Pakistan strikes militant hideouts in Waziristan
PAKISTAN: Pakistani security forces, backed by helicopter
gunships, launched an attack on hideouts being used by pro-Taliban
militants in North Waziristan on Tuesday, an army official said.
Witnesses in the Degan area some 25 kilometres (17 miles) west of
Miranshah, the main town in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan,
said the helicopters destroyed three houses. They also said the army was
using mortars and artillery.
“The operation was launched at around 5:00 a.m., as we had
information that militants were hiding there,” the army official said,
requesting anonymity.
He said fighting was continuing some five hours after the operation
began, but there was no information on casualties.
A Reuters reporter in Miranshah had earlier seen eight helicopter
gunships heading in the direction of Degan.
North Waziristan is regarded as a hotbed of support for the Taliban
and al Qaeda, and an army offensive has been anticipated since militants
late last month abandoned a peace pact with the government struck last
September.
U.S. officials have said they expect Pakistan to strike at select
targets in a region where they say al Qaeda has regouped, and is
carrying out planning for operations elsewhere in the world. There have
been several clashes between Pakistani troops and militants over the
past few weeks as the army has gone on the front foot, reinforcing
checkposts and carrying out more patrols.
Militants have struck back with a series of attacks, sometimes using
suicide bombers, in Waziristan and elsewhere in North West Frontier
Province.
Miranshah, Tuesday, Reuters. |