Residents Say Military Took Lives of Dozens of Innocents After Militant Attack on Checkpoint
By: SAEED SHAH
December 19, 2013
ISLAMABAD—Residents in Pakistan's troubled North Waziristan tribal region said Thursday that dozens of civilians were killed in an army operation following a suicide attack at a checkpoint, charges the Pakistani military rejected.
Local residents said that more than 20 men, mostly truck drivers, were shot dead at a restaurant, while shelling claimed several more lives, including women and children, as the army responded to Wednesday's deadly attack on its nearby outpost. Localized military operations continued through the night and into Thursday around the town of Mir Ali.
The Pakistani military's chief spokesman, Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa, denied the allegations, saying 33 terrorists were killed in the area. "As per ground information, only hard-core terrorists were killed," he said.
North Waziristan, the most dangerous part of the lawless tribal areas on the Afghan border, is the stronghold of militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban, al Qaeda, the Haqqani network of Afghanistan, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and other foreign fighters.
Thousands of Pakistani troops are stationed there, but the army has for years resisted U.S. pressure for a full-blown offensive to clear out the militants.
The Pakistani government, led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has made such a major operation even less likely in the near term as it tries to open peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban.
Large numbers of civilian casualties in North Waziristan would undermine the government's task of winning the sympathy of local people for any military offensive in the area, which many observers see as inevitable and likely next year.
The scope of the alleged civilian casualties this week and willingness of locals to speak about it is unusual. "I have never seen such injustice done," said Malik Gul Saleh Jan, a tribal elder, speaking by telephone from Mir Ali. "I say that all those killed were innocents, even if they kill me for saying this."
"All those killed were ordinary folk," agreed Abdul Qayyum, a local politician. "When one innocent person is killed like this, his whole family goes over to the other side, to the terrorists."Mr. Qayyum said several villages were shelled, along with the main market in Mir Ali, where bodies were still lying on the ground as a curfew had been imposed.
On Wednesday, a vehicle-borne suicide bomber hit the Khajori checkpoint, close to Mir Ali, just as Pakistani troops were at prayer in the mosque at the site. Five soldiers were killed and 28 were seriously wounded, the army said.
Gen. Bajwa said a military rescue team dispatched to the scene was ambushed by militants in the nearby village of Ippi late Wednesday. The soldiers pursued the attackers and came under fire, including rockets, from a restaurant there.
He said the troops killed several of the assailants in a firefight and then entered the building and killed the remainder.
The army said 23 militants were killed on Wednesday night, while a further 10, mostly Uzbeks, died during what it described as a search operation on Thursday. Gen. Bajwa said that operation "targeted firing on the confirmed locations of the terrorists," and artillery was used only in "extreme" cases.
The area was under curfew on Thursday, with roads in and out sealed off, local people said, making it difficult to confirm the conflicting accounts of what happened there.
Some people were hiding near a river, residents said, complaining they couldn't take the injured to hospital because of the blockade. In one village, Mosaki, local residents said eight people were killed in shelling, including a woman and three children in the household of a man called Dilshad.
Tufail Dawar, whose family owns the Ippi Sherin Mahal restaurant where most of the killings occurred, said the restaurant on Wednesday had been filled with truck drivers from different parts of northwest Pakistan. He said those present were taken outside by soldiers, lined up and then shot in the head. He put the death toll at the restaurant at 23. Most of the bodies were being stored inside a local religious school, residents said.
—Safdar Dawar contributed to this article.
Pakistani Army Accused of Waziristan Killings of Civilians - WSJ.com
By: SAEED SHAH
December 19, 2013
ISLAMABAD—Residents in Pakistan's troubled North Waziristan tribal region said Thursday that dozens of civilians were killed in an army operation following a suicide attack at a checkpoint, charges the Pakistani military rejected.
Local residents said that more than 20 men, mostly truck drivers, were shot dead at a restaurant, while shelling claimed several more lives, including women and children, as the army responded to Wednesday's deadly attack on its nearby outpost. Localized military operations continued through the night and into Thursday around the town of Mir Ali.
The Pakistani military's chief spokesman, Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa, denied the allegations, saying 33 terrorists were killed in the area. "As per ground information, only hard-core terrorists were killed," he said.
North Waziristan, the most dangerous part of the lawless tribal areas on the Afghan border, is the stronghold of militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban, al Qaeda, the Haqqani network of Afghanistan, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and other foreign fighters.
Thousands of Pakistani troops are stationed there, but the army has for years resisted U.S. pressure for a full-blown offensive to clear out the militants.
The Pakistani government, led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has made such a major operation even less likely in the near term as it tries to open peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban.
Large numbers of civilian casualties in North Waziristan would undermine the government's task of winning the sympathy of local people for any military offensive in the area, which many observers see as inevitable and likely next year.
The scope of the alleged civilian casualties this week and willingness of locals to speak about it is unusual. "I have never seen such injustice done," said Malik Gul Saleh Jan, a tribal elder, speaking by telephone from Mir Ali. "I say that all those killed were innocents, even if they kill me for saying this."
"All those killed were ordinary folk," agreed Abdul Qayyum, a local politician. "When one innocent person is killed like this, his whole family goes over to the other side, to the terrorists."Mr. Qayyum said several villages were shelled, along with the main market in Mir Ali, where bodies were still lying on the ground as a curfew had been imposed.
On Wednesday, a vehicle-borne suicide bomber hit the Khajori checkpoint, close to Mir Ali, just as Pakistani troops were at prayer in the mosque at the site. Five soldiers were killed and 28 were seriously wounded, the army said.
Gen. Bajwa said a military rescue team dispatched to the scene was ambushed by militants in the nearby village of Ippi late Wednesday. The soldiers pursued the attackers and came under fire, including rockets, from a restaurant there.
He said the troops killed several of the assailants in a firefight and then entered the building and killed the remainder.
The army said 23 militants were killed on Wednesday night, while a further 10, mostly Uzbeks, died during what it described as a search operation on Thursday. Gen. Bajwa said that operation "targeted firing on the confirmed locations of the terrorists," and artillery was used only in "extreme" cases.
The area was under curfew on Thursday, with roads in and out sealed off, local people said, making it difficult to confirm the conflicting accounts of what happened there.
Some people were hiding near a river, residents said, complaining they couldn't take the injured to hospital because of the blockade. In one village, Mosaki, local residents said eight people were killed in shelling, including a woman and three children in the household of a man called Dilshad.
Tufail Dawar, whose family owns the Ippi Sherin Mahal restaurant where most of the killings occurred, said the restaurant on Wednesday had been filled with truck drivers from different parts of northwest Pakistan. He said those present were taken outside by soldiers, lined up and then shot in the head. He put the death toll at the restaurant at 23. Most of the bodies were being stored inside a local religious school, residents said.
—Safdar Dawar contributed to this article.
Pakistani Army Accused of Waziristan Killings of Civilians - WSJ.com
first of all you must ask Saeed Shah why he is using fake IDs .
