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Pakistan sets up border dragnet to nab fleeing Al-Qaeda
Pakistan army troops and paramilitary forces have set up a dragnet along the border with Afghanistan to prevent fleeing members of Osama bin Laden`s Al-Qaeda network seeking refuge in the country, officials said.
Pakistan army troops and paramilitary forces have set up a dragnet along the border with Afghanistan to prevent fleeing members of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network seeking refuge in the country, officials said.
We have deployed regular troops, paramilitary forces, local police and tribal militia to plug all possible entry and exit points, a senior army official told reporters.
For the first time in the country's history, army troops have been sent to inaccessible tribal terrain in the north west frontier province and the southwestern province of Baluchistan.
They are keeping a round-the-clock vigil, the official said requesting anonymity.
Every possible effort is being made to check the entry of unwanted people, including Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and terror suspect bin Laden.
He said the local tribes had extended their full cooperation which was very essential because they know the routes the criminals use. The officer did not give the exact number of people deployed in the operation along the country's 2,500-km western border, but said helicopters as well as an animal transport company of donkeys and mules were being used.
Officials did not contradict western media reports that elite US troops were inside Pakistan helping coordinate the hunt for bin Laden and Al-Qaeda leaders who may have slipped out of Afghanistan.
Bureau Report
For the first time in the country's history, army troops have been sent to inaccessible tribal terrain in the north west frontier province and the southwestern province of Baluchistan.
They are keeping a round-the-clock vigil, the official said requesting anonymity.
Every possible effort is being made to check the entry of unwanted people, including Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and terror suspect bin Laden.
He said the local tribes had extended their full cooperation which was very essential because they know the routes the criminals use. The officer did not give the exact number of people deployed in the operation along the country's 2,500-km western border, but said helicopters as well as an animal transport company of donkeys and mules were being used.
Officials did not contradict western media reports that elite US troops were inside Pakistan helping coordinate the hunt for bin Laden and Al-Qaeda leaders who may have slipped out of Afghanistan.
Bureau Report