AF/PAK SWEEP T 2.23.2010
PAKISTAN
- Security forces bulldozed four hideouts of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in Ali Baz Kalay of Darra Adam Khel while arresting six militants. Officials have said that the Kohat police and the security forces have also launched an operation against the gang of TTP’s kidnappers in Gumbat and Shin Dhad area of the frontier region and arrested 14 suspects including six tribesmen. DAWN
- In the National Assembly on Monday, the Punjab government was accused of supporting terror groups. The government allegedly provided patronage to religious extremists in some areas of Punjab. DAWN
- Four militants were killed and five others were injured in a bomb blast in the Dar area of central Kurram, officials said. According to officials the militants had been using a house in the Alisherzai Dar area of central Kurram for a while, before leaving the house they attempted to destroy the house but the bomb went off prematurely, killing five militants and injuring four others. DAWN
- A powerful remote-controlled blast has occurred in Adezai, the suburb area of Peshawar city on Tuesday morning, Geo news reported police sources as saying. According to media reports, the blast targeted the vehicle of the members of the ‘Peace Committee’. GEO TV
- A senior leader of the Afghan Taliban has been detained in Pakistan, US media reports say. Mullah Abdul Kabir is widely believed to be a senior member of the so-called Quetta Shura, the Taliban leadership council allegedly based in Pakistan. He was reported to have been picked up in the city of Nowshera in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province. But local police and a spokesman for Pakistan's army chief told the BBC that no such arrest had taken place. Mullah Abdul Kabir was arrested last week, unnamed Pakistani intelligence officials told US media. He was the governor of eastern Nangarhar Province during the Taliban government. But Taliban spokesmen have denied the arrest. BBC
AFGHANISTAN
- The number of US soldiers who have died in the Afghan war has reached 1,000, according to an independent website, a grim milestone in the conflict launched more than eight years ago. The icasualties.org website, which tracks military deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq, said 54 US soldiers have died in the war so far this year, compared with a toll of 316 last year - the worst since the US-led invasion of 2001. The top-ranking US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, warned of more casualties as US-led forces press an offensive in Marjah, a key Taliban stronghold, where foreign troops have faced strong militant resistance. DAWN
- A remote-controlled bomb killed at least nine Afghan civilians and wounded 14 in front of a government building in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, a government official said. The blast was in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand, Afghanistan's most violent province. NATO-led troops are in the10th day of an operation to flush the Taliban out of nearby Marjah district, where the militants had set up their last big stronghold in Helmand. "The blast was caused by explosives attached to a bicycle and was controlled remotely," said Dawud Ahmadi, spokesman for Helmand's provincial government. He said later all the casualties were civilians. GEO TV
- A suicide bomber has killed an influential Afghan tribal chief and 14 other people in eastern Nangarhar province, officials say. Mohammad Haji Zaman was a powerful mujahideen warlord during the Afghan civil war in the 1990s. He led tribal forces in the Tora Bora region during the 2001 US-led Afghan invasion but is suspected of allowing al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden to flee. No-one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Mohammad Haji Zaman - also known as Haji Zaman Gamsurek - was addressing a gathering of refugees in the Khogyani district of Nangarhar when the blast went off. The bomber set off his explosives after approaching a group of tribal elders at the gathering, police official Col Abdul Ghafour told AFP news agency. BBC
- Afghanistan's president has changed a law to take control of an election watchdog that threw out more than half a million votes cast for him in last year's election, his spokesman said Tuesday. The amendment, made last week to the electoral law, allows President Hamid Karzai to personally appoint the five-member panel of the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), Siamak Herawi said. Under the previous law, three of the five ECC members were appointed by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. DAWN
- The number of those displaced by a major anti-Taliban military operation in Nad Ali District, Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, has more than doubled over the past four days, according to the provincial authorities. Over 3,700 families (some 22,000 people) displaced from the Marjah and Nad Ali areas have been registered in Helmand’s capital, Lashkargah, Dawood Ahmadi, a spokesman of the Helmand governor, told IRIN. He said most internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been hosted by relatives and friends; a few had sought refuge in abandoned buildings. Two Circles
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PAKISTAN
1.)
Forces destroy four TTP hideouts in Darra Adam Khel
Tuesday, 23 Feb, 2010 | 08:37 PM PST |
KOHAT: Security forces bulldozed four hideouts of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in Ali Baz Kalay of Darra Adam Khel while arresting six militants, reports DawnNews.
Officials have said that the Kohat police and the security forces have also launched an operation against the gang of TTP’s kidnappers in Gumbat and Shin Dhad area of the frontier region and arrested 14 suspects including six tribesmen.
The operations were carried out in Shin Dhand, Jawaki, Gandiali, Tilkan, Ghorazai, Kamar, Chorlakki and Nakband areas.
The fourteen accused were shifted to special investigation cell. The security forces seized two Kalashnikovs, five rifles, two repeaters, three shot guns, eight pistols and hundreds of bullets form their possession.
Meanwhile the Kohat police arrested an arms smugglers coming from Darra Adam Khel on the Indus Highway and recovered two rifles and 700 cartridges.
They stopped a suspicious vehicle coming from Sheraki area of Darra Adam Khel towards Kohat and arrested the owner of the consignment.
2.)
Punjab govt accused in NA of supporting terror groups
Tuesday, 23 Feb, 2010 | 03:06 AM PST |
ISLAMABAD: Fingers were pointed at the Punjab government across party lines in the National Assembly on Monday over alleged patronage of religious extremists in some areas, drawing assurances from two ministers that the centre would approach the province on an issue which one member feared could put the province in “flames”.
Both PPP chief whip and Labour and Manpower Minister Khurshid Ahmad Shah and Minister of State for Interior Tasnim Ahmed Qureshi said the federal government would seek a report from the Punjab government after an opposition member voiced concern over official protocol given to members of a banned religious group during a visit to his home district of Jhang on Sunday by a Punjab minister of the provincially ruling PML-N in connection with a by-election campaign for a provincial assembly seat.
“This is tyranny with my district and if it were not stopped, the whole Punjab will be in flames,” said PML-Q member Sheikh Waqas Akram, whose version of Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah’s visit to Jhang was endorsed as “correct” by Qureshi, who said: “We will talk to the Punjab government about it and (then) … appropriate action will be taken.”
Akram said though his party was not concerned with the by-election that it was not contesting, the situation “suddenly” became a matter of concern after the Punjab law minister visited the madressah of a twice-banned group active with a third name, had food and tea with its members and took the head of the group in his car for a drive with police escort to give what he called a message to the local population that “these people are worth respect” instead of moderates they had elected (in the previous election).
Akram’s point received an unlikely support from PML-N member Rashid Akbar Niwani who said “these people” were moving freely and visiting police stations with arms in his nearby home district of Bhakkar and remarked: “This is ‘Azaab-i-Elahi’ (divine torment) we are nurturing.”
Niwani, who himself was injured in a suicide attack at his home last year, said his district’s police chief had told him after he complained about the activities of terrorists that unspecified intelligence agencies had asked police not to arrest these terrorists and that they themselves would get hold of them, if needed.
PML-Q member Riaz Hussain Pirzada from southern Punjab said the situation in Jhang should not be taken lightly and called for a halt to “official patronage” of terrorists, which a PPP member from Punjab, Nadeem Afzal Chan, said would compromise Pakistan’s struggle against terrorism and would be unjust to the country and the armed forces fighting these terrorists.
Minister of State Qureshi, taking the floor for a second time on the issue, called the Punjab law minister’s conduct at Jhang “unreasonable” and said: “We should not put the country’s interests at stake for the sake of votes.”
Khurshid Shah, avoiding a direct blame on the Punjab government, said while members could voice their concern in the house, it was the “responsibility of our government” to take up the matter with the province. “We will contact them in writing and will inform you about their reply.”
In further remarks later, the minister said the Punjab chief minister should take notice of Jhang, which he recalled had been a flashpoint since 15 years.
“If they (terrorists) get encouragement, it will be very dangerous,” he said about people who Akram earlier alleged sought to make Muslims fight among themselves.
3.)
Four militants killed in Kurram Agency blast
Tuesday, 23 Feb, 2010 | 06:13 PM PST |
KURRAM AGENCY: Four militants were killed and five others were injured in a bomb blast in the Dar area of central Kurram, officials said.
According to officials the militants had been using a house in the Alisherzai Dar area of central Kurram for a while, before leaving the house they attempted to destroy the house but the bomb went off prematurely, killing five militants and injuring four others.
Officials reported that the residents of Alisherzai Dar had already evacuated the area due to the militant activity and ongoing military operation, reports DawnNews.
The military has cleared most of the militant infested areas in central and lower kurram, but pockets still remain as hideouts for militants.
4.)
Powerful explosion occurs in Adezai
Updated at: 1051 PST, Tuesday, February 23, 2010
PESHAWAR: A powerful remote-controlled blast has occurred in Adezai, the suburb area of Peshawar city on Tuesday morning, Geo news reported police sources as saying.
According to media reports, the blast targeted the vehicle of the members of ‘Peace Committee’, meanwhile, causalities and injuries have been feared in explosion.
Police and security forces contingents have arrived on the blast site and cordoned off the entire area.
5.)
Taliban leader 'held in Pakistan'
2010/02/23 09:10:14 GMT
A senior leader of the Afghan Taliban has been detained in Pakistan, US media reports say.
Mullah Abdul Kabir is widely believed to be a senior member of the so-called Quetta Shura, the Taliban leadership council allegedly based in Pakistan.
He was reported to have been picked up in the city of Nowshera in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province.
But local police and a spokesman for Pakistan's army chief told the BBC that no such arrest had taken place.
Mullah Abdul Kabir was arrested last week, unnamed Pakistani intelligence officials told US media.
He was the governor of eastern Nangarhar Province during the Taliban government. But Taliban spokesmen have denied the arrest.
Series of arrests
If confirmed, his detention would be the latest in a series of arrests of senior Taliban figures over the past few weeks.
The "shadow governors" of two northern Afghan provinces, Mullah Abdul Salam and Mullah Mir Mohammad, were also reported to have been arrested about two weeks ago in Pakistan.
Neither of these arrests were confirmed by Pakistan's army spokesman.
But US and Pakistani officials have confirmed the capture in Karachi of the Afghan Taliban's military commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
He is said to have overseen Taliban military operations in Afghanistan, run the group's leadership council and controlled its finances.
Helmand offensive
Meanwhile, coalition forces are continuing their assault for a 10th day against Taliban fighters entrenched in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province.
On Monday US television networks reported the arrests of Mullah Abdul Kabir in Nowshera in Pakistan citing unnamed Pakistani intelligence officials.
On Tuesday the New York Times and Washington Post newspapers also reported the arrest of Mullah Kabir.
Another Taliban official Mullah Mohammed Younis is also reported to have been arrested - but there is little clarity on when and where he was detained.
Analysts say that most of the information about these arrests has come from unnamed Pakistani intelligence officials, which makes it very difficult to verify.
Story from BBC NEWS:
AFGHANISTAN
6.)
Toll of US dead in Afghan war hits 1,000
Tuesday, 23 Feb, 2010 | 08:16 PM PST |
WASHINGTON: The number of US soldiers who have died in the Afghan war has reached 1,000, according to an independent website, a grim milestone in the conflict launched more than eight years ago.
The icasualties.org website, which tracks military deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq, said 54 US soldiers have died in the war so far this year, compared with a toll of 316 last year - the worst since the US-led invasion of 2001.
The top-ranking US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, warned of more casualties as US-led forces press an offensive in Marjah, a key Taliban stronghold, where foreign troops have faced strong militant resistance.
“We must steel ourselves, no matter how successful we are on any given day, for harder days yet to come,” said Mullen.
The volatile southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand – where US, NATO and Afghan forces now are battling the Taliban in Marjah – account for the highest number of US and coalition casualties.
The Defense Department announced the latest American service member killed in the war as Corporal Gregory Stultz, 22, who died on February 19 from small arms fire in Helmand province.
After the attacks of September 11, 2001 on New York and Washington, the United States led an invasion of Afghanistan that toppled the hardline Taliban regime sheltering the Al-Qaeda network.
The Taliban and associated insurgents have since rebounded and are challenging the Kabul government's authority in the south and east.
President Barack Obama accused his predecessor, George W. Bush, of neglecting the Afghan mission and has ordered in an additional 50,000 troops since taking office a year ago.
US and NATO commanders describe the offensive in Marjah as a bid to turn around the war and ensure the Taliban do not return to power, amid doubts on both sides of the Atlantic about the troubled mission.
But a larger NATO-led force seeking to push back the Taliban has meant higher casualties for the US military and its allies, with homemade bombs cited as the number one killer of coalition troops.
The 2009 death toll of 316 was double the figure in 2008.
Other members of the international force in Afghanistan, which have smaller contingents than the Americans, have also suffered higher casualties over the past year.
The death toll for British forces in the war now totals 264, while Canada has lost 140 service members and France 40.
Opponents of the Afghan war said they planned to mark the death toll reaching 1,000 with a vigil in New York City.
The US toll includes dozens of soldiers killed outside of Afghanistan, including Pakistan, the Horn of Africa or elsewhere, who were considered to be part of “Operation Enduring Freedom.” As of Monday, the Defense Department’s official toll for US soldiers killed in the Afghan war stood at 990.
The government’s tally tends to lag behind the icasualties.org website as the Pentagon does not officially record a death until 24 hours after next of kin are notified.
In the Iraq war, 4,378 American service members have been killed since the 2003 invasion, according to icasualties.org.
US casualties in Iraq have dramatically declined over the past year as violence receded and the Baghdad government took the lead for security duties. – AFP
7.)
Bomb blasts kill 9 in Afghanistan
Updated at: 1824 PST, Tuesday, February 23, 2010
KANDAHAR: A remote-controlled bomb killed at least nine Afghan civilians and wounded 14 in front of a government building in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, a government official said.
The blast was in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand, Afghanistan's most violent province.
NATO-led troops are in the10th day of an operation to flush the Taliban out of nearby Marjah district, where the militants had set up their last big stronghold in Helmand.
"The blast was caused by explosives attached to a bicycle and was controlled remotely," said Dawud Ahmadi, spokesman for Helmand's provincial government.
He said later all the casualties were civilians.
"The latest information we have says that nine people have been killed and 14 wounded," Ahmadi said.
He said he did not know who the target of the blast was.