Jerusalem Post
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
09/05/2010 09:36
Suspected US missiles struck a house in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing five people in the latest American strike targeting militant leaders, intelligence officials said.
The strikes were in North Waziristan, a tribal region that has long been a haven for Taliban- and al-Qaida-linked militant networks battling American and NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan. Faisal Shahzad, the suspect in the recent failed car bombing in New York's Times Square has said he trained for five months in a militant camp somewhere in Waziristan. Pakistan plans to invstigate Shahzad's claim.
Two Pakistani intelligence officials said the two missiles hit the house of local tribesman Awal Gul in Enzer Kasa village of the Datta Khel area. Residents pulled five bodies from the rubble and the death toll could rise. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.
It was not immediately clear whether Gul had any ties to militant groups.
The US has used missiles to target militant hide-outs in North Waziristan dozens of times in recent months. Pakistan officially protests the strikes as violations of its sovereignty, but is believed to secretly aid them. The US rarely discusses the unmanned-drone-fired strikes, a covert CIA program. (So, if Israel uses drones to fire on suspected Hamas terrorists in Gaza, AFTER Hamas fires upon Israel, and in the process, blows up a house in Gaza, killing five people, would the UN Human Rights Council, Goldstone and others condemn Israel? ... Just wondering.)
In recent months, North Waziristan has become a new haven for Pakistani Taliban leaders who have fled a Pakistani army offensive in their previous stronghold, neighboring South Waziristan.
The Pakistani Taliban, while linked to the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida, have primarily directed their attacks at targets inside Pakistan, making them a priority for the army.
Pakistan to probe terror links to Times Square bombing
Pakistan will investigate alleged links between the man accused of trying to detonate a car bomb in Times Square and militant groups operating in Wazirstan believed to have supported the botched attack, the interior minister said.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Saturday that Islamabad had received a formal request for an investigation from the US that said "Shahzad visited South Waziristan and they say he met Qari Hussain and Hakimullah Mehsud."
Mehsud is the head of the Pakistani Taliban, while Hussain is the group's chief bomb maker who is also in charge of recruiting suicide attackers. Malik said Pakistani authorities needed to verify the information included in the US request.
Malik also stressed that only Pakistani investigators would be permitted to interview Shahzad's relatives and other associates.
"Pakistan's government will not allow any outside investigators to investigate our people," he said.
The strikes were in North Waziristan, a tribal region that has long been a haven for Taliban- and al-Qaida-linked militant networks battling American and NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan. Faisal Shahzad, the suspect in the recent failed car bombing in New York's Times Square has said he trained for five months in a militant camp somewhere in Waziristan. Pakistan plans to invstigate Shahzad's claim.
Two Pakistani intelligence officials said the two missiles hit the house of local tribesman Awal Gul in Enzer Kasa village of the Datta Khel area. Residents pulled five bodies from the rubble and the death toll could rise. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.
It was not immediately clear whether Gul had any ties to militant groups.
The US has used missiles to target militant hide-outs in North Waziristan dozens of times in recent months. Pakistan officially protests the strikes as violations of its sovereignty, but is believed to secretly aid them. The US rarely discusses the unmanned-drone-fired strikes, a covert CIA program. (So, if Israel uses drones to fire on suspected Hamas terrorists in Gaza, AFTER Hamas fires upon Israel, and in the process, blows up a house in Gaza, killing five people, would the UN Human Rights Council, Goldstone and others condemn Israel? ... Just wondering.)
In recent months, North Waziristan has become a new haven for Pakistani Taliban leaders who have fled a Pakistani army offensive in their previous stronghold, neighboring South Waziristan.
The Pakistani Taliban, while linked to the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida, have primarily directed their attacks at targets inside Pakistan, making them a priority for the army.
Pakistan to probe terror links to Times Square bombing
Pakistan will investigate alleged links between the man accused of trying to detonate a car bomb in Times Square and militant groups operating in Wazirstan believed to have supported the botched attack, the interior minister said.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Saturday that Islamabad had received a formal request for an investigation from the US that said "Shahzad visited South Waziristan and they say he met Qari Hussain and Hakimullah Mehsud."
Mehsud is the head of the Pakistani Taliban, while Hussain is the group's chief bomb maker who is also in charge of recruiting suicide attackers. Malik said Pakistani authorities needed to verify the information included in the US request.
Malik also stressed that only Pakistani investigators would be permitted to interview Shahzad's relatives and other associates.
"Pakistan's government will not allow any outside investigators to investigate our people," he said.
Pakistan had already promised to cooperate with the investigation and has detained at least four people with alleged connections to Shahzad, the sole suspect.
A senior US military official told The Associated Press that investigators believe Shahzad had bomb-making training in Pakistan, sponsored in part by elements of the Pakistani Taliban.
If those suspicions prove correct, it suggests that groups based in Pakistan, including the Taliban along the Afghan border, may be taking on a more global approach after years of focusing attacks largely on government or coalition forces in their region.
