... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a
ministatein centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...
has been cleared during the North
Wazoo operation, adding that outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur...a member of the Madda Khel clan of the Uthmanzai Waziris. Educated in a Deobandi madrassa located in Multan, he is affiliated with the Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) political party. Upon the formation of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in December 2007, he was announced as the group's overall naib amir under Baitullah Mehsud, who was based in South Wazoo, but has largely distanced himself from the TTP due to rivalries with the Mehsuds and disagreements about the TTP's attacks against the Pak state..
, if spotted, would be eliminated without any delay.
The general further said that evidence of Al Qaeda's presence in the region was found and the army was still facing opposition from some areas.
The army official maintained that the civilian population was not targeted during the operation. This information, however, could not be independently verified.
Major General Zafarullah Khan is the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7th Infantry Division Miranshah, North Waziristan.
The general acknowledged that foreign and local bully boyz were residing in the area.
Bahadur is known to have links with notorious holy warrior groups in tribal North Waziristan, including the Haqqani network.
Jet fighters carried out
The corpse count, however, could not be independently verified.
First time since the launch of this operation, Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, was opened for national and international media as media personnel, particularly from the television networks, were allowed to take shots of several destroyed holy warrior hideouts.