ID :
26894
Mon, 10/27/2008 - 18:40
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/26894
The shortlink copeid
Taliban commander among 20 killed in US missile strike
Islamabad, Oct 27 (PTI) In stepped up attacks on Taliban and Al Qaeda bases in Pakistan's tribal areas, a suspected U.S. drone fired missiles on a militant commander's house killing upto 20 people, including a prominent commander.
Haji Omar Khan, a Lieutenant of Afghan Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, was killed when two missiles slammed into a suspected militant training camp near Ladha town in South Waziristan close to the Afghan border early Monday morning, local TV channels reported.
The latest attack, the twelfth in the last one month, targetted the house which intelligence agencies said belonged to a close aide of one of the Taliban commanders.
According to reports militants cordoned off the scene of the strike and the identity of the 20 bodies in the rubble was not known.
The attack came even as Prime Minster Yousuf Raza Gilani said that U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal belt were weakening the country's efforts to combat terrorism.
Last week, the Senate or upper house of parliament had
condemned the missile strikes, saying they were unacceptable.
Members of the Senate also pointed out that the strikes had
continued despite assurances from the U.S. that no such
attacks would take place.
"Certainly (U.S. attacks) are proving counter-productive
to (the government's) efforts of isolating extremists and
militants from the tribal population, which was going through
the formation of tribal lashkars (militias)," Gilani said.
Gilani described the missiles strikes as attacks on
Pakistan's sovereignty and said they would not be tolerated.
The government would take all possible steps to stop the
attacks, he said.
The surge in missile attacks comes amidst reports of
local tribesmen forming lashkars to confront the Taliban and
Al Qaeda militants. These lashkars have been taken on heavily
armed Taliban militants and there have been reports of deaths
on either sides in such clashes.
The mustering of lashkars against the Taliban militants
is being undertaken at the behest of the government and in
this backdrop Gilani said the authorities were capable of
taking on the militants head on but it should be kept in mind
that the "use of force is no answer to what is an essentially
a political matter".
Gilani also made a veiled reference to the presence of
foreign fighters in the troubled Bajaur tribal region, where
security forces have killed some 1,500 Taliban fighters since
mid-August.
"When thousands of people cross over from the border to
attack our army, all accords are automatically broken. The
military is operating in tribal and some settled areas of the
North West Frontier Province (N.W.F.P.) to help the government
bring law and order under control," he said in strong defence
of ongoing military operations.
"It (the military) will be replaced with civil armed
forces as soon as objectives are achieved," he said.
Gilani said the parliament's recent unanimous resolution
on forging a new approach to tackling militancy was made
possible due to a bipartisan effort by lawmakers. The
resolution had laid down guidelines to tackle terrorism and
militancy.
"In any case, the use of force should be the last option.
Now that the action is going on, we need to strengthen our
civil armed forces to replace the army as we have been assured
by friendly countries (about equipping) them with modern
facilities," he said. PTI
Haji Omar Khan, a Lieutenant of Afghan Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, was killed when two missiles slammed into a suspected militant training camp near Ladha town in South Waziristan close to the Afghan border early Monday morning, local TV channels reported.
The latest attack, the twelfth in the last one month, targetted the house which intelligence agencies said belonged to a close aide of one of the Taliban commanders.
According to reports militants cordoned off the scene of the strike and the identity of the 20 bodies in the rubble was not known.
The attack came even as Prime Minster Yousuf Raza Gilani said that U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal belt were weakening the country's efforts to combat terrorism.
Last week, the Senate or upper house of parliament had
condemned the missile strikes, saying they were unacceptable.
Members of the Senate also pointed out that the strikes had
continued despite assurances from the U.S. that no such
attacks would take place.
"Certainly (U.S. attacks) are proving counter-productive
to (the government's) efforts of isolating extremists and
militants from the tribal population, which was going through
the formation of tribal lashkars (militias)," Gilani said.
Gilani described the missiles strikes as attacks on
Pakistan's sovereignty and said they would not be tolerated.
The government would take all possible steps to stop the
attacks, he said.
The surge in missile attacks comes amidst reports of
local tribesmen forming lashkars to confront the Taliban and
Al Qaeda militants. These lashkars have been taken on heavily
armed Taliban militants and there have been reports of deaths
on either sides in such clashes.
The mustering of lashkars against the Taliban militants
is being undertaken at the behest of the government and in
this backdrop Gilani said the authorities were capable of
taking on the militants head on but it should be kept in mind
that the "use of force is no answer to what is an essentially
a political matter".
Gilani also made a veiled reference to the presence of
foreign fighters in the troubled Bajaur tribal region, where
security forces have killed some 1,500 Taliban fighters since
mid-August.
"When thousands of people cross over from the border to
attack our army, all accords are automatically broken. The
military is operating in tribal and some settled areas of the
North West Frontier Province (N.W.F.P.) to help the government
bring law and order under control," he said in strong defence
of ongoing military operations.
"It (the military) will be replaced with civil armed
forces as soon as objectives are achieved," he said.
Gilani said the parliament's recent unanimous resolution
on forging a new approach to tackling militancy was made
possible due to a bipartisan effort by lawmakers. The
resolution had laid down guidelines to tackle terrorism and
militancy.
"In any case, the use of force should be the last option.
Now that the action is going on, we need to strengthen our
civil armed forces to replace the army as we have been assured
by friendly countries (about equipping) them with modern
facilities," he said. PTI
