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WORLD> Asia-Pacific
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Pakistan commandos free 30 at army HQ, ending siege
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-10-11 12:32
He said the 30 who were ultimately freed included soldiers and civilians. Three captives died, along with four militants, and two of the rescuers, he said. The final hostage-taker was caught later Sunday morning, and he was wounded after trying to set off explosives that he was carrying, Abbas said. Abbas described the captured man as "the leader of all this group." Overall, at least 19 people died in the standoff -- six soldiers, two commandos, eight militant attackers and three captives — and several were wounded. Saturday's siege followed a car bombing that killed 49 on Friday in the northwestern city of Peshawar and the bombing of a UN aid agency earlier in the week that killed five in Islamabad. The string of attacks destroyed any remaining hope that the militants had been left a spent force by the death of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in a US missile strike in August. A week ago, Baitullah Mehsud's successor, Hakimullah Mehsud, told journalists summoned to a briefing in South Waziristan that the Taliban would launch more attacks on military, government and other targets in the country. The army -- which until 2001 had patronized various militant groups for use as proxies in Afghanistan and India -- had previously been unwilling to go into Waziristan. Three earlier offensives there have ended in failure, and no one thinks the fight against an estimated 10,000 well-armed fighters there will be any easier this time. But there are hopes the army may have learned from its successful operation in the northwestern Swat Valley this year. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said a Waziristan offensive was now "inevitable." "We are going to come heavy on you," he warned the militants. In its brazenness and sophistication, Saturday's assault resembled attacks in March in the eastern city of Lahore by teams of militants against the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team and a police training center, which the insurgents took over for eight hours before security forces retook it. The attack began shortly before noon when the gunmen attacked the main gate with assault rifles and grenades after bundling out of a white van that reportedly had army license plates.
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