AF/PAK SWEEP 11/20
PAKISTAN
1)At least eight militants were killed while several others were injured during clashes with security forces in Bara Tehsil of Khyber Agency. According to FC sources, the militants were killed during clashes with troops in Gandaho area of Bara Tehsil, on Friday. Also on Friday, one soldier was killed and two others injured in Shinqamar area of Bara Tehsil after an IED blast. According to DawnNews, seven militants were arrested after the blast (DAWN)
2) Police said Friday they were holding a suspect in connection with a suicide attack at a UN office last month and a string of other bombings in Islamabad. ‘Five blasts took place in Islamabad in 2009, four of them have been investigated and he is involved in all four of those blasts,’ Islamabad police chief Kalim Imam told a press conference. Police paraded the man before a battery of cameras. He had a shaved head and black beard, and was wearing a traditional brown shalwar qameez (DAWN)
3) Four soldiers were killed when militants stormed a security post in a troubled tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said Friday. Armed with heavy weapons and rockets, militants launched the attack on a post in Chinar town in the Bajaur tribal region, local administration chief Ghulam Saeed Khan told AFP. ‘Four soldiers were killed and three wounded,’ Khan said adding that troops retaliated killing six attackers. Security officials, confirming the casualties, said the attack was mounted late Thursday (DAWN)
4)A US missile attack killed eight people, including foreign militants on Friday in the second such attack in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt in two days, security officials said. The strike took place in the district of Mir Ali, northeast of Miramshah, the main town of the North Waziristan tribal district, officials said. ‘At least eight people were killed in the drone attack. A compound used by militants was targeted,’ a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media (DAWN)
5) Thirteen militants and a paramilitary soldier were killed and several other people injured in air raids and clashes in various parts of Bajaur tribal region on Thursday. Fighter planes and helicopter gunships pounded militant hideouts in Speray, Gatki and Sewai areas of Mamond (DAWN)
6) Five people, two women among them, were injured in rocket attacks in different areas of the city on Thursday. According to police, a woman and her two children were injured when a rocket fired from an unspecified place hit their house in Pashtoonabad. A rocket exploded in a house in Essa Nagri, injuring two people. Two houses were damaged by two rockets in Faqir Mohammad and Jan Mohammad areas. Windowpanes of a house were smashed when a grenade exploded in its courtyard in Kalat town (DAWN)
7) Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani during his meeting with the visiting CIA chief Leon Panetta stressed that the new US strategy for Afghanistan should not affect regional balance in South Asia. Leon Panetta on the occasion asserted that the US is Pakistan’s strategic partner, and intends to have durable and long-term bilateral relations. The Prime Minister cautioned that the US and ISAF offensives in Afghanistan in coming days could have its fallout in Pakistan’s province of Balochistan.He said the mistrust and misconceptions must be cleared to forge improved bilateral strategic relations between the two countries. “In order to achieve this goal close cooperation between Pak-US intelligence agencies is needed, he stressed.” CIA chief Leon Panetta said that the US is looking beyond Pak-US relations on war on terror (GEO TV)
8) Mullah Omar not in Pakistan, asserts FO ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office Spokesman denied the reports regarding the presence of Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders in Pakistan, Geo News reports Friday. The FO Spokesman Abdul Basit told Geo News that the reports published in Washington Times in this connection are baseless. It should be mentioned that the Washington Times reports alleged that Taliban leader Mullah Omar is in Karachi. Abdul Basit said Pakistan vehemently rejects the allegation regarding the presence of Taliban leadership in Pakistan, adding Taliban or Al-Qaeda leadership is not in Pakistan (GEO TV)
9) One FC man has been killed in a remote-controlled bomb blast in Khyber Agency as security forces action against militants underway in Bajaur Agency. FC sources said an official of FC has been killed and three others wounded in a remote-controlled bomb blast in Shen Qamar area of tehsil Bara of Khyber Agency. Eight militants injured during clashes between security forces and militants in Sipah area. Several hideouts of militants destroyed in shelling in tehsil Salarzai in Bajaur Agency (GEO TV)
10) Three militants were killed and seven injured during clashes between security forces and militants as operation Rah-e-Nijat continued in South Waziristan. Sources said three militants were killed and seven others wounded during clashes between militants and security forces in Maidan area of Ladha. A security man sustained injuries when militants attacked forces with automatic weapons in Asmaan Manza. More then 500 militants have been killed and scores injured so far in the operation. The forces also destroyed several hideouts and took control of key strongholds of militants (GEO TV)
11) Two police constables were killed and 10 others sustained injuries in powerful roadside bomb blast at Panj Katha chowk in the limits of Yakatooth police station here late Thursday night, police said. According to Police, constable Gohar Khan and Syed Maqbool Shah embraced Shahdat in the deadly attack while 10 persons sustained injuries (GEO TV)
12) Mastung [Baluchistan], 20 November: Unidentified men opened fire at two NATO containers in Chhoto area, 15 kilometres from Mastung city, as a result two persons sustained injuries. According to police, two NATO containers were on their way carrying goods for NATO forces in Afghanistan when unidentified motorcyclists opened fire at the containers. Muhammad Irfan who sustained serious injuries was rushed to Quetta while Manzoor Ahmed was shifted to MustungHeadquartersHospital. Law enforcement agencies have cordoned off the area and started search operation (Associated Press of Pakistan news agency)
13) 39 Afghans arrested in Peshawar crackdown PESHAWAR: At least 30 illegal Afghan immigrants were arrested during police crackdown against illegal immigrants. On the directives of Chief Capital City Police Peshawar Liaquat Ali Khan, police arrested 39 illegal Afghan immigrants during crackdown in different areas of Peshawar. Police also captured 11 suspects and started investigations (GEO TV)
AFGHANISTAN
14) Bombers on Friday killed 18 people in Afghanistan, a deadly start to President Hamid Karzai's second term in office that underscored spiralling insecurity nine years into the US-led war. The attacks brought to 30 the number of people killed since Karzai was sworn in for another five years on Thursday, pledging to try to bring peace to the nation and take over security from foreign forces in five years. A suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck the capital of the southwestern province of Farah, killing 15 people, while a roadside bomb killed three civilians in the east. (DAWN)
15)At approximately 9 a.m. today, an IED detonated in downtown Farah in western Afghanistan. Initial reports indicate seven Afghans were killed and more than 35 were injured. No ISAF service members were in the area at the time. "This was a malicious attack that killed and injured innocent Afghans. We offer our sincerest condolences to the families of those killed and sympathies for those injured this morning," said Navy Capt. Jane Campbell, IJC spokesperson (ISAF)
16) Defense Secretary Robert Gates said any new U.S. forces President Barack Obama sends to Afghanistan could move into the country swiftly, despite logistical hassles that force almost all major deliveries of troops and supplies to go by air. His wording suggested that, as expected, Obama will soon approve an increase in the already record U.S. force of 68,000 in Afghanistan. Months of deliberations over the flagging war are ending, with an announcement of a substantial troop increase expected in the next two weeks (Google News)
1) Eight militants killed in clashes in Khyber Agency
At least eight militants were killed while several others were injured during clashes with security forces in Bara Tehsil of Khyber Agency. According to FC sources, the militants were killed during clashes with troops in Gandaho area of Bara Tehsil, on Friday. Also on Friday, one soldier was killed and two others injured in Shinqamar area of Bara Tehsil after an IED blast. According to DawnNews, seven militants were arrested after the blast.
2) Police arrests suspect over UN attack in Islamabad
Police said Friday they were holding a suspect in connection with a suicide attack at a UN office last month and a string of other bombings in Islamabad. ‘Five blasts took place in Islamabad in 2009, four of them have been investigated and he is involved in all four of those blasts,’ Islamabad police chief Kalim Imam told a press conference. Police paraded the man before a battery of cameras. He had a shaved head and black beard, and was wearing a traditional brown shalwar qameez.Imam said the suspect aided in the World Food Programme office suicide attack in Islamabad on October 5 in which five UN workers were killed. ‘He brought the man to the World Food Programme (office),’ Imam said. Police seized suicide jackets, about eight kilograms of explosives and ball bearings used to make bombs in his possession. The suspect belongs to Islamabad's Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) and a group based in the Orakzai tribal region bordering Afghanistan, Imam added. Around 100 people were killed when troops stormed the mosque to flush out militants in July 2007, sparking a more than two-year suicide and bombing campaign that has killed more than 2,550 people nationwide.
3) Four soldiers, six militants killed in Bajaur clash
Four soldiers were killed when militants stormed a security post in a troubled tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said Friday. Armed with heavy weapons and rockets, militants launched the attack on a post in Chinar town in the Bajaur tribal region, local administration chief Ghulam Saeed Khan told AFP. ‘Four soldiers were killed and three wounded,’ Khan said adding that troops retaliated killing six attackers. Security officials, confirming the casualties, said the attack was mounted late Thursday.‘Militants first lobbed rockets and then moved close to the post and opened fire with heavy weapons,’ one official said. Militants have recently stepped up attacks on security forces and government installations in Bajaur, one of Pakistan's seven semi-autonomous tribal districts considered a stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked extremists. The violence has surged since Pakistan launched a major offensive in the Taliban bastion of South Waziristan on October 17. Officials say the aim is to distract the army's attention from South Waziristan. In February, the army declared a major six-month operation in Bajaur successful. But violence continues to rock the region. Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal areas have been infested by hundreds of extremists who carved out safe havens after the ouster of Afghanistan's hardline Taliban regime in a US-led invasion in 2001.
4) Eight killed in drone attack in North Waziristan
A US missile attack killed eight people, including foreign militants on Friday in the second such attack in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt in two days, security officials said. The strike took place in the district of Mir Ali, northeast of Miramshah, the main town of the North Waziristan tribal district, officials said. ‘At least eight people were killed in the drone attack. A compound used by militants was targeted,’ a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.Another security official described the target as a Taliban training centre in Palooseen village. There were foreigners among the dead, the official said, using a term employed widely in Pakistan to mean Al-Qaeda operatives. North Waziristan neighbours South Waziristan, where Pakistan has been pressing its most ambitious offensive to date against Taliban militants since October 17, sending troops backed by fighter jets and helicopter gunships into battle.Northwest Pakistan has seen a surge in the US strikes, which fan anti-Americanism in the country, since President Barack Obama took office and put the country on the frontline of the war on Al-Qaeda. Obama has reportedly increased pressure on Islamabad to fight not just Tehrik-i-Taliban, which launches attacks within Pakistan, but those using Pakistan as a base from which to fight the Kabul government and Western troops in Afghanistan. Another US drone attack killed six militants, including three foreigners, in North Waziristan overnight Wednesday to Thursday, officials said.A foreign ‘terrorist’ named Salah al-Somali was the target, but there was no confirmation on whether he died or not, military officials said.The US military does not, as a rule, confirm drone attacks, which US officials say have killed a number of top-level militants but Islamabad publicly opposes as a violation of its sovereignty. Criticism of the strikes has lessened somewhat in public since a US drone attack killed Pakistan's much feared Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud on August 5 and analysts say Islamabad gives its tacit support to the strikes. Since August 2008, at least 65 such strikes have killed around 625 people, although it is difficult to confirm the precise identity of many of those who die given that the remote region is largely closed to outsiders.
5) Thirteen suspected militants killed in Bajaur
Thirteen militants and a paramilitary soldier were killed and several other people injured in air raids and clashes in various parts of Bajaur tribal region on Thursday. Fighter planes and helicopter gunships pounded militant hideouts in Speray, Gatki and Sewai areas of Mamond.Two relatives of a militant leader, Maulvi Muneer, were killed when a shell hit his house in Sewai. One mortar shell hit the house of militant leader Fam Jan in Kamangara area of Nawagai tehsil, killing him, his wife and two sons. Four militants were killed and five others injured in a clash with security forces in Charmang area of Nawagai. The clash erupted when militants attacked a security post in Bar Cheenar area with heavy weapons. The fighting, which continued for over an hour, also left one paramilitary soldier, Sarwar Khan, dead and six others injured. A girl was injured when a shell fired by militants hit a house. Meanwhile, Adnan Khan, son of a senior physician in the areaDr Mohammad Darwesh, was kidnapped.
6) Five injured in rocket attacks in Quetta
Five people, two women among them, were injured in rocket attacks in different areas of the city on Thursday. According to police, a woman and her two children were injured when a rocket fired from an unspecified place hit their house in Pashtoonabad. A rocket exploded in a house in Essa Nagri, injuring two people. Two houses were damaged by two rockets in Faqir Mohammad and Jan Mohammad areas. Windowpanes of a house were smashed when a grenade exploded in its courtyard in Kalat town.
7) New Afghan policy should not affect regional balance: PM
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani during his meeting with the visiting CIA chief Leon Panetta stressed that the new US strategy for Afghanistan should not affect regional balance in South Asia. Leon Panetta on the occasion asserted that the US is Pakistan’s strategic partner, and intends to have durable and long-term bilateral relations. The Prime Minister cautioned that the US and ISAF offensives in Afghanistan in coming days could have its fallout in Pakistan’s province of Balochistan.He said the mistrust and misconceptions must be cleared to forge improved bilateral strategic relations between the two countries. “In order to achieve this goal close cooperation between Pak-US intelligence agencies is needed, he stressed.” CIA chief Leon Panetta said that the US is looking beyond Pak-US relations on war on terror.
8) Mullah Omar not in Pakistan, asserts FO
Mullah Omar not in Pakistan, asserts FO ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office Spokesman denied the reports regarding the presence of Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders in Pakistan, Geo News reports Friday. The FO Spokesman Abdul Basit told Geo News that the reports published in Washington Times in this connection are baseless. It should be mentioned that the Washington Times reports alleged that Taliban leader Mullah Omar is in Karachi. Abdul Basit said Pakistan vehemently rejects the allegation regarding the presence of Taliban leadership in Pakistan, adding Taliban or Al-Qaeda leadership is not in Pakistan.
9) FC man killed in Khyber Agency blast
One FC man has been killed in a remote-controlled bomb blast in Khyber Agency as security forces action against militants underway in Bajaur Agency. FC sources said an official of FC has been killed and three others wounded in a remote-controlled bomb blast in Shen Qamar area of tehsil Bara of Khyber Agency. Eight militants injured during clashes between security forces and militants in Sipah area. Several hideouts of militants destroyed in shelling in tehsil Salarzai in Bajaur Agency.