It's a spectator sport up in those hills (enlarge, please):
"Fighting Intensifies Around Stronghold of Pakistani Cleric" by ISMAIL KHAN
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Oct. 26 — Pakistani security forces exchanged heavy gunfire with militants at the sprawling seminary of a powerful cleric in the troubled North-West Frontier Province on Friday.
That's trouble for you, Musharafff! Don't martyr him!
Armed militants also beheaded four men thought to be police officers or members of local security forces in a village 10 miles west of Mingora, a resident said by telephone.
The home secretary of the province, Badshah Gul Wazir, acknowledged at a news briefing late Friday that three men of the armed civil guard known as the Frontier Constabulary and one policeman, who had been kidnapped by militants from a nearby district earlier in the day, had “reportedly” been killed.
Typical of the Zionist media; focus on this tale of barbarity -- if true -- while Pakistan's military hardware bombards the place!
Pffffffttttt!
The sharp rise in violence in the area, Swat Valley, which is relatively isolated from the lawless tribal areas on the Afghan border, demonstrates the growing strength of Islamists.
Then let's stark TALKING to them!!!
And if they don't want to talk, leave them alone!!!!
Just QUIT KILLING THEM!
Leading the wave of militancy is the cleric, Maulana Fazlullah, who is also known as Maulana Radio for his illegal broadcasts calling for Taliban-like Islamic law, and who is thought to have some 4,500 followers.
He is the son-in-law of Sufi Muhammad, the founder of Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi, the Movement for the Implementation of Muhammad’s Law, who has been in prison since 2001 after sending Pakistanis into Afghanistan to support the Taliban in fighting American forces.
So his wife's father is in the Pakistani prisons?
No reason for the man to resist and fight, though, even though it sure looks like the Pakistani army is out to get him!
In July the government sent a division of troops into the valley to try to contain the violence, but they have met with frequent attacks.
All while our attention wastaken away by the Red Mosque "crisis."
See how the AmeriKan MSM works now, readers?
The provincial government deployed 2,500 more border guards to the area on Wednesday. Retaliation was swift: the suicide attack on Thursday.
Maulana Fazlullah’s whereabouts are not known.
Remember that for the next article. Shows you how the MSM lies!!!!
The fighting on Friday centered around Imam Dheri Village, the headquarters of Maulana Fazlullah in Kabal district. Security forces and militants were holding positions on the opposite sides of the River Swat and exchanged heavy gunfire, punctuated by explosions. Security forces have occupied hilltop positions but avoided shelling the seminary directly, they said.
Yeah, you don't want to bomb the school, do you?
That wouldn't be a good move, Mushy!
The home secretary, Mr. Gul Wazir, said that the government had not moved against the seminary but that a government unit had come under fire when moving in the area. Two civilians were killed in cross-fire, he said.
A resident of Shakkardarra described the execution of the four security officers: Masked men armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles brought the four men to their village around 5 p.m., fired a few shots into the air and then beheaded them.
The four men, said to be in their mid-20s, all had their hands tied behind them, the resident said.
The resident quoted one of the militants as declaring shortly before the beheadings:
“Let this serve as a warning to all those who spy for the government or extend help. The sons of Bush will meet similar fate.”
I'm just getting a total Zio-prop on this. Now maybe I wrong, but I'm usually not!
People in Shakkardarra said that militants, mostly from a banned outfit called the Jaish-i-Muhammad, or Army of Muhammad, who had set up checkpoints on the main road and occupied hilltop positions, had seized the four men during a road check.
If the militants are setting up checkpoints, they are certainly not losing, are they?
Don't bite off more than you can chew for us, Mushy!
No group has claimed responsibility for the killing, but Maulana Naddar, a cleric said to be deputy to Maulana Fazlullah, said in a radio broadcast that the men had been killed to avenge the death of three militants killed earlier Friday.
As evening came, a tense calm returned to the area and the provincial cabinet met in Peshawar to discuss the situation. A senior government official said the government would like to engage local elders and influential residents to calm the situation and sort out the issue with Maulana Fazlullah through negotiations.
This is BULLSHIT!!!!!
It's the same stuff they told Aziz of the Red Mosque -- before they went in and KILLED HIM!!!!!
I suspect Maulana knows better!
The caretaker chief minister of the province, Shamsul Mulk, said the government would pursue a peaceful resolution, but would not shy away from using force to establish its authority.
Typical government bullshit from the dictator Mushy!
"Pakistani forces attack cleric's headquarters; Militants capture and kill 4 officers" by Riaz Khan/Associated Press October 27, 2007
SWAT, Pakistan - Islamic militants reportedly captured and beheaded three government border guards and a police officer yesterday, while troops and helicopter gunships attacked the stronghold of a radical cleric in northwestern Pakistan.
The Times didn't say anything about helicopter gunships!
After killing the four guards, the militants displayed the severed heads in Imam Dheri village near Swat, said Badshah Gul Wazir, home secretary for the volatile North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan.
Wazir would not confirm reports that the four slain men were among eight officers captured.
A few hours earlier, guards from the regional Frontier Constabulary, supported by army helicopters, attacked the stronghold of cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who runs a seminary in Imam Dheri and leads a band of militants.
Hundreds of villagers fled as the two sides battled across the rushing Swat River, firing rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells. Police said one militant was dead and stray bullets killed two civilians near the river.
Abdul Hamid, a 70-year-old shop owner in Swat, who sobbed as he watched thick smoke rise from trees set afire on a mountain where fighting also broke out:
"I never saw this type of violence in my life. Swat was one of the safest places on Pakistan, and now it has become Iraq and Afghanistan, and I don't know what will happen in future."
Look at this!!!! You broke down a 70-year-old man!!!!
And WTF? It was a peaceful area (of "terrorists") before WE GOT THERE!!
Yup, EVERYWHERE AmeriKa goes, it brings death and destruction!!!!!!!
An aide of Fazlullah confirmed one of the cleric's fighters was killed and said four others were wounded in the fighting.
Pakistan deployed 2,500 members of the regional border guard force to Swat this week to confront Fazlullah, who leads a banned pro-Taliban group that sent thousands of volunteers to fight in Afghanistan during the US-led invasion six years ago.
Fazlullah abandoned his house yesterday but returned by evening."
But, but, but the Times told me his whereabouts were"unknown?"
The fucking god-damn, lying New York Times again!!!!
