Pakistani warplanes, backed by helicopter gunships, bombed hideouts of al Qaeda-linked militants on Saturday in a fourth day of fighting in the mountainous tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Pashtun tribesmen also heard artillery fire as the Pakistani forces intensified an assault in the Shakai area of South Waziristan, 250 miles southwest of Islamabad.
| Tribal lashkar find anything yet? |
"I woke up to the roar of jets. Then I saw three helicopters flying in the direction of Shakai," said one resident of Wana, the main town of South Waziristan. "There was a lot of firing, like a guerrilla battle going on all night," said a local in Shakai. Residents saw air strikes on the slopes of the nearby Tangari hills, where brush and boulders provide fine cover for guerrillas. Afghan refugees in South Waziristan were given 72 hours to leave by authorities. Locals saw many Aghans quitting the Karikot refugee camp a few miles south of Wana, and said they were headed back to Afghanistan.
| "We're gettin' outta here! That ain't no tribal lashkar!" |
Elsewhere, militants exploded a bomb in Dera Ismail Khan town, 80 miles east of Wana, killing one man and wounding four at the house of a senior official in Pakistan’s paramilitary border force.
| Easier than fighting soldiers, ain't it? Even Pak soldiers... |
"The fighting is going on," military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan told state-run Pakistan Television, adding the operation would continue to its "logical end." Air strikes this week targeted a house frequented by a known al Qaeda member, another al Qaeda safe house and a militant training camp. While the gunships have been used in earlier operations in the tribal areas that have failed to net any senior al Qaeda or militant leaders, air force jets were sent in for the first time this week to bomb houses where militants had been spotted. In Miranshah, the capital of North Waziristan agency, one checkpost outside the town was damaged but no casualties were reported, officials said. |