Posts Tagged ‘dead’

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Militant attacks killed six troops in Pakistan’s tribal belt, where soldiers backed by warplanes and helicopter gunships are pressing a major anti-Taliban offensive, officials said Monday. The first attack, late Sunday, left four soldiers dead in Makin, one of the battlefields where ground troops are pressing an operation against the homegrown Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) network into a fourth week. Military officials said initially that the soldiers died in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack — of the type deployed by the Taliban to such deadly effect against US and NATO troops across the border in Afghanistan.

But the army press office later issued a statement saying militants fired rockets at a security checkpost, killing the four soldiers and wounding one other. Eight militants were killed, the statement said. Further to the north in the lawless tribal belt, where US officials say Al-Qaeda are plotting attacks on the West, a roadside bomb killed two paramilitary soldiers in Bajaur district, officials said. The soldiers were travelling at the time in a vehicle to take up duty at the strategic Mullahsaid Top checkpoint, 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Khar, the main town of Bajaur. “Two soldiers were killed and one injured in an IED attack,” tribal administration official Abdul Hameed Khan told AFP. Paramilitary and intelligence officials confirmed Monday’s incident and toll.

Officials say the Taliban have stepped up attacks in Bajaur to deflect attention away from South Waziristan, where around 30,000 Pakistani troops are pressing their most ambitious offensive to date against the TTP. Makin is one of the most notorious Taliban-held towns in South Waziristan and close to where former TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud had a house, which the military said Friday had been demolished. A US missile attack killed Mehsud on August 5 in South Waziristan, part of the border area with Afghanistan that Washington calls the most dangerous place in the world because of an abundance of Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. The military says around 480 militants and 46 soldiers have been killed since the offensive began, but security officials and analysts say that many Islamist rebels have simply fled rather than staying to fight. The military provides the only regular information coming from the frontlines. None of the details can be verified because communication lines are down and journalists and aid workers barred from the area. Source

Pakistani forces have captured the strategically important town of Ladha from the Taliban in ongoing clashes in South Waziristan, officials say. According to the military, 28 militants and five soldiers have been killed in battles over the last 24 hours. The army went on the offensive in South Waziristan on 17 October to root out militants behind a wave of bombings. The latest fighting took place as gunmen wounded an army brigadier in a drive-by shooting in the capital. There has been no independent verification of the military’s latest reported gains as journalists are not allowed into the area except on occasional trips organised by the military.

‘Little resistance’

The BBC’s Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says that the military has made significant gains in its campaign in South Waziristan so far – and across the country there seems to be a consensus that the operation is the right option at the moment. Our correspondent says that the military’s confidence is not without basis – despite a wave of militant attacks that has killed hundreds in recent weeks, most Pakistanis remain firmly behind the operation in South Waziristan. The military says that it has advanced into the militant heartland from three directions and in addition to taking Ladha has also captured the militant-held village of Makeen. “We have not seen much resistance as we entered Makeen,” a senior military official in the region who declined to be identified told the Reuters news agency. “Our troops are now clearing mines improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and moving forward.” The latest fighting is taking place in the same area where Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed in an attack by a US drone aircraft in early August. The clashes are being closely watched by the US and its Nato allies fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan who argue that the South Waziristan area is a sanctuary for al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. In a separate development, police say that they have killed two militants in a clash after they refused to stop their vehicle at a checkpoint in the town of Mansehra, 90km (56 miles) north of Islamabad. Two policemen were wounded in the attack, police say, and bomb-laden jackets and detonators normally used by suicide bombers were recovered.

Five British soldiers have been shot dead in Helmand Province, in an attack the UK military says was carried out by a “rogue” Afghan policeman, BBC reported. Three of the soldiers were from the Grenadier Guards and two were from the Royal Military Police. Several others were injured. The officer opened fire at a police checkpoint before fleeing. It is the highest number of UK soldiers killed in a single incident of “combat” since the US-led invasion of 2001. An investigation into the attack is under way. The soldiers’ next of kin have been informed of the deaths. A UK military spokesman said: “One individual Afghan National Policeman, possibly in conjunction with another, went rogue. “His motives and whereabouts are unknown at this time. Every effort is now being put into hunting down those responsible for this attack.”

BBC Kabul correspondent Ian Pannell said sources indicated the attacker was a police officer called Gulbuddin who had fled the scene after the shooting. It appears he could have been involved in a dispute with his commander, but tribal sources have pointed to a link with the Taliban. Lt Col Wakefield, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said the men who were killed had been mentoring and living with a number of Afghan police officers. He said they had worked and lived in a compound at a national police checkpoint for the past two weeks. Lt Col Wakefield said: “It is with the deepest sadness I must inform you that five British soldiers were shot and killed yesterday in Nad Ali District. “Five British soldiers, five of our own, shot down in the course of their duty. They will not be forgotten.” Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the latest deaths were a “terrible loss”. He said: “My thoughts, condolences and sympathies go to their families, loved ones and colleagues. I know that the whole country too will mourn their loss.

“They fought to make Afghanistan more secure, but above all to make Britain safer from the terrorism and extremism which continues to threaten us from the border areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. “I pay tribute to their courage, skill and determination. They will never be forgotten. “It is my highest priority to ensure our heroic troops have the best possible support and equipment – and the right strategy, backed by our international partners, and by a new Afghan government ready to play its part in confronting the challenges Afghanistan faces. “Our troops deserve nothing less. My commitment to them remains unshakeable.” The British Military Police have launched an investigation. The local chief of the Afghan National Police (ANP) and the Afghan national director of security have also begun investigating at the scene. The Grenadier Guards have been advising the ANP and the Afghan National Army in training, tactics and patrol methods.

The deaths take the number of UK troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 229. This is the worst single incident in Helmand since 10 July, when five soldiers from 2 Rifles were killed by improvised explosive devices near the town of Sangin. It brings the number of British casualties this year to 92 – the highest in any year since the Falklands War in 1982. Source

Nearly 100 people, including 30 civilians, were killed in a NATO air strike called in by German troops on two hijacked fuel tankers in northern Afghanistan this month, an Afghan government-appointed official said. The September 4 strike in northern Kunduz province has drawn domestic and international criticism, and has stirred intense debate in Germany over Berlin’s strategy in Afghanistan, two weeks before an election. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said last week the air strike was a major “error of judgement” by German forces and sent his own commission to the area to investigate. Read the rest of this entry »

Police say a rocket has hit a house in Afghanistan’s capital, killing three family members as they slept, Associated Press reported. Police official Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada says the rocket was fired overnight from a district outside Kabul and landed on a house in the western part of the capital. A father, mother and young girl were killed and two children aged 5 and 7 were wounded. Sayedzada, head of Kabul’s criminal investigations unit, says there was no military or government target in the area. Taliban insurgents have been gaining strength in Afghanistan and targeting foreign troops, but heavy artillery attacks are relatively rare in the capital. Another rocket attack came before last month’s presidential election.