'High-Value Target' Surrounded in Pakistan

[bodypilot90 0]

Quote

Pakistani officials said Thursday they have a "high-value target" in the war on terror surrounded near the Afghan border and sources reported that an air strike is being launched at dawn to flush out the resistance.



Intelligence officials suggest it may be Ayman al-Zawahri (search) — the Al Qaeda No. 2 leader and the top deputy to Usama bin Laden (search) — but the person's identity remains uncertain.

Three senior Pakistani officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said intelligence indicated the Egyptian-born al-Zawahri has been cornered in an operation that began Tuesday in South Waziristan (search) involving hundreds of troops and paramilitary rangers.

A senior counter terrorism official told Fox News they believe it is al-Zawahri because of "multiple specific pieces of intelligence" gathered.

Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir told Fox News that the Pakistani military has "already sent some choppers to that area. They will strike all those bunkers from where the Al Qaeda fighters are fighting against Pakistani forces."

Mansoor Ijaz, Fox News' foreign affairs analyst, said it "looks like air strike will be launched at dawn" which will be significant in terms of number of aircraft involved and type of aircraft involved" such as helicopter gun ships and other support aircraft.

According to one intelligence official, captured fighters said al-Zawahri had been wounded.

Maj. Gen. Shawkat Sultan (search), spokesman for Pakistani military told Fox News the reports that the cornered individual is al-Zawahri are purely speculative, but confirmed that "the militants are very well dug in" and the resistance is "unusually strong."

"This is not a small area," he said. "The area has been effectively surrounded by the troops and we are making all the effort to ensure people do not slip out during the night."

Responding to reports a military strike was in the works, Shawkat said: "We have all kind of support lined up ... if required, it is going to be used."

"We would make all the effort to cap people alive if not effort would be made to flush them out whether alive or dead."

'He's a Whale'

White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett (search) told Fox News that there is no confirmation as to who is cornered, but if it is al-Zawahri "it would be a significant victory in the war on terror. When you're talking about big fish, he's a whale."

The United States has offered a $25 million reward for information leading to al-Zawahri's capture.

Ijaz said capturing al-Zawahri would be "bigger than Usama bin Laden" because of his mastery in planning and coordinating deadly terrorist attacks and ability to link Al Qaeda cells around the world.

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf (search) said in a television interview he had spoken with the commander of Pakistani troops in the region. He said the commander reported "fierce resistance" from a group of fighters entrenched in fort-like buildings and that there were indications that a senior figure was surrounded.

"He's reasonably sure there's a high-value target there," Musharraf said.

Pakistan Military Pursues Tribal Leaders

The Pakistani military has been pursuing 100 tribal leaders that authorities want to roll into their efforts to hunt Al Qaeda in the Waziristan frontier. So far, about two-thirds have said they would provide information and turn over any Islamic militants in their territories, American defense officials said on condition of anonymity.

The others are facing destruction of their homes by the hands of Pakistani military, officials said.

The Pakistanis also are targeting Arabs and other foreigners who settled in the tribal regions shortly after the Afghan-Soviet war in the 1980s, the officials said. While some veterans of the war formed the nucleus of Al Qaeda, others put down roots in Pakistan.

It is believed that some of these veterans are providing a support network for bin Laden and his followers in the region, officials said.

U.S. officials say they are watching to see if the Pakistani actions send militant fighters moving back to Afghanistan, where U.S. troops operate freely.

Hundreds of Pakistani troops have moved into three South Waziristan towns — Azam Warsak, Shin Warsak and Kaloosha — firing artillery and using helicopter gunships against entrenched positions.

Early morning calls from mosques warned residents in Azam Warsak, Shin Warsak and Kaloosha to leave the area, apparently to give the troops more room to operate.

At least 41 people — including 15 soldiers and 26 suspected militants — were killed Tuesday in fighting in the area, and army spokesman Gen. Shaukat Sultan said there were an unknown number of casualties in continued action Thursday.

The military said Thursday that most of those killed were foreigners, but it did not give their nationalities and acknowledged that only two bodies had been recovered.

The two dead were believed to be a Chechen and someone of Middle Eastern origin, a military official said on condition of anonymity.

Powell Praises Pakistan for Terror War Help

The news came the same day as Secretary of State Colin Powell (search) announced in Islamabad that Washington was bestowing the status of "major non-NATO ally" on Pakistan and praised it for its help in the war on terror.

Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, promised Monday to rid the tribal areas of foreign terrorists.

Powell, who left the country hours before the announcement, also said he believed there was evidence that bin Laden is still alive and hiding in the rugged border area.

"No one has seen him, so how can one be sure?" Powell told Geo TV. "But he has certainly given evidence that he is alive and active. But we can't be sure.

"And if he is alive and active, and the evidence suggests that he is, and if he is in the area of the Pakistan-Afghan border, that's a very difficult area to find someone who doesn't want to be found."

A spokesman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan told AP the force hoped Pakistani soldiers had indeed cornered al-Zawahri, but he had no new information on the whereabouts of either of the Al Qaeda leaders.

"All the senior leaders of Al Qaeda will be brought to justice," Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said.

Hilferty said a U.S. operation begun March 7 on the Afghan side of the border was continuing, but he gave no details and said he had no information of any signs of militants fleeing from Pakistan.

About a dozen helicopters buzzed over Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, early Thursday, flying toward the operation zone about six miles to the west.

A convoy of army trucks carrying soldiers also passed Wana hours before the operation started. Later, mortar explosions were heard in the town.

Interior Ministry spokesman Abdur Rauf Chaudhry said extra troops were dispatched in anticipation of the new offensive.

He said "a few" paramilitary troops are missing from Tuesday's operation in Kaloosha, with rumors in the region that they may have been kidnapped by the suspected militants.

The raid has sparked outrage in the tribal region, which fiercely covets its autonomy and has resisted outside intervention for centuries.

In another part of the tribal region, North Waziristan, attackers launched a rocket and fired gunshots at a Pakistan army post before dawn Thursday, Sultan said. Two soldiers died and several were injured in the attack, an intelligence official told the AP on condition of anonymity.

The official also said assailants threw a hand grenade at an army truck heading to Miran Shah, North Waziristan's main town, and that several soldiers were injured. But Sultan denied the incident occurred.

U.S. forces in Afghanistan announced over the weekend the start of an operation — dubbed Mountain Storm — to capture terror fugitives, including bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

On Monday, Musharraf promised to rid Pakistan's tribal areas of foreign terrorists. Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal regions border eastern and southern Afghanistan — the focus of operation Mountain Storm.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,114571,00.html

[freeflir29 0]

Hope it's him and I hope they get him alive so they can parade his sorry ass like Saddam.

[FrogNog 1]

Whale aren't fish.

-=-=-=-=-
Pull.