Restive frontiers: Air raids, clashes leave 39 militants dead

Mastermind of Wagah suicide attack among 11 killed; 2 soldiers die in check post assault, 2 killed in attack on convoy

PESHAWAR/ ISLAMABAD/ KALAYA/ BANNU:

A series of air strikes and clashes in Khyber and Orakzai tribal regions left at least 39 militants dead, including suspected masterminds of the recent deadly suicide bombing at Wagah border crossing, the military said on Tuesday.

Military warplanes targeted hideouts of militants in the Daras area of Khyber Agency, killing 13 terrorists and leaving 17 others injured. “Strikes were carried out on intelligence about the presence of terrorists involved in the November 2 Wagah border attack,” said a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). Three of their hideouts were also destroyed in the ‘precise aerial strikes’.



The ISPR said Operation Khyber-1 was progressing as per plan. “Since the start of the operation 135 terrorists have been killed, including some important commanders. As many as 250 commanders and some important commanders have also surrendered,” it added.

Separately, two militants were killed and six injured in a clash with the security forces. “The clash erupted when the security forces challenged the militants advancing towards Chapri, Shangair and Lashora areas of Jamrud,” a security official said. “The gunfight that lasted over an hour also left two paramilitary troops injured.”

The official said that during the clash a stray mortar shell slammed into a house where the militants were holed up. However, the militants fled the house which was subsequently searched by the security forces. They found two men – identified as Mir Ahmed and Owais – in the house who were kidnapped from the Nasir Bagh neighbourhood of Peshawar several weeks ago.

Meanwhile, another clash in the Akakhel area of Tirah Valley left nine militants dead and 11 injured. Tribal sources said the security forces were facing stiff resistance in some areas of Tirah Valley where Mangal Bagh’s Lashkar-e-Islam extremist group has been strengthened by the Maulana Fazalullah-led Taliban.

Assistant Political Agent Muhamamd Nasir Khan set a 24-hour deadline for the residents of Malikdinkhel and Sipah areas to shift to safe places. The deadline will end Wednesday afternoon. He said the security forces have been attacked several times in Malikdin Khel and Sipah areas which means militants were maintaining hideouts there. Separately, five militants surrendered to the security in the Shekano Pul area of Bara tehsil.

In the neighbouring Orakzai Agency, militants attacked a security check post, triggering a clash that left 15 attackers and two soldiers dead.

A large number of heavily-armed militants attacked the check post in the Sherin Dara area on the night between Monday and Tuesday, a security official said. Two of the soldiers manning the post were killed and six wounded in the assault. The injured were airlifted to a military hospital where some of them were said to be in critical condition.

The official claimed that 15 fleeing militants were killed in retaliatory action launched by the security forces soon after the attack. The claims couldn’t be independently verified as the media is not allowed to go into the area where the military operation has been ongoing.

Elsewhere in the tribal regions, two officials of the security forces were killed and three injured in a bomb attack on a convoy in the Jani Khel area of Frontier Region Bannu on Tuesday. “The convoy of the security forces was en route to Jani Khel from Bannu garrison when militants detonated an improvised explosive device planted by a roadside near the Tochi River,” a security official said.

One of the vehicles in the convoy was hit by the bomb, killing two soldiers and injuring three others. Five suspects were rounded up in a subsequent search operation in the area. A purported spokesman for Ansarul Mujahideen militant group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2014.