Rockets Hit Pak City; Wana Tensions High After Soldiers Die
Mar 24, 2004, by Zafir Jamaal, JUS

Resentment over the illegal operation in Wana has reached the capital of NWFP province. Rockets were launched at four locations in Peshawar on Tuesday night wounding two people. One rocket landed near the Frontier Corps Headquarters. This is the paramilitary organization that was initially the main group in the Wana operation until the Pakistan army took over. Three rockets were fired at Lady Gress School, a Christian missionary school, the Peshawar Sectariat (Provincial Assembly) car park and the Judicial Complex. All ordinances fired were Russian made M-12 guided missiles that boast a range of up to 11 km. The rockets were believed to have been fired from 6 to 7 kilometers away. Security has been tightened around the city and all vehicles are being searched as they enter the city. The explosions could be heard all across the city and people frantically called news papers and local agencies to find information about it.

In Karam Agency, attacks on Army and FRP police has resulted in the deaths of seven people and five others wounded. According to details, the Dogar F. Arkam, the army unit of Baloch-47 received rocket fire at 4:20 Tuesday morning. Three soldiers were killed in the attack and four were wounded. Two policemen were killed during an attack on an army convoy on Bannu - Meran Shah road. The convoy was going to Bannu cantonment when a bomb planted on a bridge went off prematurely. The army convoy halted after the attack, and it was then that some Mujahideen opened fire killing the two policemen. In same manner as in Waziristan, the local political establishment held the entire Mir Ali tribe accountable and started confiscating cars and arresting people belonging to the tribe. The markets of the tribe were all sealed off and 150 other commercial units were of the Mir Ali tribe were also sealed.

In Wana, Sarkoi, Zari, Joni Mela and Madah Jan, the situation is tense and has the markings of a civil war zone. Resistance to the army is growing by the day as the fighting is spreading from the area of operation to the army’s supply routes. One convoy of supplies was hit yesterday in which 10 heavy vehicles and 2 oil tankers were also destroyed. An army convoy carrying reinforcement troops and supplies to the Wana area of operations in Southern Waziristan was attacked en route Monday and 23 Pakistani soldiers were killed and fourteen others were. Those killed included a Major and a Captain in the Pakistan army. Ten vehicles were also destroyed in the incident and eighteen soldiers were also reported to have been captured.

The attack was so fierce that many vehicles were overturned as the result of the bombs and rocket propelled grenades the attackers fired. Three pickup Datsun vehicles, two Army jeeps, three trucks and two trucks equipped with shovels were destroyed. An oil drum on one of the trucks was hit by an RPG that resulted in a huge explosion. After the attack, Pak soldiers blocked the Tank-Wana road for all traffic and two helicopters airlifted some of the troops from the scene of the attack. One of the helicopters later removed the dead and wounded from the area. Fifty other helicopters were seen patrolling the area in search of the attackers.

Some tribesmen have said that some attacks attributed to the Mujahideen may actually be waged by anti state agents who want to ensure a civil war in a Muslim nation and have called for both sides to negotiate their differences to prevent civil war among Muslims. That claim is supplemented with the fact that hundreds of armored personal carriers and American troops are waiting across the border and could enter under a disguise of peacekeeping if a civil war was to break out.

Tensions are also growing as Pakistan army is now amassing troops in the Northern Waziristan agency. It is not known if Pakistan army is planning an operation in Northern Waziristan or if it is just a show of force.

Major Ulamas of Pakistan have declared the Wana operations to be unlawful in Islam and have declared that fighting against the Pakistani army is Jihad and that death in these circumstances is martyrdom. Many tribes are now arming themselves for the war, which has increased an already tense situation.

Meanwhile, Mujahideen fired three rockets at a base camp of the Jandola Scouts. One of the rockets missed its target and landed near a camp of tribal nomads but thankfully it did not cause any damage. The second rocket hit heavy transmission lines of electricity, disrupting electricity for some areas in South Waziristan. There have been no other reports of damage or casualties.

The Director of the Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Shoukat Sultan confirmed the attack on the Pakistan army convoy but declined to give specific numbers of dead soldiers.

On Monday, light and heavy artillery fire went on for about three hours but the heavy barrage of attacks has died down from both sides. Some fighting was reported in Zeri Nur temporary army camp, Shen Warsak, Waza Gundi and Kaluusha. No reports of casualties have been received.

It was announced in a press conference that the Pakistan army discovered a 2 km long tunnel that opened up in a rain drainage basin. It is believed that it was used by many Mujahideens to escape. Also of interest was that is was discovered that a local private telephone exchange that is independent of the government telephone system was being used by the Mujahideen to communicate with each other.

Houses belonging to the subtribes of Ahmed Zai tribe, Zali Khel, Yargul Khel in Wana are to be bulldozed. Four hundred houses have been marked for demolition and many bulldozers have arrived at the location and have started their work. The campaign will involve bulldozing some 1007 homes and will continue for some several days, in a style that is similar to that which the Israelis conduct against the Palestinians. Meanwhile at the Rustum Bazaar, a major market in Wana, the people of Yargul Khel tribe spend the entire day Monday moving their merchandise because they fear that along with the houses, their shops will also be bulldozed.

The political agent Azam Khan has said that the operation is now expanding and has issued a order of evacuation to the village of Alam Shah, which is 8 km from Wana. The Assistant political agent Rehmat Ullah Wazir, contrary to his name meaning mercy of Allah, told the merchants to empty roughly 2000 shops because they were to be bulldozed.

The Pakistan army helicopters opened fire yet again on a group of tribesmen who were moving from their besieged homes to more peaceful locations on Tuesday. Many people were feared dead, more reports are expected in.

Villagers from Shula and surrounding villages have been told to evacuate their homes as the Pakistani soldiers having received some fire from that village and it could become the target of a Pakistani strike any time.

A Jirga of the Zali Khel tribe has succeeded in entering the Shen Warsak region to talk to the Mujahideens. The political agent of the Waziristan agency still blame the Zali Khel tribe for the war and said that unless the Zali Khel tribe came to its senses, more carnage will follow.

The refugee crisis is still developing as more and more people leave their homes and are deprived of their livelihood. (JUS)

Source:
Jihadunspun.com