Militants in western Pakistan released 11 soldiers Sunday, as troops began withdrawing from the region after a massive operation to capture or kill suspected terrorists.
| Toldja so. They saved face, now they'll get the hell out, and things'll go back to the way they were before. |
Two government officials were set to be released later in the day, regional security official Brig. Mahmood Shah said. One soldier escaped before the release. The soldiers and government officials were taken hostage during Pakistan's largest sweep yet through the western areas, where some tribes are suspected to have sheltered al-Qaida forces. The government pronounced the operation a success. "The main objectives of the operation have been achieved. They included destroying dens, searching of homes, taking people into custody and the recovery of gadgets and equipment," Shah said. He said the troops would regroup in South Waziristan's main town of Wana and remain in the area.
| But they won't do anything... |
Shah said the larger mission to drive al-Qaida forces out of Pakistan would continue and called on tribal leaders to hand over any foreigners living in the area. About 10,000 Mahsud tribesmen met Sunday near Wana to help authorities track the perpetrators of an attack on an army convoy last week. Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, said Sunday that there were more al-Qaida in the region than Pakistan had initially thought.
| Previously they'd said there weren't any. But nobody believed them. |
"As far as al-Qaida is concerned, yes, indeed, they are in bigger numbers than we thought in that region. And we need to eliminate them. It's very clear that we will eliminate them," Musharraf said in an interview on ABC's "This Week."
"There's more than we thought, so it will take a while to eliminate them all."
"How long?"
"Um, a while. We'll let you know when we're done." |
He said tribal elders from six of the seven tribal groups in western Pakistan were cooperating with the government's efforts to capture, kill or drive out foreign extremists. "They are cooperating with us, cooperating with the army. And I'm very sure we'll take a very hard stand, and the writ of the government will be established, and these people have to be eliminated," Musharraf said.
| Oh, no doubt. No doubt at all. |
On Saturday, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said intelligence and eyewitness accounts indicated that al-Qaida commander Tahir Yuldash had been badly wounded and is in hiding. He admitted, however, that Pakistani forces are not close to capturing Yuldash.
| Somehow I didn't expect they would. |
"He might have slipped away, he's on the run," Sultan said.
| "We'd have dogs tracking the scent of his colostomy bag, but we're Muslims, so we don't use dogs. We're waiting for the yaks to be brought in..." |
Yuldash, also known as Tohir Yuldashev, is the leader of an Uzbek terror group allied with al-Qaida called the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. He was previously mentioned as one of two possible "high-value targets" cornered when Pakistan's military began the sweep of South Waziristan on March 16. Yuldash and his group were responsible for repeated car bombings and kidnappings in Uzbekistan before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a U.S. State Department report said. Pakistani officials said Yuldash and his group have effectively become part of al-Qaida's forces. Despite the apparent escape, Sultan said the operation had been successful since the military had killed 60 suspected militants and captured 163 more.
The rest of them changed their turbans got away. They'll be back to operating openly in a week. |
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