Al Qaeda Clashes Caught on Tape

June 3, 2005 — -- Never-before-seen propaganda videos obtained by ABC News showcase the intensely violent fighting and unique difficulties that surround the hunt for Osama bin Laden in the remote tribal areas of northwest Pakistan.

It is a view from al Qaeda's side of the battle. The videotapes were said to be made last year, when the Pakistani army undertook a major offensive into south Waziristan, a mountainous region bordering Afghanistan where the fiercely independent Waziri tribe resides and where bin Laden is believed to be in hiding.

At the time, the Pakistanis declared the campaign in Waziristan a major victory against terrorists.

"A den of miscreants has been busted," said Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, Pakistan's chief military spokesman. "The facilities for terrorist training and planning have been completely dismantled. Those who slipped away are on the run and dispersed."

But in at least four cases, the video shows Pakistani army troops were driven into ambushes. One scene shows the insurgents tracking a Pakistani convoy from the mountains above before opening fire. Another scene focuses on the fiery aftermath of an attack on an army convoy.

And footage shows al Qaeda seems to have set up new training camps inside Pakistan, similar to the ones that were dismantled in Afghanistan. The tapes show a new generation of militants, some no older than 10 or 12, carrying automatic weapons.

"These are infidels and they deserve to be killed," one of the young fighters says to the camera.

Gary Schroen, former CIA station chief in Pakistan, saw the footage as an ominous sign in the hunt for bin Laden.

"There's always the question of why we don't have bin Laden. You can see now the kind of resistance that the Pakistanis face and the kind of resistance the U.S. military faces on the Afghan side of the border," he said. "It is propaganda, but the core message for us here in America is it's going to be very, very tough to convince the Pakistanis to go after bin Laden."