ISLAMABAD, 20 February 2004 — Pakistani troops yesterday arrested some foreign suspects in an operation aimed at tracking down Al-Qaeda fighters hiding in the rugged tribal terrain bordering Afghanistan, a military spokesman said.
“There are up to 25 people arrested, and there are some foreigners among them,” Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan told AFP.
“The operation is over and I would say there were no casualties,” he said.
An intelligence official told AFP some family members of the foreigners, including women and children, have also been detained. A statement issued by the military later said troops recovered “weapons, ammunition and audio cassettes” during the search operation in the tribal South Waziristan region.
“In addition certain documents, including passports, have been recovered from the houses which confirm the presence of foreigners there,” it said.
Hundreds of Pakistani troops backed by helicopter gunships yesterday launched an operation aimed at foreign militants, believed to be mainly Uzbeks as well as some Chechens, in semi-autonomous South Waziristan, some 300 kilometers (180 miles) southwest of Islamabad.
The Pakistani military said the operation was launched after the militants ignored a Feb. 20 deadline to surrender and the government received a tip-off about their positions.
South Waziristan is long believed to be a sanctuary of Taleban and Al-Qaeda fugitives who fled Afghanistan in late 2001 when US-led forces launched their campaign against terrorism.
Pakistani officials have strongly denied a British newspaper report that the location of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden had been pinpointed, and say the current operation is part of a step-by-step drive against Al-Qaeda.
“Being a front-line partner in the war on terror, this operation manifests continued resolve of the Pakistan government to follow its policy despite risks involved,” the military said in an earlier statement.
Officials said troops shelled a house in the town of Zeralitta which intelligence reports had suggested was used as a hide-out by an unspecified number of foreign terrorists.
Troops then made arrests during a house-to-house search, they said.
A local administration official said hundreds of army troops had cordoned off the mountainous region and dug trenches on nearby hilltops while helicopters dropped commandos from the army’s Special Services Group in the operation.
The operation targeting hide-outs of foreign terrorists in the area began after tribal leaders on Monday handed over dozens of people accused of sheltering Al-Qaeda and Taleban fighters.
The US military last week said it would launch operations on the Afghan side of the border in a “hammer and anvil” manuever with the Pakistanis to trap the militants.
But in Kabul, a spokesman for the US-led military coalition in Afghanistan refused to say whether US forces had mounted their own operation on the Afghan side of the border to bolster the efforts of the Pakistani soldiers.
However, he said that cooperation between the forces was evolving. “Clearly we support their efforts to conduct operations in the federally administered tribal areas,” Lt. Col. Matt Beevers said.
The operation comes two weeks after US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief George Tenet visited Pakistan for talks on efforts by the country to track down Al-Qaeda and Taleban leaders along the porous border with Afghanistan.
Tens of thousands of Pakistani troops have been deployed along the 1,600-kilometer (1,000-mile) border for the last two years and Islamabad says it has arrested more than 500 Al-Qaeda and Taleban suspects.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf last week warned foreign militants hiding in the tribal belt to surrender or face the consequences.
Pakistani troops shot dead eight Al-Qaeda suspects and arrested 18 others in a major operation launched in South Waziristan in October.
Meanwhile, a small bomb exploded yesterday in Quetta, shattering windows but causing no injuries, police said.
The explosion occurred just outside the office of a newspaper publisher in Quetta, said Kamal Khan, a police official in the city, which is capital of Balochistan province.
Nobody claimed responsibility, and it was unclear whether the newspaper office was deliberately targeted. Quetta, located near the Afghan border, has been the scene of a series of mysterious explosions and rocket attacks. The incidents have rarely caused serious injuries or damage.
Some violence in the city has been blamed on militants.
