Pakistan battles for Taliban leader's hometown

[joeblow]

Pakistan battles for Taliban leader's hometown

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091021/ap_ ... s_pakistan

  By HUSSAIN AFZAL and ZARAR KHAN, Associated Press Writer Hussain Afzal And Zarar Khan, Associated Press Writer   – 10 mins ago

PARACHINAR, Pakistan – Pakistani soldiers destroyed a house belonging to the country's Taliban chief Wednesday as they battled for his hometown during a major offensive on an insurgent sanctuary close to the Afghan border, authorities said.

The advances came as intelligence officials said suspected U.S. missiles killed three alleged militants in a neighboring region where the army has tried to convince other insurgent factions to stay neutral during the military offensive in South Waziristan.

The five-day-old offensive is considered a critical test of the nuclear-armed country's campaign against Islamist extremists blamed for soaring attacks at home and on Western forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, twin suicide bombings killed six people at Islamabad's International Islamic University in apparent retaliation for the offensive. All educational institutions in the country were closed Wednesday, showing the militants' ability to disrupt daily life.

The military is advancing on three fronts in South Waziristan. The fight for Kotkai town is symbolically key because Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud and a top deputy, Qari Hussain, hail from there. It also lies on the way to the major militant base of Sararogha.

An army statement Wednesday said forces were engaged in "intense encounters" in heights surrounding Kotkai and had secured an area east of it. Two intelligence officials said troops had secured parts of the town also destroyed houses belonging to Mehsud and Hussain in controlled explosions.

Security forces also cleared Khaisura, a village on another front in the offensive, according to the army statement. Heavily fortified bunkers were found, some with two-meter thick concrete walls, the army said.

It reported three more soldiers were killed, bringing the army's death toll so far to 16, while 15 more militants were slain, bringing their overall death toll to 105.

It is nearly impossible to independently verify information coming from South Waziristan because the army has closed off all roads to the region. Analysts say both sides have exaggerated successes and downplayed losses in the past.

The missile strike Wednesday targeted Spalaga, a village in North Waziristan tribal region. Two intelligence officials said three suspected insurgents were killed, but that the number could rise. Their exact identities were not immediately known.

All the intelligence officials interviewed Wednesday requested anonymity because they also were not authorized to speak to media.

The U.S. has launched scores of missiles in South and North Waziristan over the past year, including one that killed former Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in August.

But the latest strike comes at a sensitive time. The army is counting on other insurgent groups in North Waziristan to stay neutral as it fights Mehsud's faction in South Waziristan. Missile strikes could stir anger among those militants, straining the deals with the army.

"This has the potential of messing up the calculus of the Pakistanis," said Kamran Bokhari, an analyst with Stratfor, a U.S.-based global intelligence firm. "It could broaden the scope of the war for the Pakistanis, which they're not prepared for at this time."

Pakistan routinely condemns the American missile strikes as violations of its sovereignty, but many observers suspect the two countries have a deal allowing the drone-fired attacks. U.S. officials rarely discuss the covert operation, but have said in the past that it has killed several top militant leaders and is too valuable to set aside.

Chief military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas cautioned that the fight in South Waziristan could be long.

"This is a mountainous terrain and therefore the operations tend to be slow," Abbas told the AP in an interview Tuesday. The militants "are very tough fighters. They know the area, terrain. And they are very determined to fight."

Abbas said the military believed that Mehsud and Hussain remain in the region under fire, directing the militants' defenses. That information is based on local informants and communications intercepts, Abbas said.

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Zarar Khan reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Nahal Toosi in Islamabad, Riaz Khan in Peshawar and Rasool Dawar in Mir Ali contributed to this report.