World | Pakistan
Street-to-street fighting rages in key Taliban base
A dozen terrorists believed killed in Ladha clashes
- By Mohsin Ali, Correspondent
- Published: 00:00 November 5, 2009
- A displaced Pakistani who left his tribal village due to heavy fighting between security forces and militants in Waziristan, sits with the possessions he received from a relief centre.
- Image Credit: AP
Islamabad: The Pakistani Army said on Wednesday its forces had entered a key Taliban base in Ladha in the South Waziristan tribal region, while a political leader from the ruling coalition demanded an end to the military operation.
Intense street-to-street fighting was raging in the town of Ladha and nearly a dozen terrorists had been killed, a military statement said.
Earlier this month troops captured Kotkai, the hometown of banned Tehreek -e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Hakeemullah Mehsud. Later they surrounded and seized control of Kuniguram and Sararogha, two other militant strongholds.
Giving details of clashes with Taliban on other fronts in the region, the statement said a total of 30 terrorists had been killed during 24 hours since Tuesday afternoon.
Eight soldiers including two officers were injured in the fighting.
Media reports, however, quoted a Taliban spokesman named Azam Tarek as saying the vacation of certain places by their fighters was a tactical withdrawal.
Different version
The spokesman also disputed the military claim that hundreds of Taliban warriors had been killed since the army launched the Waziristan operation on October 17.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, head of Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI), a partner in the ruling coalition led by the Pakistan People's Party, said the South Waziristan operation was "against the country's interests."
"The JUI shura [council] held a meeting and demanded the government call off the 19-day old military operation," Rehman told a news conference in Islamabad.
He said the operation had been launched despite the parliament's recommendations to resolve issues through negotiations.
Rehman said the operation hurt innocent people more than terrorists and hundreds of thousands had been forced to flee the tribal region.
The religious party leader said the suicide attacks and other incidents of violence had surged resulting in the loss of innocent lives and great suffering to the people in the country.
He however stressed that ulema, or religious scholars, had not approved of the acts of violence. The ulema were against perpetrating these crimes in the name of jihad, he said. Rehman also said his party was against accepting US aid with conditions at the cost of national self-respect and sovereignty.
The JUI leader blamed the US for buying large tracts of lands in Islamabad, Peshawar and other cities and inducting private American security companies like Blackwater into the country for "ulterior motives."
He claimed the country's nuclear facilities faced a threat from the growing American presence.
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