30 June 2011
Pakistani troops backed by jets and helicopter gunships have killed 40 militants in a restive tribal area bordering Afghanistan in the past three days, a military commander said Thursday.Brigadier Aftab Ahmad told AFP by telephone that his forces had destroyed 17 militant hideouts in the Baizai region under his command in the lawless tribal area of Mohmand. "Militants were regularly attacking our posts on the Afghanistan border at Shonkari and Mithai...
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Pakistan's Border Regions Vulnerable amid Planned US Withdrawal
27 June 2011
Fighting across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border will overshadow talks when the two countries meet along with the United States on Tuesday to map out plans for reconciliation with the Taliban. Pakistan on Monday rejected Afghan allegations it had fired 470 rockets into Afghanistan over the past three weeks, saying only that "a few accidental rounds" may have crossed the border when it pursued militants who had attacked its security forces. But the...
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Militants Kill At Least Six in Khyber District Ambush
22 June 2011
At least five militants and a tribal policeman were killed in a rebel ambush and a bomb attack at checkpoints in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt on Wednesday, officials said. The ambush took place before dawn at the Sarband checkpoint just outside the town of Bara in Khyber district, part of Pakistan's tribal region on the Afghan border where Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked networks have bases. "More than 30 militants launched a two-pronged attack on...
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Two Drone Strikes Kill At Least Nine Suspected Fighters in Kurram
20 June 2011
At least nine suspected fighters have been killed after US drones fired missiles at a vehicle and a residential compound in the Kurram tribal agency, in Pakistan's northwest, according to Pakistani officials. Al Jazeera's sources said that in the first of Monday's two attacks, a vehicle was hit and two suspected fighters were killed. The vehicle was attacked again but just a few minutes later, as the local tribesmen rushed to a nearby residential...
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Militants Attack Anti-Taliban Elders in Mohmand
20 June 2011
Dozens of militants have attacked the homes of two prominent anti-Taliban tribal elders close to the Afghan border, officials say. At least four were killed and four others, including one of the elders, injured in the tribal area of Mohmand. The raid on the homes of anti-Taliban elders happened in the Ziarat Masood village of Mohmand district, another area where the Taliban have been attempting to establish themselves. A group of militants stormed...
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Military Plans to Enlist Tribal Elders in Newest North Waziristan Operation
13 June 2011
The military is planning to enlist pro-government tribal elders in a fresh campaign it has devised to flush out al Qaeda members and its affiliates from North Waziristan, officials said on Sunday. The move is aimed at deflecting growing US pressure for a full-scale offensive against the Haqqani Network – the deadliest of all Afghan Taliban factions – allegedly based there. Under the plan, local tribesmen have been urged to form laskhars,...
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07 June 2011
U.S. and Pakistani authorities disagree sharply over claims that senior al Qaeda leader Ilyas Kashmiri was killed in a recent missile strike, officials from both countries said on Monday, suggesting sharp strains persist between authorities in Washington and Islamabad. Two days ago, intelligence officials in Pakistan claimed that Kashmiri, a figure in both al Qaeda and a Pakistan-based affiliate, was killed by a U.S. drone-borne missile in northwestern...
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38,000 Displaced by Fighting Begin to Return Home to FATA
07 June 2011
More than 38,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) who fled fighting in the troubled north western tribal regions have started to return home as the latest phase of a return operation was completed over the weekend, a UNHCR press release said Tuesday. Since the latest stage of the return movement started in April, the majority of displaced Pakistanis have returned to their homes in Bajaur Agency, while a smaller number have returned to Mohmand Agency....
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Al Qaeda Commander Kashmiri Allegedly Killed in One of Weekend's Three Drone Strikes
06 June 2011
US missiles killed 18 militants in Pakistan’s tribal district of South Waziristan on Monday, destroying compounds and a vehicle in the deadliest drone strikes for months, officials said. Three strikes were reported just days after Pakistani officials said they believed senior al Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri had died in a similar attack late Friday, also in South Waziristan which borders Afghanistan. Washington has called Pakistan’s...
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Pakistani Warplanes Kill at Least 16 in Orakzai
31 May 2011
Pakistani warplanes attacked Taliban positions in the northwestern Orakzai region on Tuesday, killing 17 militants, a senior regional government official said. Orakzai is one of seven ethnic Pashtun tribal areas where the Pakistani army has tried to root out militants with offensives against their strongholds. The strike came a day after a local newspaper reported that Pakistan will launch an offensive in North Waziristan, a known sanctuary for al...
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