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Pakistan Army Takes Taliban Chief's Hometown

By the Associated Press

Posted Oct 24, 2009 5:34 AM CDT
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(AP) – The army captured the hometown of Pakistan's Taliban chief today, snagging its first big prize in a major US-backed offensive along the Afghan border. Helicopter gunships provided aerial bombardment as soldiers captured heights around the town of Kotkai. The final fight saw 13 militants and two soldiers die; the military has begun to clear the town of land mines and roadside bombs planted by the insurgents.

Kotkai is symbolically important because it is the hometown of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud and one of his top deputies. It also lies along the way to the major militant base of Sararogha, making it a strategically helpful catch. Elsewhere in the northwest, a suspected US missile killed 14 people, but apparently missed a top Taliban figure, the AP reports.

Pakistani paramilitary soldiers stand guard near the site of a bomb explosion at a restaurant's parking area in Peshawar, Pakistan on Friday, Oct. 23, 2009.
Pakistani paramilitary soldiers stand guard near the site of a bomb explosion at a restaurant's parking area in Peshawar, Pakistan on Friday, Oct. 23, 2009.   (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)
  (J. O'Connell)
A security guard stands next to the checkpoint where a suicide attack took place in Kamra, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 23, 2009.
A security guard stands next to the checkpoint where a suicide attack took place in Kamra, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 23, 2009.   (Alexandre Meneghini)
A young girl and her dog wait with her family at a checkpoint on the outskirt of Bannu, a town on edge of the Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009.
A young girl and her dog wait with her family at a checkpoint on the outskirt of Bannu, a town on edge of the Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009.   (Ijaz Muhammad)
  (J. O'Connell)
Security personal stand at the checkpoint where a suicide attack took place in Kamra, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 23, 2009.
Security personal stand at the checkpoint where a suicide attack took place in Kamra, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 23, 2009.   (Alexandre Meneghini)
A police officer stands among people who fled fighting in the Pakistani tribal area of Waziristan, in the suburb of Dera Ismail Khan on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009.
A police officer stands among people who fled fighting in the Pakistani tribal area of Waziristan, in the suburb of Dera Ismail Khan on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009.   (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash)
People who fled fighting between security forces and militants in Pakistani tribal area of Waziristan, wait for food relief in the suburb of Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009.
People who fled fighting between security forces and militants in Pakistani tribal area of Waziristan, wait for food relief in the suburb of Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009.   (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash)
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COMMENTS
Showing 1 of 1 comment
QueenAlli
Oct 24, 2009 4:46 AM CDT
About Time these countries started doing things like this for themselves.

Copyright 2012 Newser, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. AP contributed to this report.

 
Taliban • Pakistan • United States • Hakimullah Mehsud • Kotkai

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