Al Qaeda training facility destroyed by Pakistan army

Times:

The mud compound with part of its outer wall destroyed by artillery fire was used as an al-Qaeda training facility, until a few weeks ago.

Jihadi literature and guerrilla training manuals, mostly in Arabic, lay scattered in a corner, along with DVDs of Osama bin Laden’s sermons and a cache of weapons hurriedly abandoned as insurgents fled from the Pakistani Army.

Officials told The Times yesterday, during a tour of the captured militant stronghold of Ladha, that it had been a centre for military, as well as ideological, training. “We have intercepted communications that reveal the presence of a large number of foreign fighters in the area, mostly Arabs and Uzbeks,” Brigadier Farrukh Jamal said.

Ladha was one of the main targets of the Pakistani offensive against militants in South Waziristan.

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The army said that the perpetrators of many of these attacks had learnt their skills in Ladha’s al-Qaeda school. A manual found in the rubble showed how to make and plant improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Another booklet explained why it was obligatory for Muslims to wage jihad against infidels and their supporters.

There were DVDs and cassettes carrying bin Laden’s messages. Several pamphlets also quoted from the al-Qaeda leader and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. “I swear by God that Americans and their allies will not get peace until we drive them out of Afghanistan and other holy places of Islam,” read an extract from one of bin Laden’s sermons. “This literature was used to motivate the young militants,” an army official said.

The battle of Ladha lasted several days and yesterday the town was deserted. It’s population of 10,000 had fled, leaving behind all of their belongings. The scars of the long siege were obvious: houses had been reduced to rubble by intense army shelling.

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Brigadier Jamal said that his men had surrounded 35 militants who were making their last stand from the hills above the town. “They are hiding in caves and we will capture them soon or kill them,” he said.

The nearby town of Sararogha, described by the army as the Taleban’s operational nerve centre, is also no more than a pile of mud bricks and twisted iron. Soldiers crouched yesterday in the ruins of a fort destroyed during the battle for the town, about 30km (19 miles) from Ladha. There was not a single civilian to be seen.

“We faced tough resistance from the insurgents,” said Brigadier Mohammed Shafiq, whose forces captured Sararogha last week. They had built long tunnels in the mountains from which it was difficult to dislodge them, he added.

The militants in Sararogha had turned a ramshackle student hostel into their headquarters. One of the rooms, whose roof has been blown off by a mortar shell, served as the Taleban’s Sharia court. A blood-stained shirt dangled on a fan. “No one should question the ruling of the Islamic court,” read a Taleban high command directive hanging on the wall.

Another part of the building was used as a school for suicide bombers. “Many of the suicide bombers involved in the recent attacks in Pakistani cities were trained here,” Brigadier Shafiq said.

Soldiers showed The Times militant pamphlets — including instructions on making bombs — ammunition and pouched vests tailored for suicide bombers.

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The Pakistan army has made great progress against a wicked enemy. I suspect that the intelligence they have gathered after routing the Taliban and al Qaeda is greater than the items described by the story.

I suspect that we may have to wait until next spring for their move into Northern Waziristan. The destruction of the enemy forces and theri infrastructure in South Waziristan is worthy of praise and is something of a first for any army.