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| US
seeking Bin Laden in Pakistani mountains
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WASHINGTON,
April 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The United States is
seeking Islamabad's permission to stage a raid in the mountains of
Pakistan along its border with Afghanistan as it claims Osama bin Laden
is hiding there, the U.S. newsweekly Time reported Sunday, April 14.
In
the issue due out Monday, April 15, the magazine said Christina Rocca,
assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs, visited Islamabad
last month seeking permission for the raid from Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Musharraf
is hesitant to approve the operation, the magazine quoted sources as
saying, because the tribes in the region are well-armed and sympathetic
to Afghanistan's former Taliban regime.
“An
American military operation, especially if it went wrong, could weaken
the Pakistani leader's already frayed ties to the area,” said the
Times
Bin
Laden has so far eluded U.S. attempts to capture him. President George
W. Bush said earlier this month he did not know if Bin Laden was dead or
alive.
But
Time said U.S. officials now seem convinced Bin Laden is hiding
somewhere along the rugged and untamed border between the two countries.
Among
those captured recently was Zayn Al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, or Abu
Zubaydah. Abu Zubaydah, believed to be a key lieutenant of Bin Laden
with particular knowledge of operations outside of Afghanistan, was
among 29 people captured late last month in Pakistan in raids on
suspected Al-Qaeda hideouts.
Interim
Afghan foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah said Sunday during a visit to
Abu Dhabi he also believed Bin Laden was alive and living somewhere on
the borders of Afghanistan.
In
another development, U.S. troops and their Afghan allies came under
fresh attack from Al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan and are expecting
more clashes over the summer, U.S. Major Bryan Hilferty said Monday,
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Hilferty
said a joint U.S.-Afghan patrol was attacked by suspected Al-Qaeda
militants on Saturday at an undisclosed location somewhere in
Afghanistan.
Air
support was called in and five out of an estimated 20 attackers were
killed but there were no casualties among the coalition forces.
"Vehicles had bullet holes but there were no casualties on our
side," Hilferty said.
Later
Saturday and again on Sunday, he said, rocket-propelled grenades were
fired near this airbase 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Kabul.
"In the evening of the 13th (April) there were two explosions
southwest of the airfield," he told reporters.
"After
investigation we determined the explosions to be caused by
rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). Last night there were two more
explosions near the airfield - we believe they were also caused by RPGs."
He
did not elaborate on who was believed responsible for the rocket attacks
here. Hilferty said the U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan had expected
an upsurge in Al-Qaeda and Taliban activity with the end of winter.
Meanwhile,
Amnesty International published a report Monday, sent last week to the
U.S. government, hitting out at violations of the rights of prisoners
being held by the U.S. army in Cuba and Afghanistan.
"The
USA's 'pick and choose' approach to the Geneva Convention is
unacceptable, as is its failure to respect fundamental international
human rights standards," the organization said in the 62-page
document.
Amnesty
repeated its request to Washington to be allowed to visit the prisoners
held in Afghanistan and at the U.S. Guantanamo base in Cuba where some
300 alleged members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda or the Afghan
Taliban were sent.
A
previous request sent to the U.S. government in January came to nothing,
the London-based human rights organization said.
In
its report, Amnesty accused the United States of failing to grant the
detainees rights that are universally recognized for any suspect placed
in provisional detention.
It
denounced the American authorities' failure to give the detainees
prisoner of war status, to grant them access to a lawyer or to bring
them before a competent tribunal as laid down in the Geneva Conventions.
"The
U.S. government must ensure that all its actions in relation to those in
its custody in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay comply with international
law and standards," Amnesty International wrote.
"This
is crucial if justice is to be done and seen to be done, and if respect
for the rule of law and human rights is not to be undermined."
