Res Publica 2005

A PAKISTANI tribal fighter released from Guantanamo Bay this year was holding two Chinese hostages in Waziristan last night in an attempt to force an end to the United States-led hunt for terrorists along the Afghan border.

A group of fighters led by Abdullah Mehsud, who was released from the US prison camp in Cuba in March, strapped explosives to their bodies and threatened to blow themselves up if Pakistani paramilitary forces approached their mud-brick hideout near the town of Tank. Chinese diplomats, aided by American and Pakistani advisers, were negotiating with the hostage-takers.

The operation marks the first time that Beijing and Washington have co-operated in a hostile environment during the United States’s three-year campaign against international terrorism.

UPDATE

Seems he is now among the martyrs for his cause.

AlJazeera is reporting:

One of the two Chinese hostages held in Pakistan was freed and the other was killed after security forces carried out a rescue operation in South Waziristan province, Pakistani intelligence sources close to the operation have reported.

One of the two Chinese hostages was killed in the raid. While the second hostage was freed along with two Pakistani security guards, who were kidnapped with the two Chinese engineers, Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said.

"One of two Chinese hostages and their five tribal kidnappers were killed during a rescue operation by security forces", military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told reporters.