On Ground Updates: Afghanistan/Pakistan - October 10, 2009

On Ground Updates:
Afghanistan/Pakistan
Islamic Militant Guerrillas Storm Headquarters of Pakistani Military Killing Six and taking up to 15 hostages
Post Date: Saturday, October 10, 2009
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* The News York Times brings us the following report this Saturday and it starts off like this... In a brazen attack on the headquarters of the Pakistani military, gunmen dressed in military fatigues stormed the heart of the nation’s army operations on Saturday, killing six people and taking 10 to 15 hostages, some of them soldiers, an army spokesman said...
Read the full report at link below...
In Brazen Raid, Militants Storm Headquarters of Pakistani Military
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* Bloomberg.com has it reported this way late this Saturday afternoon and it starts off like this... Islamic militant guerrillas held Pakistani troops hostage today inside army headquarters in their highest-profile attack on the country’s military... Hours after a dozen gunmen in camouflage uniforms struck, killing six soldiers, troops had killed at least four and surrounded the rest, who held 10 to 15 army personnel in a small building, officials said. Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas declined to say whether the hostage-takers had made demands for the release of their captives...
Read the full report at link below...
Pakistan Guerrillas Hold Hostages After Army HQ Attack Kills 10
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* VOANews.com reports it this way...
Gunmen Take Hostages in Attack on Pakistani Army Headquarters

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Taliban attacks Pakistan army base

About this News Video: At least 10 people have died in this week's third major Taliban terror attack in Pakistan.
This video posted on YouTube by itnnews
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POST Update:
Sunday, October 11, 2009

* Reuters brings us this report and it starts off like this... Pakistani commandos stormed an office building on Sunday and rescued 39 people taken hostage by suspected Taliban militants after a brazen attack on the army's headquarters... Saturday's attack on the tightly guarded army headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi, next door to the capital, Islamabad, came as the military prepared an offensive against the militants in their stronghold of South Waziristan on the Afghan border... The strike at the heart of the powerful military called into question government assertions the militants were virtually crippled by recent setbacks. But officials said it only underlined the need to finish them off...
Read this report at link below...
Pakistan commandos rescue 39 hostages, three killed
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* Telegraph.co.uk reports it this way... Pakistani commandos were forced to storm their own headquarters on Sunday after gunmen raided the nerve centre of the country’s military establishment, taking 39 soldiers hostage...
Read the full report at link below...
Pakistan army storms its own HQ to end siege by Islamist fighters
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* BBC.co.uk has the following report posted up on their website this Sunday morning and it starts off like this... Pakistan will launch an operation against militants in restive South Waziristan "imminently", Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said... He was speaking hours after militants attacked army HQ in Rawalpindi, causing 11 civilian and army deaths while eight militants were killed... Mr. Malik blamed the attack on the Taliban and al-Qaeda, whose strongholds are in South Waziristan... One militant, thought to be the group's leader, was arrested... Mr. Malik said the government had given its approval to an operation in South Waziristan and it was now up to the army to decide on its timing... "The operation is imminent," he said...
Read the full report at link below...
Pakistan 'to strike at militants'
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* Also in the news today we have the following article from the Telegraph.co.uk website and it starts like this... Thousands of Pakistani soldiers are waiting for orders to launch an offensive that could change the course of their country's bloody struggle against the Taliban... The operation is an attempt to end Pakistan's escalating terrorist violence, which last week alone saw 50 people killed in a carbomb that ripped through a marketplace. A brazen attack yesterday on the army's headquarters also left six soldiers dead... The army's target is South Waziristan, a lawless tribal region. It is the headquarters of the jihad against Islamabad's rulers and a key training ground for fighters in the war against British and American troops across the frontier... Waiting to do battle with government soldiers is an army of 10,000 local fighters, along with thousands of foreign jihadists allied to al-Qaeda, for which the area has long been a refuge - possibly even for Osama bin Laden himself... All summer American officials have urged the Pakistan to launch a knockout blow. US officials believe the Taliban has been on the ropes since they were driven out of the valley of Swat, further north, last May, and now is the time to strike...
Read the full report at link below...
In the Pakistani mountains of Waziristan, young jihadis wait for martyrdom

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Pakistan Army Rescues 22, Ends Siege of HQ

About this News Video: Pakistani commandos raided a building inside army headquarters early Sunday and freed 22 people held hostage for more than 18 hours by Islamist militants, a military spokesman said. (Post date: Oct. 11th)
This video posted on YouTube by AssociatedPress
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AubreyJ.........