More assaults on militants as Musharraf prepares for Kabul jirga

FE Team | Published: August 12, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Pervez Musharraf

ISLAMABAD, Aug 11 (AFP): Pakistani helicopter gunships launched new assaults Saturday on Al-Qaeda and Taliban hideouts in the mountainous northwest as President Pervez Musharraf prepared to address a peace summit in Kabul.
Cobra helicopters killed three suspected militants, pounding what was believed to be their base after a firefight Saturday in Mir Ali town in North Waziristan tribal district, the military said.
"A security convoy was passing when an improvised explosive device planted by militants exploded, causing no harm to the security personnel," chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told the news agency.
"Armed miscreants then attacked security men with automatic weapons that injured a soldier.
"In retaliatory firing by helicopters three miscreants were killed," Arshad said.
The continuing violence in the tribal area comes amid a joint tribal gathering organised by Pakistan and the Afghan government in Kabul to discuss ways to counter the Al-Qaeda and Taliban threat.
Musharraf cancelled his trip Thursday to the inaugural session of the "peace jirga" which is being attended by around 700 tribal elders from the border regions.
The jirga is scheduled to end Sunday and the foreign ministry in Islamabad said late Friday the president had agreed "in principle" to address the closing session.
Musharraf's decision to attend the talk-fest followed a conversation with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who telephoned him Thursday to discuss the jirga as well as reports he was considering imposing a state of emergency, the foreign ministry said.
The turnaround also followed a call late Friday from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who again urged him to attend the gathering which runs to Sunday.
Relations between Karzai and Musharraf have been strained over the resurgence of the Taliban, which was driven from government by a US-led coalition in 2001 after having been helped to power by Pakistan in 1996.
The border regions have become an intense headache for Musharraf, who is facing accusations from Washington and at home that not enough is being done to root out the terrorist presence on the Pakistani side of the border.