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| India-Pakistan |
| Kidnapped Pak journalist photographed Rabia missile |
| 2005-12-08 |
| Lesson to photographers - do not cause offence to Perv A Pakistani journalist has been kidnapped after photographing the metal remnants of what appeared to be a US missile that killed a senior al-Qaida leader last week, his family said on Wednesday. Only a day before his disappearance on Monday, Hayatullah Khan expressed fears that intelligence agencies might take action against him for sending his pictures to Pakistani and international media organisations, said the journalistâs elder brother, Ihsanullah Khan. Advertisement Five masked men armed with AK-47 assault rifles abducted Hayatullah Khan in the town of Mir Ali, about 18 miles north of Miranshah, administrative capital of the North Waziristan tribal area on the border with Afghanistan, witnesses said. The al-Qaeda operative, whom Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf identified as Abu Hamza Rabia, was killed on December 1 when an explosion destroyed a house in Haisori village, east of Miranshah. Rabia was believed to be al-Qaedaâs international operations commander. Musharraf said the blast occurred when Rabia was making bombs from explosives stored in the house. Pakistani authorities insisted the compound had not been attacked. But residents of Asoray claimed that the explosion was caused by a missile fired from a US unmanned aerial vehicle. They said that metal pieces of the missile, photos of which Khan filed to the European Pressphoto Agency, were inscribed with the English words âguided missileâ. In Khanâs pictures, the fragments are also marked âAGM-114â, the US militaryâs designator for the laser-guided Hellfire missile, which is carried on the remote-controlled Predator aircraft. The initials âUSâ also appeared on the shrapnel in photos filed by Khan, who also works for Pakistanâs Urdu-language daily newspaper Ausaf and the English-language daily The Nation. US counterterrorism operations in Pakistan are a sensitive political issue for Musharraf, who is under pressure from Islamic groups and nationalists who feel he has gone too far in supporting the US. The Pakistani militaryâs powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency is frequently accused of harassing journalists and detaining Pakistanis without charge. But senior government officials in Peshawar denied that intelligence agencies were involved. âWe understand the situation in the tribal territory is not very favorable for journalists, but it doesnât mean that any secret agency is involved in his abduction,â said Shah Zaman Khan, spokesman for the governor of North West Frontier Province. One of the journalist's friends said Hayatullah Khan had been arrested by US and allied Afghan National Army a year and a half ago near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and interrogated for two months. The man, who spoke on condition he not be named, said he negotiated a deal with Afghan authorities for Khanâs release. |
| Posted by:john |
| #4 The Predator drone carries its own laser designator. |
| Posted by: gromky 2005-12-08 20:11 |
| #3 'âAGM-114â, the US militaryâs designator for the laser-guided Hellfire missile'...... How do these things work? Is there somebody on the ground pointing a laser at the house for the missile to home in on? |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2005-12-08 20:04 |
| #2 bummer....forgot that some might not enjoy his "art"? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-12-08 19:21 |
| #1 You'd think that the CIA would take the trouble to not use missiles with "Made in the USA" written all over them. But, I suppose the chuckleheads they have running operations don't have a care in the world about such things. All they're capable of is tapping phone calls. |
| Posted by: gromky 2005-12-08 18:59 |