Jun 30, 2008 3:01 pm US/Eastern
Pakistan Steps Up Raids On Pro-Taliban Fighters
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) ―
A powerful explosion destroyed a militant compound and killed up to eight people Monday in a volatile tribal region where Pakistan security forces are waging an offensive against pro-Taliban militants, residents said.
Residents said the blast in the Khyber tribal area hit a compound owned by a supporter of Haji Namdar, a local militant leader whose Vice and Virtue Movement is suspected of cross-border assaults. Villager Nawaz Khan Afridi said he saw eight bodies.
The political administration of the Khyber tribal area said at least five people were killed and three were injured during an explosion, but that its security forces had not fired on the damaged building.
Pakistani paramilitary forces launched an offensive in the region three days ago against militants threatening the main northwestern city of Peshawar and a key supply line for the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani show of force comes amid U.S. concern that the newly elected government's efforts to negotiate peace deals with militants have given Taliban and al Qaeda-linked extremists more space to operate along the lawless border.
Afridi said he was awakened by a loud explosion before dawn, rushed out of his house in Bar Qambarkhel village and joined dozens of other residents in helping rescue survivors from rubble.
Militants insisted the explosion could have been caused by a missile strike launched from neighboring Afghanistan, where U.S. and NATO forces are based.
"We do not know if our country Pakistan is involved, but our claim is on America," Namdar told Geo TV after a funeral for some of the dead. "We do not know from where it was carried out, but we claim that Jews and Christians did it."
A spokesman for Namdar's group, Munsif Khan, claimed the explosion was a missile strike and had killed six people.
"Our friends saw a flash of light coming from the direction of Afghanistan" before the blast, Khan said. The village, in the Bara area, lies at least 25 miles from the Afghan border.
Fazal Hussain, an explosives expert from the Frontier Corps sent to examine the damage, told reporters that a missile would have left a hole in the roof and ground of the destroyed building but that no such evidence was found. He said explosives stored in the building must have detonated.
U.S. military officials in Afghanistan could not immediately be reached for comment.
Dozens of people attended the funeral for four men who died in the explosion, according to television reports. Footage showed mourners shoveling soil on graves as several armed men sporting beards and long hair stood or sat nearby.
The offensive in Khyber tribal area appears to be a shift for Pakistan's government, which has sought to reduce violence through the peace deals since it took power after February elections. It coincides with a three-day visit to Islamabad by senior U.S. State Department official Richard Boucher that began Monday. A five-member congressional delegation also is visiting the country.
The government was only talking to those willing to lay down weapons, a statement from Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's office said.
The operation was launched to secure Peshawar from threats by "law breakers and militant groups," the Ministry of Interior said in a statement late Sunday. It would continue until "all the objectives are achieved," it said.
Three groups operating in Khyber - Lashkar-e-Islam, Ansarul Islam and Haji Namdar's group - have been outlawed and the "government is determined to end their nefarious activities," the ministry said. Officials accused the militants of setting up a parallel administration and of crimes including kidnapping.
Namdar denied that his fighters had challenged the government's authority but asserted the traditional independence of the tribes living at the Pakistan-Afghan border.
"We do the work of religion... We prepare for holy war, we are holy warriors, thanks be to God. We work - that is why they attack," Namdar said.
Officials said Sunday that paramilitary forces destroyed four militant centers, including a radio station, and unearthed alleged torture rooms. But troops have encountered little resistance and have reporting killing just one militant.
In response to the operation, Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistan's top militant leader, said he was suspending talks between his allies and the government - although the offensive has not been widened to include his strongholds in the Waziristan region to the south.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
