Terror attack: IED blast in Wana kills army major

Six soldiers also wounded in the explosion during search operation .

SHABQADAR/ DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A senior officer of Pakistan Army was killed and six servicemen were wounded in an explosion during a cordon and search operation in the main marketplace of South Waziristan Agency on Tuesday.

The military confirmed the death of Major Imran Khan and six soldiers in Wana Bazaar in the blast caused by an improvised explosive device (IED). The Inter-Services Public Relations didn’t give details.

Local sources, however, said the search and cordon operation was launched based on intelligence information in a weapons dealer’s shop in Wana Bazaar early in the morning. When the troops entered the shop, an explosive device went off and the structure came tumbling down on them.

The device was so powerful that it also damaged several nearby shops. The troops were immediately pulled out from the rubble and driven to a hospital in the Scout Camp in Wana, where Major Imran succumbed to his injuries, an official of the local administration told The Express Tribune. The six other soldiers are being treated for their wounds which, medics say, are not life threatening.

Reinforcements reached the market after the blast, clamped an indefinite curfew and detained several suspects in a subsequent operation.

Major Imran’s body was flown to Peshawar where his funeral was held at the Headquarters of 11 Corps where Corps Commander Lt Gen Hidayat Ur Rehman and Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra were also present.

South Waziristan, the birthplace of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the outlawed umbrella of terrorist groups, remained under virtual control of the militants until 2009 when they had been routed in a massive military operation codenamed Rah-e-Nijat.

Meanwhile, five houses of suspected militants were demolished in Mohmand Agency on Tuesday. Local tribal elders, backed by officials of the political administration razed the houses of five suspected militants in Lower Mohmand in retaliation for recent IED attacks on security forces and pro-government tribal elders, according to officials.

A search operation has been ongoing in the Michni area since last week. A large number of un-licenced weapons have been recovered and their possessors detained – some of them were later released, though.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2016.