Militants wiped out from South Waziristan: army

Major-General Khan says repatriation of displaced tribesmen has started; 20 militants killed in fresh air raids

PESHAWAR: The army has cleared the South Waziristan tribal region from militants and there are no more militant hideouts, said Major-General Nawaz Khan, the operations commander in the region, on Tuesday.

Briefing the media at the Rata Kulachi Stadium in Dera Ismail Khan, Gen Khan claimed that there were “foreign hands” involved in militancy in the area and that the army had caught foreign aid in the region. He added that security forces have arrested foreigners and their identities would be made public soon.

General Khan said the process of repatriating hundreds of thousands of tribesmen displaced by fighting has started. He said all facilities had been provided for the return of 41,489 families. He added that the phase-wise return of the IDPs will start within a month.

The general promised that peace will be maintained in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank following the return of the IDPs. A plan has been made to ensure this, he said. Gen Khan added that the people affected by the operation, codenamed Rah-e-Nijat, will be helped like those from Operation Rah-e-Raast.

Meanwhile at least 20 suspected militants were killed and 15 injured in air raids on the hideouts of Taliban in the Orakzai tribal region on Tuesday, while a convoy of security forces escaped a remote-controlled bomb attack in Hangu district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, sources said.

Fresh air strikes were carried out in the areas of Mamozai, Adezai, Swarpur, Torsimat and Sama Bazaar in northern administrative division of Orakzai Agency. Six suspected bases of insurgents were destroyed in the blitz, killing 20 militants and injuring 15 others, intelligence sources told The Express Tribune. Paramilitary troops, aided by air power and heavy artillery have been fighting Taliban rebels in Orakzai Agency since March 24. They claimed to have recaptured huge swathes of lands earlier controlled by insurgents.

Security forces claim to have killed hundreds of militants during the offensive which was launched after reports that militants fleeing a military operation in South Waziristan, the hotbed of militancy, were regrouping in Orakzai Agency. Hundreds of thousands of tribesmen, displaced by fighting in the region, are now living in temporary shelter-camps set up in different parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Earlier this month the army claimed victory against militants in the region but said “stabilisation operations” would continue for some time.

In other violence, a remote-controlled bomb, targeting a convoy of security forces, exploded in the Sarmalo Kandao area of Hangu district. The convoy was on its way to Orakzai via Hangu. One of the vehicles in the convoy was badly damaged in the attack but there were no casualties.

Separately, security forces arrested at least nine suspected militants during a search and clearance operation in the Torawari area of Doaba, in Hangu district. One of the arrested suspected, identified as Azam alias Butcher, is said to be a key militant commander in the area. Azam was allegedly involved in beheading government officials in the area.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2010.