ISLAMABAD, 15 October 2004 — Pakistani security forces yesterday stormed a terrorist hideout and killed all five militants who were holding two Chinese workers hostage in the country’s remote tribal belt. One of the Chinese workers was killed in the shootout.
“With great dismay, I confirm that one of the Chinese hostages succumbed to his injuries in hospital. He was shot by the kidnappers,” said Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao.
Beijing condemned the abductions as a terrorist act.
Later yesterday, security forces launched an operation to hunt down militant leader Abdullah Mehsud, who was believed hiding in mountains while his men held the hostages in the nearby village of Chagmalai in South Waziristan, officials said.
“The masterminds behind this terrorist action will be pursued relentlessly and meted out the most severe punishment,” President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said in a statement.
Commandos raided a house where the militants were holding the hostages after shots were heard coming from inside, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said.
“This raised fears that the kidnappers had started violence against the Chinese,” he said. “The security forces then stormed and killed all five kidnappers and freed the Chinese.”
However, Abid Mehsud, a Chagmalai resident said dozens of special forces soldiers, disguised as local tribesmen, surrounded the mud-brick house and opened fire when three of the kidnappers came outside to talk on a two-way radio.
The troops then threw a tear gas grenade into the house and one of the Chinese ran out and made it to safety. The two surviving militants then emerged, holding the other Chinese man in front of them.
“The troops fired at them and they all fell to the ground,” Mehsud said, though he added it was not clear whether the soldiers’ fire had killed the hostage, or whether the militants had shot him.
Sheikh Rashid said the kidnappers had shot the Chinese man, Wang Peng. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said the surviving Chinese worker, Wang Ende, had been taken to the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad. The house where the gunbattle occurred was littered with empty mineral water bottles and food packages with Chinese writing on them. Blood was splattered on the ground where the militants and the hostage had been shot.
The raid came hours after two rounds of talks between tribal elders and Abdullah Mehsud collapsed.
Wang Ende and Wang Peng were working on Pakistan’s Gomal Zam Dam project when they were kidnapped by men led by Mehsud, who was recently released from US custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The kidnappers demanded the release of some of the jailed militants and an end to military operation in the tribal area.
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said soldiers attacked the kidnappers “only after Mehsud and his men refused to release” the Chinese. He said the bodies of the hostage-takers were being sent to a military base to confirm their identity and nationality. Two were believed to be foreigners, he added. The Chinese were kidnapped with their Pakistani driver and security guard. The militants freed the two Pakistanis an hour before yesterday’s attack.
China expressed deep sadness and regret over the killing but had taken note of Pakistan’s efforts to save the engineers, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf expressed his grief over the killing of the hostage and assured Beijing the masterminds behind the abduction would be pursued and punished severely.
— Additional input from agencies
