Militants overrun military base in Pakistan, 7 dead

[Praxius]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...6/pakistan_military_080116/20080116?hub=World

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan -- The Pakistani military says Islamic militants armed with rockets overran a remote military outpost close to the Afghan border killing seven troops.

Army spokesman Maj.-Gen. Athar Abbasan says fifteen men from the garrison have reached safety in a nearby army base while 20 others are missing.

It was the first time rebels captured a government position since October, when they seized several police stations and military posts in Swat valley.

Abbas says government artillery has shelled the region where the Sararogha Fort -- manned by the paramilitary Frontier Corps -- was located.

The army says 50 attackers died in the assault, but it was not immediately possible to verify the army's claim.

The military setback will likely contribute to the impression that the government of President Pervez Musharraf is failing to contain a growing Islamist insurgency ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for Feb. 18.

Pakistan has been hit by about 20 suicide attacks in the past three months in which about 400 people died, including former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Bhutto's political party said it sent a letter to the United Nations asking it to form a committee to investigate her Dec. 27 assassination. The party says it does not trust Musharraf's government to probe the killing.

It was unlikely the United Nations will consider the request because it did not come from the government, which has said it will not seek the help of the world body.

Opposition leaders blame Musharraf for the upsurge in extremist violence.

"Musharraf is the root cause of all problems,'' said Nawaz Sharif, a leading opposition politician and former prime minister who was overthrown by Musharraf in a 1999 coup.

"If he goes, 95 per cent problems of this country will be solved. There will be no bomb blasts, there will be no missile attacks,'' Sharif told journalists in his home town of Lahore.

Also Wednesday, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry announced Musharraf will travel next week to Belgium, France, Switzerland and Britain to meet with European leaders and attend the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

It's not looking good.

 

[darkbeaver]

Musharraf is the root cause of all problems,'' said Nawaz Sharif, a leading opposition politician and former prime minister who was overthrown by Musharraf in a 1999 coup.

Both of these gentlemen came to power in American backed and armed coups. So guess who and where the root cause of all the problems are. The Generic term"Islamic Terrorists"is a dead giveaway about the origine of the article, the term (Islamic Terrorist) has no fixed meaning at all in the first place, the armed groups and factions in the area of the attack could be anyone of dozens, including CIA/ISI backed, Irainian backed ECT; T he Pakistani armed forces is made up to a significant level by Islamic militants, so it's very funny to see them accuse themselves of attacking themselves. We in the west have little or no idea what our own media do to the info they plug the airwaves with. Even if it looks to be plain english and straightforward,:smile: it ain't.