Two servicemen die in South Waziristan ambush

Security forces mounted a search and strike operation after the deadly ambush


Mureeb Mohmand/nasruminallah October 17, 2016
PHOTO: ONLINE

Two Pakistani servicemen were killed on Sunday when terrorists ambushed a patrol vehicle in South Waziristan Agency, near the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. In other violence, one serviceman was killed and five were wounded in a string of bomb attacks in Mohmand Agency.

Heavily armed militants ambushed a patrol vehicle of security forces in the Speena Khawra area of Birmal  tehsil, a security official told The Express Tribune.

Two servicemen, whom the official identified as Idress and Muhamad Arshad, were martyred in the attack, while another soldier, Naik Muhammad Saeed, sustained minor injuries. The patrol vehicle they were travelling in was also badly damaged.

Security forces mounted a search and strike operation after the deadly ambush. South Waziristan Agency was a stronghold of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan until 2009 when the military routed the terrorists in a massive operation, codenamed Rah-e-Nijat.



Earlier in the day, terrorists detonated a string of homemade bombs in Mohmand Agency.

An official of political administration in Upper Mohmand Agency, Haseebur Rehman, confirmed four improvised explosive device blasts in Alingar, Chamarkand and Daweezai areas.

One serviceman, identified as Kashif Yusafzai, was killed when an IED planted on a roadside was triggered when he was going to his post from a local market in in Daweezai, Pandyali, Sunday afternoon, the official said.

In another incident, two roadside IEDs were detonated when security personnel were patrolling an area near Bilal Masjid Alingar, in Safi tehsil. Five servicemen from the Bomb Disposal Squad were injured in the attack. They were driven to hospital in Ghallanai where medics said their wounds were not life threatening.

After the IED blast, authorities clamped a curfew in Alingar and Daweezai before security forces mounted a search operation, which was ongoing when this report was filed.

The official added that a Levies force official narrowly escaped an IED attack while fetching water from a nearby mountainous spring in Chamarkand.

Alingar, Mohmand Agency, shares a border with Bajaur Agency as well as Afghanistan. Due to its close proximity with the militant-infested regions of Afghanistan, sporadic IEDs attacks on security forces continue unabated. The region was driven out from the region after a military offensive in 2011.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17th, 2016.

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