Precision strikes: Khyber air raid leaves 12 terrorists dead

Dozens of hideouts destroyed in Tirah

LANDI KOTAL: At least 12 alleged terrorists were reportedly killed when PAF fighter jets targeted their hideouts in Rajgal of the Tirah Valley in the Khyber tribal region on Sunday.

Local sources told The Express Tribune that over a dozen hideouts were also destroyed during the air strikes that were launched over the area after a long pause. This was the second such air strike carried out by Pakistan Air Force in almost a week along the Pak-Afghan border.



Fighter jets started pounding the positions in the Tirah Valley, west of the city of Peshawar in the wee hours of Sunday, in ‘precision strikes’, after getting a tip-off about the presence of terrorists in the area.

The sources confirmed the bombing and human losses to the militants in the valley.

The armed forces had launched a successful operation against the militants holed up in the Tirah Valley. The valley with dense forests and dominating mountain features, stretching over roughly 1500 square kilometres, had been serving as the last redoubt to many of the Pakistani militant groups and their foreign allies who were pushed out from their previous sanctuaries in the tribal regions along the Afghan border.

Tirah straddles Tora Bora, the valley that served as the last sanctuary of al Qaeda before its leadership escaped into Pakistan’s tribal region following the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.



The forces had evicted the militants and taken full control of the valley. However, in some pockets of the valley, the militants still maintain their presence from where they launch sporadic attacks on checkpoints manned by security personnel.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2016.