Keep Checking For New Updates Below!

Major Update:  Pakistan sources admit the incident began when militants from Pakistani areas crossed into Afghanistan to attack Afghan and NATO forces:

The soldiers were killed at a border post in the Mohmand region, opposite Afghanistan’s Kunar province, as US-led forces in Afghanistan clashed with fighters attacking from Pakistan, a Pakistani security official said.

“The militants launched a cross-border attack into Afghanistan … our soldiers were killed in a counter-offensive by forces in Afghanistan,” said the official, who declined to be identified.

Update:  As I see the reports coming in I am convinced this is really “the fog of war”.  It seems there was a clash between Afghan-NATO forces and insurgents from Pakistan, and those insurgents ran for cover, drawing US fire onto the outpost of the Frontier Corp (manned by local tribal members, whose tribes clearly allowed militant operations within their area).  If that is the case the chances we hit a high value target are not great.  – end update

OK, now we have completely conflicting ‘reports’ on those multiple missile strikes in Pakistan.  I noted the strikes here initially.  Then today I noted a Times UK story on how this was some sort of border clash with Taliban, Pakistani soldiers, Afghan forces and NATO (US) forces.  The fact so many forces were involved raised a red flag with me.  Now Rusty Shackleford over at the Jawa Report is hearing we may have gotten a top al-Qaeda leader!

I’ve gotten a few memos from some insiders that this could be a big fish. How big?

 

 

Check out the comments section for some of the public speculation as to why this may be Zawahiri. The gist of which is a) contrary to Pakistani sources, this area is a hotbed of AQ activity b) Zawahiri is said to have married a wife from the Mohmand tribe in order to get their protection c) hence the rumors that Zawahiri is in the area and the speculation that the target was Zawahiri.

I hope these rumors are correct.  This would be enormous (but not unexpected) news.  I have been saying that al-Qaeda was going to face its worse year as we have the surrounded and isolated in the FATA area of Pakistan.  I’ll keep posting any updates I see.

Update.  More here on the story line that the US might have hit a Pakistani outpost in the region.

The US military has killed at least 11 Pakistani soldiers in an air strike close to the Afghan border.

The soldiers were manning a border post that was hit by a US missile in the Mohmand region last night. Officials say the incident happened during a cross-border skirmish between the US military and Taliban militants.

State-run Pakistan Television said eight civilians were also killed during the raid. It reported that foreign forces tried to establish a military post and were resisted by tribesmen. An airstrike then struck a Pakistani military post, PTV said.

Security officials confirmed that troops had crossed the frontier and tried to occupy the strategic Pakistani post in the mountainous Gora Prai area.

OK, that is as clear as mud.  There was on-going action between the US and Taliban forces.  But beyond that it seems really mirky.  One report from Australia has the US admitting to the strikes – OK.  But that may not be the full story.

Update:  I have to wonder if the Taliban forces had run for cover to the Pakistani outpost, drawing the US fire to the Pakistani forces:

A U.S. official with knowledge of the reports acknowledged Wednesday that U.S. planes launched an airstrike in the area on Tuesday but did so in “hot pursuit” of suspected militants who had conducted an ambush on the Afghan side of the border.

The official, speaking in Washington, said that the U.S. knew people were killed on the ground and would investigate whether Pakistani soldiers were among those killed in that location or nearby.

As I noted in the previous post there were witnesses that the Pakistanis were fighting alongside the Taliban:

Damagh Khan Mohmand, a local tribesman who witnessed the fighting, said that it lasted for four hours, with Afghan and foreign forces trading fire with the Pakistani militants and with the Pakistan troops.

Was this such a well defended area that Pakistani forces were secretly aligned with the terrorists in their locale?  I am not buying the initial news media reports.  Their anti-American, anti-Bush biases are starting to come forth again, making assumptions and suspending their skepticism regarding their sources.

Update:  If I had read a little farther into the last link I would have seen that the US is claiming the terrorists retreated into the Pakistani outpost:

According to the U.S. official, two U.S. Air Force F-15E aircraft bombed a suspected militant location inside Pakistan when fighters fled there after conducting an ambush on the Afghan side of the border.

According to the U.S. account of events, U.S. and Pakistani military officials tracked the militants as they fled across the border and the location was verified by a U.S. drone flying overhead as well as the Pakistanis.

I wonder who is feeding the Western News media one story while other Pakistani military units are confirming the targets for the US???  And about those “Pakistani Forces”:

The Pakistani statement said the military had lodged a strong protest and reserved “the right to protect our citizens and soldiers against aggression.”

It said the fighting killed 11 members of Pakistan’s Frontier Corps, which uses recruits from tribal areas and is overseen by army officers. 

Pulleeaase.  How easy is it for the local terrorists to plant their people in these “Frontier Corps”?  Clearly the fighters were running back to ‘base’ – and drew the American missiles along with them.

Update: As alluded to in earlier reporting it does seem that the US-NATO forces coordinated the attacks on militants with the Pakistani Military before the attacks took, place – which tells me these must have been high valued targets:

…Coalition forces informed the Pakistan Army that they were being engaged by anti-Afghan forces …,” the U.S. military said in a statement. It added that coalition forces were engaged by anti-Afghan forces during an operation “that had been previously coordinated with Pakistan”

So, were those Frontier Corps members actually covering for a high valued target?

Update:  Well the Taliban have an interesting spin on this (mostly fantasy IMHO):

The Taliban claimed that the Pakistani security forces were attacked by NATO troops during the operation. 

“Pakistani security forces were under siege and were almost forced to evacuate the military post by the NATO troops, when we opened fire on them from multiple positions,” Mujahid told AKI. 

“Our attack was so unexpected for NATO that they had to retreat.”

The Taliban claim that the NATO forces also lost troops during the operation.

“The Pakistan Army lost 11 soldiers, Taliban lost 8 and NATO lost 20 soldiers during the operation,” Mujahid told AKI.

Total BS for the gullible.  However, if taken at face value, it represent confirmation that the Pakistanis were the ones who attacked the Afgahnis and NATO forces chasing terrorists.  Again, it seems someone tripped over a hornets’ nest and out came all the fighters – which means something worthwhile may have been there worth defending.  I seriously doubt the Taliban came to the rescue of the occupying government forces in their region.