Miranshah and Afghanistan

www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200509/s1459636.htm
Pakistani forces have recovered an unmanned drone aircraft and a major weapons cache in a raid on a suspected Al Qaeda hideout in the tribal areas near Afghanistan, a top commander says.
Militants used the Chinese-made vehicle to spy on security forces in the rugged area, where Pakistani soldiers have been battling Islamic militants for more than a year, Lieutenant General Safdar Hussain told reporters.
The find, believed to be the first of its kind in Pakistan, came on the same day as President Pervez Musharraf unveiled plans to build a fence along part of the border with Afghanistan to curb the movement of militants.
Twenty-one people were arrested in Monday's raid on a compound and religious school near Miranshah, capital of the North Waziristan tribal zone, General Hussain said.
The buildings are owned by relatives of a former Taliban minister.
"The terrorists used the RPV (remotely-piloted vehicle) to check the position of security forces and attack them," the general said, adding the drone was capable of carrying weapons.
A military officer from the army's Signal Corps said the vehicle had a sophisticated, wide-angle camera to take pictures of targets on the ground, while General Hussain said they had seized a CD which pinpointed Pakistani troops.
Security forces also found a "suicide jacket" and Jordanian, Afghan and Pakistani passports along with Al Qaeda training material from the compound, he said.
Additionally they uncovered a cache of weapons including 17 machine guns, 29 rockets, 51 grenades, eight improvised bombs and 10 landmines, he added.

Miranshah has had a chequered past in recent times, being the centre of much activity in the war against terror - Afghan Division. The article didn't hit major news and didn't really hit the American headlines as much as I thought it would.

To capture the drone aircraft would have been a major victory by allied forces and i would have thought that they would have been screaming the victory from the rooftops. But it is increasingly harder and harder to find good articles on the war and the current offensives carried out by the allied forces. Media coverage is tight with most of what is coming out of the region "the official line", the journalism seems to be partially propoganda and partially soft items that brush over casualties inflicted on opposing "insurgents"

Miranshah has been in the news with other incidents such as the following snippets over the past few months. It does make me wonder what really is going on in the area.

www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_6-9-2005_pg1_6
3 Miranshah admin officials shot dead
* Administration orders to ‘shoot at sight’ men with arms
MIRANSHAH: Three people died and three were wounded on Monday when a tribesman fired at administration officials trying to confiscate his Kalashnikov rifle in a town near the Afghan border, government sources said.
Miranshah political Tehsildar Iftikhar Ahmed Khattak, Moharir Ali Amroz and tribal policeman Dil Muhammad were gunned down in Miranshah’s crowded bazaar, Razmak Adda, a senior administration official told Daily Times.
Ali died at the scene while Iftikhar and Dil Muhammad were pronounced dead in hospital. A policeman and two passers-by were also injured, he said. The gunman fled after the incident.
After the killings, authorities have ordered to “shoot at sight” if anyone is seen with weapons in the Miranshah Bazaar, the official said. Political Agent Tariq Hayat and Tochi Scouts Commandant Waheed Bangash declared that armed persons in Miranshah Bazaar would be shot at sight from today onward.

www.jang.com.pk/thenews/sep2005-daily/06-09-2005/national/n12.htm
MIRANSHAH: Three government officials were killed and three others were wounded Monday when gunmen fired at them in Miranshah town in the troubled North Waziristan tribal region near the border with Afghanistan.
North Waziristan’s political agent Tariq Hayat told The News that two of the killers had been arrested after hectic efforts while manhunt had been launched to apprehend their two accomplices. He identified the two arrested tribesmen as Gul Badshah and his nephew Sher Badshah belonging to the Borakhel Wazir sub-tribe. He said curfew had been imposed in Miranshah and Mir Ali towns from 9 pm to 5 am and shoot-at-sight orders had been given against anyone carrying a gun. He said the paramilitary Frontier Corps had been given extra powers in a bid to track down the killers.
Those killed included Miranshah’s tehsildar Iftikhar Khattak, political moharrir Ali Imroze and member of the khassadar force Abdul Hameed. Khattak was critically wounded and died from his injuries in the hospital. The other two were killed on the spot. The three wounded persons included a khassadar and two bystanders. All three were hospitalized.

www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_25-8-2005_pg7_9
MIRANSHAH: A remote-controlled bomb went off 25 kilometres from Miranshah in North Waziristan on Wednesday, damaging an army water supply tanker.
The bomb was planted in the Madakhel Saraey area of the Datta Khel Bazaar. Sources said the device badly damaged the army vehicle, but no loss of life was reported. Local authorities are investigating the incident. online

www.alertnet.org/thenews/pictures/ISL02D.htm
Pakistani doctors examine the body of one of two government officials in a hospital who were caught in an ambush by unidentified gunmen in Miranshah, about 400 km (250 miles) northwest of Islamabad, September 5, 2005. The gunmen killed the government officials on Monday in Pakistan's tribal belt, near the Afghan border where al Qaeda-linked militants are believed to be hiding, a witness said.

www.dawn.com/2005/08/23/top4.htm
PESHAWAR, Aug 22: Security forces arrested 10 suspected militants and seized weapons, wigs and women’s outfits from a fake madressah near Miranshah, an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release said on Monday.
A deserted compound, designed to look like a religious school, was raided late on Sunday, it said.
“The compound was being used as a terrorist den. Security forces carried out a search following a tip-off that suspected militants visited the compound,” said the statement.
During the search, the troops seized grenades, fuses, guns, binoculars, daggers and commando uniforms as well as women costumes and wigs, it said.
“The madressah had been established in an unpopulated location and is an attempt on part of terrorists to use the cover of religious places for sabotage activities,” the military said.
In a related development, security forces arrested seven suspected terrorists from Mera Din town in Shawal Valley in the tribal belt while three others were held in the area near the Afghan border.

www.dawn.com/2005/05/07/top10.htm
MIRANSHAH, May 6: A bomb blast wrecked a cluster of music and video shops in a remote town where militants had warned people of possible attacks, police said on Friday. There were no casualties in the attack in Miranshah, the main town of the troubled tribal region of North Waziristan, 300km southwest of the capital, Islamabad, and close to the Afghan border. The explosion happened after midnight and the street where the shops were concentrated was deserted.
Militants, linked with Al Qaeda and the Taliban, distributed hand-written leaflets in Miranshah earlier this week asking hotels and music shops to stop showing television and selling DVD movies within five days or face the consequences.
“We received that leaflet, but ignored it and threw it away,” Mohammed Aziz, one of the shopkeepers, told Reuters.
“We don’t know who has done it. We demand that the government provide us security and compensate us for these losses.” Days earlier, a Miranshah man was shot dead by a suspected Taliban gunman. A note was found on his body saying that he was punished for spying on militants. Security officials say about 100 militants are known to be in the area — many of them having escaped from an army offensive in neighbouring South Waziristan last year.—Reuters