Pak troops kill 1,000 Islamist militants

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TANG KHATA, (Pakistan), Sept 26 (AFP): Pakistan has said that troops have killed 1,000 Islamist militants in a huge offensive, a day after President Asif Ali Zardari lashed out at the US over a clash on the Afghan border.
Five top Al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders were among the dead in a month-long operation in Bajaur district, currently the most troubled of Pakistan's unstable tribal areas close to the porous frontier, a top official said on Friday.
In a further sign of the instability gripping Pakistan since the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad at the weekend, three suicide bombers blew themselves up in a shootout with police in Karachi.
Reporters were flown by helicopter to Khar, the main town in restive Bajaur, for a briefing on the military operation launched in August against Islamist militants who had taken control of most of the region.
"The overall toll is over 1,000 militants," said Tariq Khan, inspector general of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, adding that 27 soldiers had also been killed in the fighting.
"This is a center of gravity for the militants," Khan told journalists. "If they lose here they lose everything."
Five top militant commanders were among the dead, he said.
He said four of the commanders appeared to be foreigners: Egyptian Abu Saeed Al-Masri; Abu Suleiman, an Arab; an Uzbek commander named Mullah Mansoor; and an Afghan commander called Manaras.
The fifth was a Pakistani commander named only Abdullah, a son of ageing hardline leader Maulvi Faqir Mohammad who is based in Bajaur and has close ties to Al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Bajaur, which borders the Afghan province of Kunar, has seen some of the fiercest fighting between Pakistani forces and Islamist militants since former military ruler Pervez Musharraf joined the US-led "war on terror" in 2001.
The operation came in response to international pressure on Pakistan's new civilian government, which ousted Musharraf last month, to prevent Pakistan-based militants from launching attacks in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile: Pakistan warned US troops not to intrude on its territory Friday, after the two anti-terror allies traded fire along the volatile border with Afghanistan.
Thursday's five-minute clash adds to already heightened tensions at a time the United States is stepping up cross-border operations in a region known as a haven for Taliban and al-Qaida militants.
The clash - the first serious exchange with Pakistani forces acknowledged by the US - follows a string of other alleged border incidents and incursions that have angered many here.
Speaking in New York, Pakistan's president tried to downplay the incident, saying only "flares" were fired at foreign helicopters that he said strayed into his country from Afghanistan.
US and NATO military officials said the ground troops and helicopters were in Afghan territory.
The escalating violence in Pakistan was also felt as far south as Karachi.
Another report from Karachi adds: Three suicide bombers blew themselves up Friday during a raid on their hide-out in southern Pakistan, and the body of a prisoner held in handcuffs was found after the blasts, police said.
Meanwhile, a bomb blast caused a train to derail in eastern Punjab province, killing three people and injuring 15 others, authorities said. The prime minister said he had ordered an investigation into the blast.
The three militants who died in the rain in Karachi were suspected of planning an attack on a "high-profile" target in the city, said Sindh police chief Babar Khattak, giving no more details.
Police seized at least 22 pounds of explosives, two suicide jackets, seven pistols and 12 hand grenades from the Karachi house, which was badly damaged by the explosions.
The prisoner whose body was discovered in the rubble was identified as a wealthy supplier of fuel and goods to US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, senior police official Aleem Jaffry told The Associated Press. It was unclear how he died.
The militants were believed to be part of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an extremist group linked to al-Qaida, and police said a tip from a captured member of the group led security forces to the house.
Pakistan is experiencing a wave of violence amid ongoing military offensives against insurgents in its northwest, where Taliban and al-Qaida fighters have established bases.
Karachi, Pakistan's commercial capital, is considered a militant hub and has witnessed plenty of political and religious violence over the years.