:
TANQ VILLAGE
IN SERIOUS TROUBLE (4#) -

# Hundreds of Taliban militants attacked the town of Tank in NW Pakistan, targeting six banks, a college and some government offices. "Smoke was coming out of burning banks and computers and furniture lay scattered on the roads." [BBC]

# *Taliban militants [in Tank] abducted the principal of a school, Farid Mehsud, on Tuesday. He had called for police protection after the Taliban visited his school in a bid to recruit youth for jihad... An all-tribes jirga of Tank district has decided to meet pro-Taliban militant leader Baitullah Mehsud to seek his help in bringing normalcy to the district, bordering South Waziristan...* [PK-DT]

# Pakistani Intel reports that Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Taliban in Waziristan, fled to Afghanistan last Friday where he supposedly has had several meetings with former Afghan premier Gulbadin Hekmatyar this week at "an undisclosed location." [PK-DT]

# AFP/KT report on Tank situation.

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