Thirteen militants killed, tribal elder beheaded
Monday, 23 July 2007
MIRANSHAH, (Pakistan), July 22 (AFP): Pakistani troops killed 13 pro-Taliban militants in clashes near the Afghan border, while suspected rebels beheaded a government-supporting tribal elder, officials said Sunday.
The extremist fighters had attempted to attack several check posts in the troubled North Waziristan tribal zone, where the authorities are trying to revive a 10-month old peace deal with rebels, the army said.
The battles come amid a wave of bloodshed that has killed more than 200 people which was sparked by the storming by the military of the radical Red Mosque in Islamabad earlier this month.
In the first attack on Saturday night four "miscreants" were killed when security forces returned fire, chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP.
"After some time they attacked five other security posts in the area and nine other militants were killed," Arshad said. "The miscreants have fled with the bodies, but security forces have arrested seven people."
The spokesman said a blast early on Sunday rocked another checkpoint near Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, and a gunbattle was still going on, although there were no immediate reports of casualties.
"Security forces are using artillery, he said.
Gunship helicopters were also taking part in the clash, local sources said.
Authorities on Sunday found the body of a pro-government tribal elder dumped, along with his severed head, by a road in the neighbouring tribal district of South Waziristan, security officials said.
A delegation of elders and religious leaders drawn from Pakistan's seven lawless tribal districts bordering Afghanistan on Sunday continued negotiations over the collapsed peace accord in North Waziristan.
The deal, signed in September, was heavily criticised by Washington and Kabul. Militants tore it up a week ago amid complaints about new checkpoints in the area and a lack of compensation for damage in previous army operations.
Meanwhile: Former Pakistani prime minister
Benazir Bhutto could return to the country as early as September amid speculation that she may do a deal with President Pervez Musharraf, she said Sunday.
Bhutto, in exile because of corruption claims against her, told The Sunday Times she would only consider an agreement with Musharraf if she felt it necessary to guarantee fair and timely parliamentary elections.
"I said I would return by December, but now my people tell me we should go to court in regard to my return, and that I should come back as soon as possible, maybe in September," the Pakistan People's Party chairman said.
"We will decide at a party meeting at the end of August."
But she added that she felt "safer about returning" after Pakistan's Supreme Court overturned the suspension of the country's top judge, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, by Musharraf.
In an interview from London, Bhutto, who was twice premier in the 1990s, told the paper that a deal with Musharraf would be "very unpopular" and could lose votes for her party.
The extremist fighters had attempted to attack several check posts in the troubled North Waziristan tribal zone, where the authorities are trying to revive a 10-month old peace deal with rebels, the army said.
The battles come amid a wave of bloodshed that has killed more than 200 people which was sparked by the storming by the military of the radical Red Mosque in Islamabad earlier this month.
In the first attack on Saturday night four "miscreants" were killed when security forces returned fire, chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP.
"After some time they attacked five other security posts in the area and nine other militants were killed," Arshad said. "The miscreants have fled with the bodies, but security forces have arrested seven people."
The spokesman said a blast early on Sunday rocked another checkpoint near Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, and a gunbattle was still going on, although there were no immediate reports of casualties.
"Security forces are using artillery, he said.
Gunship helicopters were also taking part in the clash, local sources said.
Authorities on Sunday found the body of a pro-government tribal elder dumped, along with his severed head, by a road in the neighbouring tribal district of South Waziristan, security officials said.
A delegation of elders and religious leaders drawn from Pakistan's seven lawless tribal districts bordering Afghanistan on Sunday continued negotiations over the collapsed peace accord in North Waziristan.
The deal, signed in September, was heavily criticised by Washington and Kabul. Militants tore it up a week ago amid complaints about new checkpoints in the area and a lack of compensation for damage in previous army operations.
Meanwhile: Former Pakistani prime minister
Benazir Bhutto could return to the country as early as September amid speculation that she may do a deal with President Pervez Musharraf, she said Sunday.
Bhutto, in exile because of corruption claims against her, told The Sunday Times she would only consider an agreement with Musharraf if she felt it necessary to guarantee fair and timely parliamentary elections.
"I said I would return by December, but now my people tell me we should go to court in regard to my return, and that I should come back as soon as possible, maybe in September," the Pakistan People's Party chairman said.
"We will decide at a party meeting at the end of August."
But she added that she felt "safer about returning" after Pakistan's Supreme Court overturned the suspension of the country's top judge, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, by Musharraf.
In an interview from London, Bhutto, who was twice premier in the 1990s, told the paper that a deal with Musharraf would be "very unpopular" and could lose votes for her party.