By Bill RoggioNovember 27, 2009 10:26 AM
Fighting has intensified in a region in northwestern Pakistan where the Taliban and al Qaeda fighters dodging the South Waziristan operation have regrouped.
Limited military operations, consisting largely of air and artillery strikes backed by the paramilitary Frontier Corps, are concentrating on Taliban strongholds in a region that borders the Arakzai, Kurram, and Khyber tribal agencies.
Meanwhile, the Taliban are continuing their campaign against pro-government tribal leaders. One leader was assassinated in Bajaur and another was kidnapped in Mohmand.
Kurram
In recent days, the Kurram Militia, a unit assigned to the paramilitary Frontier Corps, has conducted operations to secure the towns of Badama and Taindo, and has taken control of a Taliban training camp in the Shaho region. The military also said it cut off routes to and from the neighboring tribal agency of Arakzai, another Taliban stronghold, to prevent the Taliban from fleeing or reinforcing, Dawn reported.
The Kurram Militia launched the operation after a military convoy was ambushed by the Taliban in the Shaho region. The military claimed to have captured “a number of local and foreign militants” in the counterattack. The Shaho camp is said to be operated by Taliban leader Hakeemullah Mehsud and was used to train fighters from South Waziristan and elsewhere.
“This was major centre comprising several hideouts and tunnels which were completely destroyed,” Colonel Touseef Akhtar of the Kurram Militia told reporters.
Kurram is known to be used by the Afghan Taliban to train fighters for operations against NATO and Afghan forces. On March 12, 2009, the US killed 14 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters in an airstrike on a Taliban compound and training camp in the Barjo region in Kurram.
Taliban fighters, along with al Qaeda and Central Asian fighters, have been resettling in Kurram while the military is conducting operations in the Mehsud tribal areas in South Waziristan. Local Taliban leaders and tribal elders are setting aside homes for the terrorists. “The newcomers have established hide-outs in the foothills and mountains skirting the villages, and have been seen digging trenches in mountainsides,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
“From their faces we can see they are foreigners,” Jaleel Rahman, a resident of central Kurram told the Los Angeles Times. “Sometimes they speak in Arabic, sometimes in English. Their leaders stay at the houses of influential people in our area. And we can’t do anything about it.”
“They are in the hundreds here,” Sher Muhammad, a tribesman in central Kurram said. “They tell us to do what they do. And whatever they like, they get by force.”
“They come to our houses and terrorize us,” said Fareed Ullah, a student in Weedara. “They are kidnapping our elders and stealing our cars. We have no way of rising up against them, and there’s no government here to help us. … Kurram is in trouble because of them.”
