Pakistan troops ambushed by Taliban fighters

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - In an audacious display of force, Taliban fighters yesterday ambushed a convoy of military vehicles in a remote tribal area and took more than 100 Pakistani troops hostage, military and local officials said.

The convoy of more than a dozen vehicles was traveling between two towns in the South Waziristan area, near the Afghan border, when it was overtaken by fighters, officials said.

"Our group has surrounded and disarmed the convoy of Pakistani soldiers and they have been made hostages," said Zulfiqar Mehsud, a purported Taliban spokesman.

Mehsud, who said the troops had been taken to "our prisons," blamed the government for violating a pledge not to send soldiers into the area. He said the Taliban had meticulously planned the ambush.

Local officials announced a jirga, or tribal assembly, for today to try to resolve the hostage standoff. Just two days ago, the same group that was believed to be responsible for yesterday's kidnappings freed 18 soldiers after a deal brokered by tribal elders.

The latest kidnappings in South Waziristan follow the collapse of peace deals there and in North Waziristan over the past two months. The agreements between extremists and the Pakistani government had been condemned by many analysts, and by US officials, as capitulations that allowed fighters to use parts of the country to organize, train, and plot attacks.

The unraveling of the deals has led to a spate of violence that has left at least 60 soldiers and 250 extremists dead.

Yesterday's kidnappings occurred amid broader political turmoil in Pakistan as President Pervez Musharraf has struggled to maintain power.

Musharraf and exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto are negotiating a possible power-sharing arrangement that would allow him to continue as president and her to return to Pakistan to try to win back her old job.

Bhutto said Wednesday that Musharraf, a general, had agreed to retire from the army before standing for reelection this fall, although a Musharraf spokesman yesterday said no final agreement had been reached.

Another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, yesterday provided details of his plan return to Pakistan, saying he intends to come back Sept. 10. Unlike Bhutto, Sharif has ruled out any compromise with Musharraf.

Any deal, Sharif told reporters in London, "will only be strengthening the hands of a dictator, and we want to get rid of the dictatorship in Pakistan."

Sharif said he would fly to Islamabad shortly before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, accompanied by senior members of his party and a contingent of mostly foreign journalists. From there, he plans to drive to his power base in the eastern city of Lahore.

Dozens of Sharif supporters danced and distributed candies in the streets of Lahore yesterday to celebrate his announcement. Activists earlier paraded a chained lion - one of his political symbols - and chanted "Go, Musharraf, go!"

Sharif is attempting to capitalize on anti-Musharraf sentiment that has been building in Pakistan for the past six months, since the president's attempt to fire the nation's chief justice led to civil unrest.

Sharif also may win votes from Bhutto supporters who are disenchanted with her for negotiating a deal rather than pushing for Musharraf's ouster.

His return to Pakistan could be rocky. The government said if he comes back, he will be violating the terms of a pact he signed with Saudi officials in 2000 agreeing to stay out of Pakistan for 10 years.

The former prime minister had fled to Saudi Arabia to avoid a life prison term in Pakistan, and officials here have indicated that sentence may be reinstated if he tries to come back.

Sharif, who heads a conservative, secularist party, said he would lead opposition to any agreement that prolonged Musharraf's regime.

"Musharraf's uniform is not an issue. The real issue is his illegitimate rule," Sharif said at a news conference. "This man Musharraf is on his way out. No one should try to rescue him."

Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled last week that Musharraf's government could not prevent Sharif and his politician brother from returning home. However, government officials have said Sharif could be rearrested upon reaching Pakistan on charges dating from a 1999 coup.

Sharif dismissed the threat, saying that in jail he might become a powerful symbol for Musharraf's opponents.

"I will go to Pakistan. I will launch my struggle irrespective of if he arrests me or doesn't . . . We are not scared of what will happen to us - we have seen enough of it," Sharif said.

In comments aired yesterday evening but recorded earlier, Musharraf said he was "confident that we will be able to maintain political stability" as the country prepares for a presidential ballot by legislators and for parliamentary elections at the end of the year.

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.