Pakistani army pounds suspected al-Qaida positions

Pakistani troops pounded a cluster of suspected al-Qaida hideouts and a training facility with artillery, mortar and small arms fire during a third day of violence in a lawless tribal region near the border with Afghanistan.

The army said it had killed 35 insurgents. Fifteen security forces were killed in an attack on a checkpoint on the first day of the fighting on Wednesday, said army spokesman General Shaukat Sultan.

He said the army had retrieved the soldiers’ bodies, many of which had been mutilated.

Sultan said the three-day army offensive focused on three al-Qaida-linked compounds – a training facility, a safe house, and the home of an alleged terror financier – near the town of Shakai in South Waziristan.

“Pakistan took a bold decision to fight against terrorism,” Sultan said. “We are ready to pay the price, whatever it may be, and we will take this fight against terrorism to its logical end.”

Residents say a number of civilians have been killed, with mud homes levelled and many people forced to flee, but Sultan said he had no information about any civilian casualties.

Sultan said one of the targets was the home of a suspected al-Qaida financier, Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi.

He would not comment on whether the suspect was there when the attack ocurred but said 10 to 15 other foreigners were believed inside. Their fate was unclear.

Tension has been building in South Waziristan over the past month as authorities have pressured tribesmen to evict hundreds of Central Asian, Arab and Afghan militants, many of whom moved there from Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001.

The militants have refused to surrender and register with authorities despite a government amnesty offer that would allow them to settle in Pakistan if they renounce terrorism.