall claims of President Asif Ali Zardari to plan arrangements for the people of the area.
It is pertinent to note here that when the residents of Parachinar staged protests outside the Judges Colony in Islamabad against improper arrangements of traveling, Minister for Interior Rehman Malik assured them proper arrangements only after one week. The situation is still the same, and many are leaving for their hometown with a sense of insecurity and paying fares of Rs. 3,000, said Maqdad Hussain, a resident of Kurrram Agency, adding that many people including students, jobbers and others are not going due to expensive traveling as the normal fare is not more than Rs. 300.
President Asif Ali Zardari had announced the launch of aerial service between Peshawar and Parachinar but it has not materialised yet, he added.

source: http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/27-Nov-2009/Kurram-residents-remain-delinked-from-country-on-Eid

Taliban regrouping in Orakzai, Kurram: NYT

Taliban regrouping in Orakzai, Kurram: NYT

Friday, November 27, 2009

* Villagers report influx of Taliban fleeing military offensive in SWA * Armed Taliban set up checkpoints, patrolling Kurram, Orakzai

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: The Taliban are fleeing the military offensive in South Waziristan Agency for nearby districts and setting up new strongholds, the New York Times said on Thursday, suggesting that the terrorists would regroup and continue to threaten the country.

The NYT said the Taliban had escaped mainly to Kurram and Orakzai agencies, currently outside the area of the military operation.

Quoting villagers, the paper said the military lacked significant presence in these areas, allowing the Taliban “an ideal environment” to regroup. The newly-arrived Taliban have reportedly terrorised local Pashtuns and “replenished their coffers through kidnappings and robberies, villagers told the NYT in Kurram and Orakzai.

“With AK-47s and rocket launchers slung over their shoulders, the militants have begun patrols through the new territory and have set up checkpoints,” the paper said.

“They come to our houses and terrorise us,” Fareedullah, a student in Weedara in central Kurram told the paper. “They are abducting our elders and stealing our cars. We have no way of rising up against them, and there’s no government here to help us ... Kurram is in trouble.”

The military says that after five weeks of onslaught, it is in the final stages of crushing the Taliban in South Waziristan.

At the onset of the assault, the military estimated resistance from up to 10,000 battle-hardened Taliban, but so far, the army has put the number of Taliban killed at 500.

Still, military commanders say they are ahead of schedule and plan to conclude the offensive before the winter sets in.

Military leaders say dislodging the Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters from their strongholds would be enough to “neutralise” them.

“Once dislodged, they will be disorganised,” Pakistan Army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said. “Their actions will not have that kind of coordination which was displayed when they were attacking our cities and towns.”

Experts say the Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists fled South Waziristan easily because the government and the military announced the planned offensive in the agency weeks before troops actually moved in.

“The strategy has been bad,” Imtiaz Gul, a security analyst based in Islamabad, told NYT. “You don’t carry out operations after making such announcements. This area gives them huge space for mobility. So when crunch time comes, they can disperse to safer places, regroup, reorganise and hit the state somewhere else.”

source; http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\11\27\story_27-11-2009_pg7_6

Weapons recovered in Kurram Agency

Weapons recovered in Kurram Agency

Friday, November 27, 2009

PARACHINAR: The security forces captured a training centre of militants and seized weapons in Shasho, lower part of Kurram Agency, Thursday. Talking to reporters, Kurram Militia Commandant Col Tausif Akhter said some 40 militants had attacked the security forces’ convoy in Shasho area in lower part of Kurram when they were on their way to Parachinar recently. The security forces, he said, later came to know through intelligence sources that there was a huge training complex of militants in the area. The official added the security forces raided the training centre and recovered arms including landmine, explosives, training materials and jihad literature. He said the security forces also found dead bodies in the compound. Later, the reporters were taken to Shasho, Badama and Tindo areas, which had been cleared of militants during the operation.

source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=210643