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Al Qaeda Raid on Pakistani-Afghan Border

Aired October 02, 2003 - 14:10   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: For months, they have been charged with not doing enough in the war on terror. Today, Pakistani troops took charge, storming an area of the country that's very hard to get to and not really under their control, their largest raid to date against al Qaeda.
CNN's Ash-har Quraishi joining us from the Pakistani-Afghan border. He was there to witness the raid.

Ash-har, go ahead.

ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Well, we were taken up to this location where this military operation took place. It commenced just before daybreak today. It was in south Wazeristan, which is located in the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan, a very inaccessible area. We were taken there by helicopter. When we got there, police -- military officials rather said they had been monitoring the area for about a day or so. They've been monitoring the movement of what they called foreign elements across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, and when they approached this mud compound, they came under gunfire. That's when the heavy military was called in.

As we arrived on the scene, helicopter gunships were still circling the compound. Interment gunfire could be heard, as well as some sort of blast in the distance. Now at the end of the day -- this was this was an all-day operation -- 18 suspected al Qaeda militants were captured, eight other suspected Al Qaeda militants were killed. Now there were some casualties to the Pakistani military as well. Two army soldiers were killed and two others wound.

Military officials tell us that they also found 10 women and children inside the series of mud compounds. They are in the military's custody right now. They have been unharmed.

Now in this raid, the military says that they've seized AK-47 assault rifles, grenades, anti-tank mines, as well as audio cassettes and other documents -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, thanks very much, Ash-har Quraishi, along the Pakistani-Afghan border.

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 - 14:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: For months, they have been charged with not doing enough in the war on terror. Today, Pakistani troops took charge, storming an area of the country that's very hard to get to and not really under their control, their largest raid to date against al Qaeda.
CNN's Ash-har Quraishi joining us from the Pakistani-Afghan border. He was there to witness the raid.

Ash-har, go ahead.

ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Well, we were taken up to this location where this military operation took place. It commenced just before daybreak today. It was in south Wazeristan, which is located in the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan, a very inaccessible area. We were taken there by helicopter. When we got there, police -- military officials rather said they had been monitoring the area for about a day or so. They've been monitoring the movement of what they called foreign elements across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, and when they approached this mud compound, they came under gunfire. That's when the heavy military was called in.

As we arrived on the scene, helicopter gunships were still circling the compound. Interment gunfire could be heard, as well as some sort of blast in the distance. Now at the end of the day -- this was this was an all-day operation -- 18 suspected al Qaeda militants were captured, eight other suspected Al Qaeda militants were killed. Now there were some casualties to the Pakistani military as well. Two army soldiers were killed and two others wound.

Military officials tell us that they also found 10 women and children inside the series of mud compounds. They are in the military's custody right now. They have been unharmed.

Now in this raid, the military says that they've seized AK-47 assault rifles, grenades, anti-tank mines, as well as audio cassettes and other documents -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, thanks very much, Ash-har Quraishi, along the Pakistani-Afghan border.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com