Top Militants 'Among 1000 Dead' -- Daily Telegraph
PAKISTANI troops have killed more than 1000 al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels, including five top commanders, in a month-long offensive near the Afghan border, the military said today.
Twenty-seven soldiers also died in the operation in Bajaur, one of Pakistan's seven lawless tribal regions along the porous frontier, said Tariq Khan, inspector general of the paramilitary Frontier Corps.
"The overall toll is over 1000 militants,'' Mr Khan said who were taken by helicopter to see the scene of the fighting in remote Bajaur.
He said four of the militant commanders appeared to be foreigners: Egyptian Abu Saeed Al-Masri; Abu Suleiman, an Arab; an Uzbek commander named Mullah Mansoor; and an Afghan commander called Manaras.
The fifth was a Pakistani commander named only Abdullah, a son of ageing hardline leader Maulvi Faqir Mohammad who is based in Bajaur and has close ties to al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri.
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My Comment: The unfortunate part of these news releases from the Pakistani military is the complete lack of independent confirmation. But having said that, the heavy traffic of refugees from the area is testament that heavy fighting is occurring.
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