A Battlefield Tourist

US Confirms Ground Forces Used in Pakistan

Sep 4 at 1:01am by David Tate

The Associated Press is reporting that US officials acknowledge that US ground forces carried out a helo-borne attack on Pakistani soil.  In recent months, suspected US missle attacks have rocked the frontier but Wednesday’s attack marks a true escalation in the on terror.

Previous US incursions into Pakistan have been in “hot puruit” of Taliban fighters whereas this assault appears to have been a direct assault on a known target more than a mile beyond the border. 

Sources in Pakistan put the death toll between 15-20, including civilians.  One report says a twin-rotor “Chinook” helicopter was the assault craft that landed soldiers who attacked several compounds, shooting the males as they went.

AP sources speculate that such a raid would have to require a target of very high value.

On September 2, Pakistani officials say they just missed Al-Qaeda’s second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Pakistanis believed al-Zawahiri and his wife were in the Mohmand Agency of Pakistan’s tribal areas and had been travelling somewhat frequently to Afghanistan’s Kunar and Paktika Provinces.

The Pakistanis also acknowledge the presence of at least 50 top Al Qaeda leaders hiding out in Pakistan.