US helos kill 30 Haqqani Network fighters in strikes in Pakistan
By Bill RoggioSeptember 26, 2010



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US attack helicopters have killed more than 30 Haqqani Network fighters inside Pakistan while repelling a cross-border attack.

US forces struck at the Haqqani Network fighters on Friday after they attacked Combat Outpost Narizah, an Afghan base just eight miles from the Pakistani border in the district of Tani in Khost province.

The Haqqani Network fighters were hit in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, which is just across the Pakistani border.

"An air weapons team in the area observed the enemy fire, and following International Security Assistance Force rules of engagement, crossed into the area of enemy fire," the International Security Assistance Force stated in a press release. "The ISAF aircraft then engaged, killing more than 30 insurgents."

ISAF confirmed that the helicopters struck at the Haqqani Network fighters in Pakistan. The attack helicopters launched their attack "after following the proper rules of engagement under inherent right of self defense," Master Sergeant Matthew Summers, a public affairs official, told The Long War Journal.

On Saturday, ISAF launched a second attack against the Haqqani Network, after taking fire in the border area. "Several additional insurgents" were killed in that attack.

No civilians have been reported killed or injured in either of the attacks.

The assault on Combat Outpost Narizah is the sixth against outposts in eastern Afghanistan since the end of August.

The Haqqani Network is based in the Miramshah region in North Waziristan, and has close ties to al Qaeda and other Pakistani and Central Asian terror groups. The Pakistani government refuses to deal with the Haqqani Network, and has resisted US pressure to carry out an operation to defeat the group.

Hot pursuit

ISAF forces are permitted to pursue Taliban forces across the border if they are engaged in fighting or are under attack. The US and Pakistan have agreed to a set of rules for hot pursuit: US forces must be engaged with the Taliban or al Qaeda as they cross into Pakistan; US forces should not penetrate more than six miles into Pakistani territory; and US forces may enter Pakistan if they have identified the location of Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahri, or Mullah Omar. Pakistan has denied that the agreement exists, and the US military will not comment.



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