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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| 17 dead hard boyz were all Kazakhs |
| 2005-07-19 |
| The Pakistani military said yesterday that 17 militants gunned down near the Afghan border were all from Kazakhstan and included women and teenage youths. âWe now believe the entire group was from Kazakhstan,â military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said. He said the authorities recovered four passports and some documents and identity cards that indicated they were Kazakhs. Troops hunting militants with suspected links to Al Qaeda and the Taliban killed the 17 in a clash in the rugged border tribal area on Sunday. The clash broke out two days after US forces in Afghanistan killed 24 suspected Al Qaeda militants and their Taliban allies on the Pakistani side of the border. Pakistani troops acting on a tip-off cordoned off a hideout in an isolated complex outside Miranshah, the main town in the semi-autonomous North Waziristan tribal region. The 17, including women and teenagers, were killed as they tried to break the siege and flee the compound in two vehicles after a shoot-out, Sultan said. One vehicle was knocked out and the other was crippled. The general said the group included women and youths aged under 20, who also took part in the fighting. âThese people were all trained fighters,â the general said adding that women and young people received training in explosives. He said local officials and elders had tried for more than two hours to persuade the group to surrender but a gunbattle erupted when they tried to escape in their vehicles. The women hurled grenades when security forces stopped them, Sultan said. Troops recovered arms and ammunition, including detonators, explosives and bomb-making instructions. Sixteen locals who had helped the group were arrested. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 so much for letting the women and "children" go free. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-07-19 16:19 |