Pakistan army fights militants in northwest hills
PAKISTAN: Pakistani security forces backed by helicopter
gunships have killed 15 Taliban militants and captured 60 in an
operation that began mid-week in a troubled northwestern town, the
military said on Sunday.
The operation was launched on Wednesday around Hangu town after
militants killed 17 soldiers and abducted 49 paramilitary soldiers and
government officials just over a week ago.
“The operation is still on. We have successfully cleared the valley
and now our troops are fighting militants on the mountains,” spokesman
Major-General Athar Abbas said, adding five soldiers had also been
wounded in the fighting.
He said the operation’s goal was to flush out militants from Hangu
district, 40 km (25 miles) west of the garrison town of Kohat, but not
to extend it into the neighbouring Orakzai tribal region, where most
insurgents were believed to have fled.
Residents told Reuters by telephone that the military was using heavy
artillery and mortars to hit militants’ position in the Tora Warai area,
about 25 km (15 miles) west of Hangu town.
Militants hurled a grenade inside a military cinema in Kohat city on
Saturday night, wounding four people, including a 9-year-old boy.
A general deterioration in the security situation across the
northwest in recent weeks has coincided with calls by Western allies
with troops in neighbouring Afghanistan for Pakistan to put the
militants under greater military pressure, while also engaging less
recalcitrant groups in dialogue.
Authorities have imposed a curfew in and around Hangu.
Violence subsided in Pakistan’s northwest after a new coalition
formed following February elections began talks.
But Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud suspended talks last
month and the security situation has deteriorated once more.
Authorities blamed Mehsud for a wave of suicide attacks across the
country over the past one year, including one that killed two time Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto, whose party heads the new coalition. Mehsud has
denied involvement.
Kohat, Sunday, Reuters |