ISLAMABAD, April 27: At least five suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists were detained in a joint US-Pakistan operations underway in tribal belt, official sources said on Saturday.
Around two dozen US intelligence officials backed by a small number of uniformed troops were participating in the raids which started early this week, they said.
“At least five suspects were taken into custody in a tribal pocket close to the border opposite Afghanistan’s Khost region,” a local official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Small groups of Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters are believed to be active in the mountains of the eastern Afghan provinces of Paktia and Khost, bordering Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal area of South Waziristan.
The sources said another joint raid targeted a Madersah in South Waziristan that was founded by top Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, one of the most wanted men on Washington’s hit-list for Afghanistan.
Around 10 Americans, two of them in military uniform, backed by around 200 local police raided the Madersah but found it empty, the sources said.
GEN TOMMY FRANKS: The United States is cooperating with Pakistan to root out the remnants of the Al Qaeda network and is not acting unilaterally, the head of US forces in Afghanistan said on Friday.
Gen Tommy Franks was speaking after US officials said on Thursday a small number of special operations forces for the first time were pursuing Al Qaeda and Taliban members inside Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan.
“What we are going to do is continue the cooperation. I think we have not seen a suggestion of unilateral operations being conducted in Pakistan by any nation that is a member of the coalition,” Franks said during a visit to London. “The secret is to continue to cooperate and surely the problems we find in Pakistan will be rooted out.”—Agencies
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