Sounds Like Fun Doesen't It? What with all the gun play and such. http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=81168&d=24&m=4&y=2006 Four Killed in Shootout Near Miranshah Azhar Masood & Agencies ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR, 24 April 2006 — Four people including a paramilitary trooper were killed yesterday in a shootout on a highway connecting Bannu to North Waziristan, as authorities tried to enforce a ban on carrying arms, officials said. The firefight broke out near Miranshah. Tribesmen in a minibus opened fire after being ordered to hand over weapons at a checkpoint near a cemetery on the outskirts of the town. “Four men were killed, including three attackers and one Frontier Corps trooper, in an exchange of fire at the cemetery checkpoint,” an intelligence official told Reuters. He described the attackers as militants and said two others had been arrested. There is widespread support for the Taleban and Al-Qaeda among the tribesmen and the ban on carrying arms in public has struck another nerve. The fiercely independent Pashtun tribes of the area regard a display of weapons as part of their cultural identity, and Kalashnikovs and bandoliers are commonly referred to as “Pashtun jewelry”. After the clash, shopkeepers pulled down shutters in the main bazaar and helicopter gunships hovered overhead. After the shootout Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate sources said an operation had been launched to hunt down militants in North and South Waziristan. Hours earlier, militants distributed leaflets through the town urging tribesmen not to surrender weapons. The leaflets urged paramilitary troops, who are drawn from the tribes, to desert and fight against “Zionism” instead of taking sides with “infidels”. “Don’t spoil your faith for a few rupees. You must quit the ranks of infidels in the war between America and Islam,” read a leaflet. Remnants of Al-Qaeda and Afghanistan’s former Taleban rulers remain in Waziristan and other border areas after being ousted from Afghanistan by US-led forces in late 2001. According to an intelligence official, security forces fired artillery at a suspected militant hide-out in a village in the tribal region, but there were no reports of casualties. The troops fired the salvos Saturday night, hours after suspected militants targeted a roadside security post with rockets near the Spelga village in North Waziristan, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the secretive nature of his job. Many residents of Spelga left the village early Saturday after militants fired six rockets at the security post and security forces, backed by helicopter gunships, retaliated and fired at hide-outs there, he said. Several homes in the village have been hit by security forces fire but there are no reports of civilian or militant casualties, he said. There was no confirmation by the army of the fighting. On Thursday, militants ambushed a security forces convoy near Spelga, killing seven soldiers and wounding 22. Hundreds of helicopter gunship-backed troops responded to the ambush, killing between five and eight militants, the army said.
Hunsa allso. They shoot at Islamabads troops all the time. I dont dear say more for fear of peanutbutter. :wink: They have nice opals though.
