Offensive: Five suspected militants killed in Mohmand

SHABQADAR:

Security forces killed five suspected militants during a search operation in Mohmand Agency’s Karapa area on Saturday, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) confirmed in a statement.

“Following the two attacks in Mohmand Agency on Wednesday which killed nine Khasadar force officials, Frontier Corps (FC) carried out a search operation in Karapa area of Pandyali in Mohmand Agency,” an FC official said.

Suspected militants launched the attack in the early hours of Saturday to which the forces responded with retaliatory firing; leaving five of the assailants dead.

A large cache of explosives and other weapons were also seized from suspects in various parts of the agency. Bodies of the militants were handed over to the political administration. A political administration official said they buried the bodies.

He added militants were killed in Karapa area where militants killed nine khasadar personnel Wednesday night.

Authorities have increased the level of security in the area, including all entry and exit points. Meanwhile, locals were asked to limit their movement between 8am and 8pm. Earlier, on Friday, one man was killed and another injured in two blasts in Mohmand Agency.

The political administration said an IED planted in the Safi Ziarat Khwar area went off, killing one civilian Muhammad Alam.

The second incident took place in Sara Khawa Baidmani area of Baizai subdivision where an IED exploded while bomb disposal personnel were working to defuse it. The resulting blast injured a security officer, who was shifted to the Frontier Constabulary headquarters hospital in Ghallanai. Later the FC personnel launched a search operation in the area and arrested 22 suspects.

Prior to this attack, nine Khasadar force officials were killed as suspected militants launched two attacks in Mohmand Agency late Wednesday night.

Two separate groups of militants struck almost simultaneously at a police checkpoint in Pandyali area of Mohmand district where they killed seven, and at a solar-powered tube well in Michni area of the same region where they gunned down two police who were standing guard.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2016.