(21 Mar 2004)
Wana, South Waziristan
1. Wide of army headquarters
2. Pakistani army helicopter flying
3. Wide of street
4. Various of elders meeting
5. Ambulances rushing to emergency units
6. Various of injured children in hospital
7. Injured man
8. Armoured vehicle driving on road
STORYLINE:
The Pakistani General leading an assault on suspected al Qaida holdouts near the Afghan border said on Sunday that a "high-value" terrorist target remains encircled and is most likely being protected by seasoned Uzbek and Chechen fighters.
But he said it's uncertain if Osama bin Laden's Egyptian deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri is among the militants encircled in Pakistan's largest-ever anti-terror drive.
Military officials reported a lull after five days of fighting in the arid South Waziristan region, where an estimated 400 to 500 foreign militants and local tribesmen have shown little sign of succumbing to artillery bombardments and Cobra helicopter fire.
An intelligence official in the region's main town, Wana, which lies about five kilometers (three miles) from the clashes, said that guns had fallen silent since midnight and there was no fighting early Sunday.
Army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said on Sunday that the "operation is continuing."
Regional military commander Lieutenant General Safdar Hussain said on Saturday that between 5,000 and 6,000 troops were deployed across a more than 60-square-kilometer (25-square-mile) swath of territory about 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the Afghan frontier.
About 2,500 were fighting the militants and the rest conducting searches, he said.
Hussain said that even after 48 hours of fighting, a high-ranking target may still be there.
He also said that the militants were a blend of foreigners and members of the local Yargul Khel tribe.
The military has arrested more than 100 suspects so far, sending some of them to the provincial capital, Peshawar, for interrogation.
Security officials said prisoners included Pakistanis, Arabs, Chechens, Uzbeks and ethnic Uighurs from China's predominantly Muslim Xinjiang province.
However, they say it is difficult to distinguish the foreigners from the locals, as they have often lived in the region for a long time and speak the local Pashto language.
Hussain noted that most of the militants' radio conversations that were intercepted by the military were in Chechen and Uzbek, although some were in Arabic.
Hussain revealed that one radio intercept in Uzbek or Chechen said a man was wounded when he tried unsuccessfully to flee in a vehicle on the first day of the assault, and would need "four men to carry him and 10 or 11 people to protect him."
That raised suspicion the man was important.
Al-Zawahri is Egyptian, and would be expected to have mostly Arabic-speaking protectors, though Hussain would not rule out that al-Zawahri would be guarded by fighters of different nationalities.
He also said the protected man could be a top local tribesman.
Four senior Pakistani officials have said they believe al-Zawahri was the "high-value target" in Waziristan, based on the fierce resistance and recent intelligence placing him there.
The government has said it would not know until the operation is completed.
Thousands of tribespeople have fled their homes, and on Saturday.
A small bus packed with villagers from near Wana was hit by gunfire and rockets from a Pakistani helicopter, killing 12 people, eight of them women, and injuring seven others, an intelligence official in Wana said on condition of anonymity.
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