 |
| |
WEEKLY
SECTIONS |
 |
 |
 |
|
| 32 killed in US missile strikes |
|
|
|
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Al-Qaeda splinter group leader Abu Akasha believed dead
By Mushtaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR: Seventeen people were killed and several others injured in two missile attacks by US drones in North and South Waziristan agencies on Friday evening. However, private television channels put the death toll in the two Waziristan attacks at 32.
Eight people were killed in the first missile strike in Mirali, North Waziristan Agency (NWA), and nine others in another attack on Wana, the adjacent South Waziristan Agency (SWA).
Two CIA-operated pilotless spy planes first fired two Hellfire missiles on a car at Esori village near Mirali subdivision and killed four people inside the vehicle and same number standing outside.
Security officials based in Miramshah, the headquarters of NWA, told The News by telephone that 20 people, including tribal and Arab militants, had been killed in the attack by the pilotless US aircraft.
The officials said a senior al-Qaeda commander, Abu Akasha al-Iraqi, was said to be the prime target of the US drone attack. They claimed that Akasha, along with his close aides, had been killed in the missile hit. However, sources among the militants claimed that only four militants had lost their lives. They included an Arab and three tribals hailing from Dawar tribe.
The sources said two US spy planes that had been flying over Mirali and adjoining villages since Friday morning fired two Hellfire missiles at around 8:30 pm on a car as soon as it stopped near the main gate of the house of Amanullah Dawar.
Amanullah Dawar is reported to have close contacts with Abu Akasha and would often receive foreign guests in his house. “Only the car had been destroyed in the attack while the house of Amanullah remained safe,” a militant commander told this scribe soon after the attack on the village.
He admitted that Abu Akasha had been living in the area for the past several years, along with his family, and was widely considered as spiritual figure rather than a militant commander. According to the sources, the 45-year old Arab commander had parted ways with the mainstream al-Qaeda three years back and formed his own militant organisation “Jaishul Mehdi”.
“He was not happy with al-Qaeda people and often complained that the network had been hijacked by the Egyptians. He then formed his own militant organisation, comprising his own countrymen and Uzbeks, Turkmen and Chechens,” said the sources.
He was living with his Iraqi wife and children, including three sons. His elder son, Abu Bakar, died two years ago, along with senior al-Qaeda commander, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir at Anghar village near Miramshah in a US drone attack.
The sources close to the Arab commander said his 20-year-old son was fluent in English, Pushto, Urdu and Persian languages. “He was not as much active in Jihad these days but people of his organisation were taking part in Jihad against the US-led forces in Afghanistan,” said the sources close to Abu Akasha.
In SWA, nine people, including Ahmadzai Wazir and suspected Arab militants, were killed and several others injured in another missile attack by three US Predators at Dhog village near Wana, on Friday evening.
Official and tribal sources told this scribe that three US spy planes were seen hovering over the tribal region during the missile attack. They said the planes fired three Hellfire missiles on the house of one Haroon Wazir, a spokesman for Maulvi Nazeer, the leader of the pro-government tribal militants operating in SWA.
A senior militant commander on condition of anonymity told The News from Wana that the dead included six Arabs. He was of the opinion that some important foreign guests used to visit the house.
“We lost some of our very senior people in this attack. It’s a great loss to us,” remarked a militant commander of Maulvi Nazeer group.Tribal sources said the house targeted by the US planes was about one-and-a-half kilometre from the Army base in Wana.
In both the cases, the security forces remained silent and did not bother to take note of the continuous flights and subsequent attacks by the US spy planes on the Pakistani soil.Tribal sources also said that two US fighter planes were seen flying several kilometres deep inside the Pakistani tribal areas on Friday.
“Yes, they violated our airspace several times on Friday. Our job was to report to the higher authorities based in Islamabad and Peshawar and we have already done that,” said an official based in Miramshah.
|
|
|
| Back
| Send
this story to Friend | Print
Version |
|
|
‘Al-Qaeda, Taliban leaders not in Pakistan’
ISLAMABAD: Strongly reacting to some of the reports of the presence of al-Qaeda and Taliban leadership in Pakistan by the US newspapers and some intelligence agencies, President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday said more |
|
|
Mulla Omar in Karachi, claims WT
WASHINGTON: Mulla Muhammed Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, has fled Quetta and found refuge from the potential US attacks in Karachi with the assistance of Pakistan’s intelligence, the Washington Times more |
|
|
Will PM intervene or will robber barons kill CCP?
By Mehtab Haider
ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has warned that it will cease to exist and its actions will become invalid in case the government fails to re-promulgate the Competition Ordinance on or b more |
|
|
Eight militants die in US drone attack
By our correspondent
MIRAMSHAH: Eight militants were killed and two others injured when a US drone hit a house in the Michikhel area in North Waziristan on Friday, the second such attack in less than 24 hours.
Tribal sources sai more |
|
|
19 militants killed in SWA, Khyber, Bajaur clashes
By our correspondents
WANA/BARA/KHAR: Nineteen militants were killed in clashes with security forces in South Waziristan, Khyber and Bajaur tribal regions on Friday.
Tribal and officials sources said five militants were kille more |
|
|
|
Pakistan has nothing to fear from India: Singh
WASHINGTON: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said India is ready to resolve all outstanding issues with the country on the condition that it will not allow its territory to be used against its neighbour more |
|
|
|
Qureshi wants result-oriented dialogue with India
MULTAN: Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmud Qureshi said on Friday Pakistan wanted meaningful and result-oriented bilateral negotiations with India.
Addressing a press conference at the airport here, h more |
|
|
|
Only 15 pc believe Pakistan is going right
By Gibran Peshimam
KARACHI: Pakistan’s youths are losing confidence in the future and a mere 15 per cent believe that the country is heading in the right direction, while 72 per cent feel economically worse off than a year ago. O more |
|
|
|
Mustafa Jatoi passes away
ISLAMABAD: Former caretaker prime minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi breathed his last at the St Marry Hospital in London on Friday after a protracted illness. He was 78.
He leaves behind six sons and three d more |
|
|
|
Slaughter of animals, NRO beneficiaries begins on Eid
By Muhammad Ahmad Noorani
ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will soon announce its strategy to deal with the cases which are going to reopen on Nov 28, a NAB spokesman told The News on Friday.
“The NAB chairman more |
|
|
|
WFP, Rescue 15 attacks’ mastermind arrested
By Shakeel Anjum
ISLAMABAD: The Capital Police on Friday arrested the mastermind behind the attacks on the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the Rescue 15 offices in Islamabad.
The terrorist, identified as Jamshed Ahmad more |
|
|
|
Mushahid asks Karzai not to allow use of Afghan land against Pakistan
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Secretary General Pakistan Muslim League-Q Mushahid Hussain Sayed on Friday asked President Hamid Karzai not to allow the use of Afghan land against Pakistan under Indian designs.
“Pakistan wa more |
|
|
|
No Indo-Pak FMs meeting: Nirupama
NEW DELHI: India on Friday said no meeting had been scheduled between foreign ministers of Pakistan and India in Port of Spain later this month on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting ( more |
|
|
|
US to tighten control of Afghan contracts: Gates
HALIFAX: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday that the United States must tighten control of Afghan development contracts as a first step towards stemming rampant corruption.
“The reality is more |
|
|
|
China has stake in Kashmir: Mirwaiz
News Desk
HELD SRINAGAR: As he plans to visit China, Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday kicked up a controversy by saying that Beijing has a “direct link” with the Kashmir issue, drawing strong obje more |
|
|
|
Clinton favours Indo-Pak dialogue on Kashmir
WASHINGTON: The United States is encouraging Pakistan and India to resume their dialogue to address Kashmir and other outstanding disputes but any solution must come from the two countries, Secretary of State H more |
|
|
|
Competition Commission forces PIA to fly fair
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Silent prayers of many Hajis have apparently been answered as the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has ordered PIA to refund within 60 days the excessive fares charged from the passengers, wh more |
|
|
|
Attack on policemen in Peshawar
By Javed Aziz Khan
PESHAWAR: The death toll in the bomb attack on police party in Yakatoot rose to three after a sub-inspector and another cop succumbed to injuries at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) on Friday as the city mourned more |
|
|
|
‘Musharraf funnelling money to improve image’
ISLAMABAD: Former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf has reportedly funnelled a large amount of money to his former aides in the country in order to improve his image, as he is planning a return to the c more |
|
|
|
Sen Lugar’s wife arrested, charged with drinking, hit-and-run
News Desk
WASHINGTON: The wife of Republican Senator Richard G Lugar was arrested in the suburb of McLean on Wednesday night after crashing into a parked car, and she was charged with drunk driving and hit-and-run, the F more |
|
|
|
briefs...
Bombers kill 23 in Afghanistan
HERAT: Bomb attacks on Friday killed 23 people in Afghanistan, a deadly start to President Hamid Karzai’s second term that underscored spiralling insecurity nine years into more |
|
|
|
ISSN 1563-9479 
