BARA:
Pakistani jet fighters and helicopter gunships blitzed militant hideouts in the Akka Khel area of Tirah Valley, Khyber Agency, killing five militants and two civilians.
An official of the paramilitary troops in the area said that around 7:00am, two jet fighters pounded Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) hideouts, a banned outfit led by Mangal Bagh in Akka Khel, with bombs.
The bombardment killed two civilians and injured seven, including LI militants.
The official said that following the strike, the militants rushed three injured comrades to an undisclosed location, while the civilians were taken to hospitals in Hangu and Peshawar.
The official identified the civilians killed as Amal Khan and Bashir.
The official added that after the jet fighters bombed the area, two helicopter gunships started shelling Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) hideouts in the area, which killed five militants and injured several others.
“Two of the TTP hideouts were also destroyed by the gunships,” the official stated.
A strategically important area, Tirah Valley borders Afghanistan and also connects to Bara, which then leads to Peshawar.
The valley has been under the influence of various militant factions, including LI, TTP, and Ansarul Islam, whose members constantly target each other over territorial disputes and sectarian differences.
On the other hand, residents of the valley have little contact with the outside world.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 19th, 2012.
COMMENTS (4)
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See? Civilian casualties end up happening whether it's by your own army or the drones. It's war. War and civilian casualties are pretty much inseparable. That's one of the major reasons people try to avoid war. But, once war begins, it begins and it's no place for hyper active humanitarians. The people trying to avoid large scale operations to get things over and done with are the reason so many will end up dying. When you procrastinate and/or go at it half heartedly eventually those tiny civilian death counts will be a higher number than what the casualties of a larger scale operation would have been. Then when people finally come to their senses and realize it, leading to a large scale operation after a huge delay. not only do you have the kill count due to going at it the wrong way for so long, you end up with the large scale operation kill count on top of it.
Pak remains one of the few countries to use Army against its own countrymen!
Go ahead and stay there till last terrorist is killed.This is phase one.