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Rocket hits Pak army camp, kills 4 soldiers: Spokesman

IRNA

Islamabad, Jan 9, IRNA -- At least four Pakistani troops were killed 
on Friday when a rocket hit their camp in tribal area, bordering 
Afghanistan, where the Pakistan army launched operation against 
al-Qaeda suspects on Wednesday night, a military spokesman said. 
A rocket hit the army camp at Adam village in Wana, the capital 
of South Waziristan tribal agency, killing two soldiers on the spot. 
"Two injured soldiers died later," the Director General of 
Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Shaukat Sultan said. 
The spokesman was not sure who have fired the rocket, saying it 
was a `stray` rocket. 
"It was a stray rocket. Hitting of rocket might have no connection
with the ongoing operations against the foreign terrorists hiding in 
the area," Sultan said. 
Pakistani soldiers launched operation against al-Qaeda suspects in 
South Waziristan on Wednesday. 
"The search operation is still continuing," Sultan said. 
The operation in the country`s tribal region is the second less 
than three months. 
At least 8 al-Qaeda suspects were killed and 18 arrested in the 
military`s largest-ever offensive against Osama bin Laden network on 
October 2 last year. At least two Pakistani soldiers were also killed 
in the first operation. 
Sultan said no suspect has been arrested so far. "We had warned 
the foreign terrorists to surrender," the spokesman said. 
The area in Pakistan`s autonomous Waziristan region has long been 
considered a likely hiding place for foreign suspects, coming from 
Afghanistan. "The operation will continue until they are captured," 
he said. 
Sultan said helicopters are taking part in the operation. 
The governor of the Northwest Frontier Province, where the tribal 
areas are located, visited South Waziristan last month and announced 
that the foreign suspects will not be handed over to any country if 
they surrendered. 
Taliban militia are also believed to use the Waziristan region as 
a staging ground to launch attacks inside Afghanistan to destabilize 
the government of President Hamid Karzai. 
Pakistan says it has arrested at least 500 al-Qaeda suspects and 
turned them over to the United States since the US-led forces launched
military operations in Afghanistan in October 2001. 
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, al-Qaeda`s alleged number three, was 
captured March 1, 2003, near the capital, and suspected Sep 11 planner
Ramzi Binalshibh was captured in the southern city of Karachi exactly 
one year after the attacks. 
Another top al-Qaeda operative, Abu Zubaydah, was captured in 
March 2002. 
TSH/NB/210 
End