Tuesday, August 05, 2008
By Irfan Burki
WANA: At least nine Pakistan Army soldiers were injured when a military convoy hit an improvised explosive device (IED) planted on the roadside at Tanai near Wana in South Waziristan Agency (SWA) on Monday.
Military spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas, when reached by telephone, said the attack did not cause any major injuries to the soldiers.
“A few soldiers suffered minor injuries but no one was hospitalised,” he said.
Abbas said right now he would not say anything about the perpetrators of the attack on the security forces.
On the other hand, official and tribal sources told The News that nine army soldiers, including a major, were injured in the attack on the soldiers.
The troops were on their way to Wana, regional headquarters of militancy-hit South Waziristan Agency, from Dera Ismail Khan.
The sources said the blast slightly damaged a pick-up truck carrying the troops. Soon after the incident, the troops reportedly fired shots into the air and ringed the area but could not make any arrest.
It was the first-ever attack on security forces after months of peace in the areas inhabited by the Wazir tribesmen.
The Wazir tribal militants, led by their commander Maulvi Nazeer, are generally known as pro-government as they had never indulged in attacks on security forces and government installations after the government helped them raise a tribal Lashkar to force and evict Uzbek militants from their areas in March-April 2007.
There were also reports that the attack on security forces could be a reaction to the killing of senior al-Qaeda operatives who died in an air attack on their alleged hideout in Zyara Leeta village of South Waziristan a week ago by an unmanned US drone.
Senior al-Qaeda commander Abu Khubab al-Masri, his son Mudassir Ahmad Khubab, grandson and Islamic scholar,
Mufti Sheikh Usman also known as Sheikh Abu Omar or Sheikh Ahmad were killed in the attack.
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=16425