ISLAMABAD — Hundreds of Afghan militants poured into northwestern Pakistan in an attack on a paramilitary base in the Mohmand district late Saturday and Sunday that left six Pakistani soldiers and at least 40 militants dead, according to Pakistani security officials.
At the same time, an equally bloody fight played out just sixty miles to the south: Gangs of Shiites and Sunnis rampaged through the villages of Hangu district, killing at least 40 members of rival sects, according to reports from authorities carried on Pakistani channels as well as the accounts of local residents.
The violent weekend demonstrated anew the lawlessness of the tribal areas along Pakistan’s western border with Afghanistan. The area is controlled by Taliban militants and other warlords, and there is little effective civil authority. When Pakistani troops start offensives, the militants typically pull back to other areas only to return later. The region provides sanctuary for guerrillas who routinely carry out attacks inside Afghanistan, an acute problem for American and NATO forces fighting the resurgent Taliban in that country.
But this time, the majority of the estimated 600 guerrillas who attacked the Mahmud Gatt base came from inside Afghanistan, according to officials with the Frontier Corps, Pakistan’s paramilitary force. It was thought to be the largest attack on Pakistani troops in months.
The estimate of 40 dead militants could not independently confirmed, and according to some reports a number of Pakistani soldiers were also captured, in addition of the six killed and seven wounded.
Armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and machine guns, the militants swarmed the fort Saturday night and fought heavily through the morning, according to one Frontier Corps officer, who declined to use his name because he was not authorized to release information. By Sunday afternoon, he said, most of the remaining militants had left, though there were still scattered skirmishes.
The battle took place in a district formally known as the Mohmand Agency, one of seven semi-autonomous agencies along the border. Mohmand is just northwest of Peshawar, the frontier hub city of three million that has come under increasing pressure from Taliban encroachment.
South of Peshawar, a sectarian fight consumed an area known as Hangu this weekend, after Shiites protested that a curfew forbade them from turning out for an important religious procession commemorating the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, at the Battle of Karbala in 680 A.D.
According to some local residents, after a large number of Shiites who live on the road from Hangu to Kohat marched toward Hangu to confront authorities about the curfew, a fight erupted with Sunnis who live in the area. A bitter skirmish followed, with both sides using R.P.G.s and other weapons.
Taliban from the neighboring Orakzai Agency under the command of Hakimullah Mehsud, a lieutenant of warlord Baitullah Mehsud, rushed to help the Sunnis, according to Abdul Rehman, a resident in Hangu. He said the Shiites got help from members of the Turi tribe from another adjoining district, Kurram Agency.
Pakistani news media said as many as 40 people were killed, but Mr. Rehman estimated that 60 people had died so far. According to some reports, a council of tribal elders met Sunday and declared a truce, but each group continued to prepare for more fighting.
"Both sides are trying to overrun each other’s villages," Mr. Rehman said. Many people have fled to Kohat and Peshawar, he said, and there has been no electricity and water and little food for several days.
No comments:
Post a Comment