Two Al-Qaeda suspects Killed, 11 arrested in Pakistan's Tribal belt
By Zulf Khan Afridi - Pakistan Times Special Correspondent / Monitoring Desk

MIRANSHAH: Pakistan's security killed two foreign Al-Qaeda suspects and arrested 11 people on Saturday in a remote northern village bordering Afghanistan.

Credible sources said that the militants were hiding in Devgar village in North Waziristan, almost 300 km (185 miles) southwest of the capital, Islamabad.

“Two foreign militants were killed in the exchange of gunfire with the security forces. Eleven others, including at least three foreigners, were arrested,” the sources said.

It was not immediately known whether any Al-Qaeda leaders were among the dead or the arrested men.

Witnesses said that troops moved into the small village after midnight and surrounded a mud-and-brick house, where the militants were hiding.

“But the shootout started early in the morning which lasted for more than two hours,” an eye-witness said. “One workman and at least three security personnel also suffered minor wounds,” he said.

Hand-cuffed

The arrested men were hand-cuffed and swiftly moved to an undisclosed location for interrogation, witnesses said.

Al-Qaeda linked militants were reported to be hiding in the rugged mountainous, bordering Afghanistan where they enjoy support among the conservative Pashtun tribesmen.

Another report says that eleven miscreants were apprehended while two others were killed in an operation, launched by security forces, on a tip about suspected hideout of miscreants, in village Dawagar, seventeen kilometers north west of Miran Shah early Saturday morning.

ISPR says that initial investigation revealed that most of the apprehended miscreants and those killed in the operation were foreigners.

Pakistani security forces have killed and arrested hundreds of militants in the neighbouring tribal region of South Waziristan in operations launched last year.

Officials say that the sustained crackdown forced militants to flee to other areas inside Pakistan as well as to Afghanistan.●