 |
| |
WEEKLY
SECTIONS |
 |
 |
 |
|
| 12 die as drone hits militants’ camp in Orakzai |
|
|
|
Thursday, April 02, 2009
By Syed Hasan Mahmud & Mushtaq Yusufzai
KALAYA/PESHAWAR: Three minors and two women were among the 12 people who perished in the first-ever US drone attack on the Orakzai tribal agency on Wednesday.
Sources told The News that an unmanned CIA-operated spy plane fired two Hellfire missiles on the two-storey house of a militant commander Maulvi Gul Nazeer, also known as Gul Mulla, in Khadeezai village, about 35 kilometres northwest of Ghiljo, Tehsil headquarters of the Orakzai Agency.
They said the drone first fired one missile and fired another after an interval. The attack was the first of its kind in the Orakzai Agency. Orakzai Agency is the only tribal region out of the total seven regions of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), which does not share its border with Afghanistan.
The sources said an important meeting of senior militant commanders of Baitullah Mehsud-led banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was scheduled to be held at the house of Maulvi Gul Nazeer.
Also, there were reports that TTP leader for Orakzai and Khyber tribal regions and Baitullah’s deputy Hakimullah Mehsud was supposed to attend the meeting. There were rumours that he had died in the attack, but he later phoned The News to deny the reports about his death. He admitted the drone had targeted one of their training camps in Orakzai and killed some of their fighters.
Hakimullah threatened to avenge the killing of his fighters by striking in Islamabad as, according to him, the drones had been targeting people in the tribal areas with support of the government.
Some reports said the death toll from the drone strike was much higher than what was reported in the media as dozens of armed Taliban cordoned off the house and did not allow the residents of the adjoining villages to visit the destroyed building and help in rescue work.
The reports said the dead included four Arabs, one of them known as Kaka, reportedly a senior al-Qaeda operative. Sources close to the militants said 12 bodies had been retrieved from the debris and efforts were underway for the recovery of the rest.
The victims included two women and three children, including the wife of Gul Nazeer, his daughter-in-law, his two sons and a nephew. The children were identified as Abdullah, Abdul Latif and Mohammad Shoaib. Maulvi Gul Nazeer survived the attack. Tribal sources said six of the injured were shifted to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Ghiljo.
The militants reportedly shifted their injured fighters to Mamozai area, where they had a camp with all kind of facilities, including a dispensary. Officials of the political administration in Orakzai said they sent ambulances to the area to shift the injured people to nearest hospitals of the tribal region. But, they said, only six people were taken to the hospital.
Tribal sources said the militants were feeling quite safe in Orakzai Agency, which is a strategic place for them as they could easily arrive there from Kurram, North Waziristan and Khyber tribal regions as well as the gun-manufacturing Darra Adamkhel area in the FR Kohat.
Last year, the government launched a military operation to clear the region of the Taliban, but the militants occupied more areas, which were not in their control earlier.After the military operation was over, the government forced tribesmen to raise tribal Lashkars and evict militants from their villages.
However, a suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden van attacked a grand Jirga of Alikhel tribesmen on October 10, 2008, killing 146 Jirga members. After the incident, the militants strengthened their position in the area.
|
|
|
| Back
| Send
this story to Friend | Print
Version |
|
|
CJ says good governance being compromised
By Sohail Khan
ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said on Tuesday that good governance is being compromised as it is believed that the administration of justice is the sole duty of courts or the legal fratern more |
|
|
Hakimullah dies of wounds in Multan?
By Mushtaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR: Reports about the death of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah Mehsud once again started circulating on Tuesday and this time it was being reported that the militant commander had succumb more |
|
|
MNAs seek solution to Sindh-Punjab water rift
ISLAMABAD: Members of the National Assembly on Tuesday urged for the resolution of the water crisis between Punjab and Sindh, failing which would lead to serious repercussions for the country.
Yousuf Tal more |
|
|
Good governance hinges on change in national behaviour: PM
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that change in the collective behaviour of the nation is necessary for the promotion of good governance. He said that his government believed in streng more |
|
|
NIC made mandatory to get sugar from USC outlets
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on Tuesday made it mandatory to produce national identity cards to get a pack of 2kg sugar from the USC outlets.
The ECC met here unde more |
|
|
|
Three provinces to hold LG polls in four months
By Hanif Khalid & Asim Yasin
ISLAMABAD: A high level meeting here on Tuesday at the Aiwan-e-Sadr decided that the chief ministers of Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan would hold local government elections in four months.
President Asif Al more |
|
|
|
Senators condemn attack on Sh Rashid
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Senators on Tuesday strongly condemned the murder attempt on Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) members advised Sheikh Rashid to stop more |
|
|
|
PIA obliges religiously; latest being religious minister
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), facing a mind-boggling loss of about Rs70billion, has quietly upgraded two seats of Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi and his wife fr more |
|
|
|
A brigadier without brigade has a history of thrashing
By Umar Cheema
ISLAMABAD: The basher-brigadier of the National University of Modern Languages (NUML), who assaulted his professor colleague late Thursday, has a long list of such incidents on his credit as his resume is sprin more |
|
|
|
PAC settles drought money misuse
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: A special committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) probing misuse of drought funds worth million of rupees on Tuesday conveniently settled majority of charges against deputy auditor general o more |
|
|
|
NA-55 by-polls
By our correspondent
LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has urged all the political parties, including the PML-N, to withdraw from the NA-55 by-polls in favour of Sheikh Rashid.
“ more |
|
|
|
Point scoring be avoided in Rashid attack case: Shahbaz
By our correspondent
LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the Rawalpindi incident on Monday had grieved every Pakistani.
He said a joint investigation team comprising federal and provincial agencies including I more |
|
|
|
SC moved against delay in judges’ appointment
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was moved on Tuesday against the government’s delay in the appointment of judges in the apex court and was prayed for directing the government to perform its constitutional duty by more |
|
|
|
‘74 killed in Bajaur operation’
By Hasbanullah Khan
KHAR: Security forces claimed to have killed 74 militants and injured 54 others and wrested the strategically important hilltops and areas from the insurgents during the weeklong military operation in the Mamon more |
|
|
|
Afghan unrest kills US, French soldiers
KABUL: A US and French soldiers were killed in attacks in southern and eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the alliance said.
The US service member was killed in an improvised bomb blast in southern Afghanis more |
|
|
|
Army called in for today’s Lakki by-election
By our correspondent
PESHAWAR: The government has requisitioned the services of the Pakistan Army to augment the police and civil security forces for conducting the NWFP Assembly by-election on PF-75 Lakki Marwat for which polling more |
|
|
|
Meeting discusses political issues
ISLAMABAD: A meeting held here at the presidency on Tuesday and presided over jointly by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani discussed political and development issues in the N more |
|
|
|
Rashid accuses PML-N of promoting criminal culture
ISLAMABAD: Head of Awami Muslim League, Sheikh Rashid, on Tuesday criticised the PML-N-led Punjab government for promoting criminal culture in Rawalpindi and the province.
Talking to a private TV channel more |
|
|
|
Briefs...
Over 64 dead in Afghan avalanches
KABUL: At least 24 bodies have been recovered and 40 other people are feared dead after avalanches swept vehicles into a ravine and trapped cars in a mountain pass overn more |
|
|
|
ISSN 1563-9479 
