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Al Qaeda Raid
Aired October 02, 2003 - 13:13 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A suspected Bin Laden hideout along border of Afghanistan and Pakistan the scene of a major raid today on Al Qaeda, at least 12 killed, 12 others detained. It was the largest ever launched by Pakistan's army against Al Qaeda. Our Ash-har Quraishi was there. He join us from the Pakistani/Afghan border -- Ash-har.
ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.
Well, we were escorted to where the military operation took place today, in south Waziristan (ph), which is located in the tribal areas of Pakistan and northwest Pakistan.
When we arrived there, the operation was still under way. It began early in the morning, just before daybreak. Pakistani military forces tell us that they had been monitoring the movement of what they called foreign elements across the Afghan/Pakistan border for about a day or so. They that said they approached these people, holed up in a mud compound along the border, and first approached them, tried to get them to come out. When they did not, and they came under gunfire, military responded. They had helicopter gunships, as well as all- terrain vehicles with gunners mounted on them and soldiers on the ground going in on this operation, which as you mentioned, has been called the largest operation in the tribal area against suspected Al Qaeda remnants.
Now the total at the end of this operation -- this was an all-day thing -- 18 suspected Al Qaeda men were captured, eight of them were killed, 2 Pakistani soldiers were killed in this operation, and 2 others wounded.
Now we're told by military officials that 10 women and children were found inside these series of compounds, and they have been recovered unharmed. They are in the custody of the Pakistani military at this time.
Now also seized in this raid, AK-47 assault rifles, grenades, anti-tank mines, audio cassettes and other documents. Now, the Pakistani government has come under increasing pressure in recent weeks and months by the Afghan interim government to do more to crackdown on remnants, resurgent Taliban. That they say are regrouping on the Pakistani side of the border in these tribal regions, and then launching attacks against coalition forces inside Afghanistan. One military officer today saying that this was proof that Pakistan was doing its part in the war on terrorism and cracking down on insurgents -- Miles. O'BRIEN: Sure, they may offer it as proof. But nevertheless, there's been criticism that the Pakistanis are reluctant to do this very thing we saw today. Why now? Why this particular raid?
QURAISHI: Well, as you know, it's been very recent that they've actually been able to go into these tribal regions, which has been inaccessible to the Pakistani army from the beginning of the war on terror, and there's been really nobody going inside these semiautonomous areas in over a century.
So this is something that is a new development, this is something that we've seen only recently that the Pakistani government has been able to do. They are now in the tribal areas. They do have around 70,000 Pakistani, troops along the entire Western border with Afghanistan, keeping an eye out for Al Qaeda and Taliban resurgents. So they say they're working at it, they're doing their best, and hopefully, they say that this will be enough to stop them from crossing over into Afghanistan.
O'BRIEN: Ash-har Quraishi, along the rugged, lawless border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 2, 2003 - 13:13 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A suspected Bin Laden hideout along border of Afghanistan and Pakistan the scene of a major raid today on Al Qaeda, at least 12 killed, 12 others detained. It was the largest ever launched by Pakistan's army against Al Qaeda. Our Ash-har Quraishi was there. He join us from the Pakistani/Afghan border -- Ash-har.
ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.
Well, we were escorted to where the military operation took place today, in south Waziristan (ph), which is located in the tribal areas of Pakistan and northwest Pakistan.
When we arrived there, the operation was still under way. It began early in the morning, just before daybreak. Pakistani military forces tell us that they had been monitoring the movement of what they called foreign elements across the Afghan/Pakistan border for about a day or so. They that said they approached these people, holed up in a mud compound along the border, and first approached them, tried to get them to come out. When they did not, and they came under gunfire, military responded. They had helicopter gunships, as well as all- terrain vehicles with gunners mounted on them and soldiers on the ground going in on this operation, which as you mentioned, has been called the largest operation in the tribal area against suspected Al Qaeda remnants.
Now the total at the end of this operation -- this was an all-day thing -- 18 suspected Al Qaeda men were captured, eight of them were killed, 2 Pakistani soldiers were killed in this operation, and 2 others wounded.
Now we're told by military officials that 10 women and children were found inside these series of compounds, and they have been recovered unharmed. They are in the custody of the Pakistani military at this time.
Now also seized in this raid, AK-47 assault rifles, grenades, anti-tank mines, audio cassettes and other documents. Now, the Pakistani government has come under increasing pressure in recent weeks and months by the Afghan interim government to do more to crackdown on remnants, resurgent Taliban. That they say are regrouping on the Pakistani side of the border in these tribal regions, and then launching attacks against coalition forces inside Afghanistan. One military officer today saying that this was proof that Pakistan was doing its part in the war on terrorism and cracking down on insurgents -- Miles. O'BRIEN: Sure, they may offer it as proof. But nevertheless, there's been criticism that the Pakistanis are reluctant to do this very thing we saw today. Why now? Why this particular raid?
QURAISHI: Well, as you know, it's been very recent that they've actually been able to go into these tribal regions, which has been inaccessible to the Pakistani army from the beginning of the war on terror, and there's been really nobody going inside these semiautonomous areas in over a century.
So this is something that is a new development, this is something that we've seen only recently that the Pakistani government has been able to do. They are now in the tribal areas. They do have around 70,000 Pakistani, troops along the entire Western border with Afghanistan, keeping an eye out for Al Qaeda and Taliban resurgents. So they say they're working at it, they're doing their best, and hopefully, they say that this will be enough to stop them from crossing over into Afghanistan.
O'BRIEN: Ash-har Quraishi, along the rugged, lawless border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
