Convoy under attack: Two FC soldiers, five terrorists killed in Bara ambush

Bara is under curfew for the past two years after an operation was launched against Lashkar-e-Islam.

PESHAWAR:

At least two Frontier Corps (FC) soldiers, a lashkar volunteer and five terrorists were killed in clashes in the Akakhel, in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency, according to sources in the security forces. Five soldiers, three volunteers and six terrorists were injured in the clashes.

A security official told The Express Tribune that there was an armed clash when security forces along with local lashkar volunteers started a snap action in the Akakhel area in Bara tehsil earlier during the day.

Local sources said that the three slain soldiers belonged to the paramilitary FC and identified them as Atiq, Aliman Shah and Sami Orakzai. However, security forces confirmed only two causalties. There were no independent confirmations of the militants’ death toll.

Sources said that the clashes took place in the Dru Adda area in the Akakhel tribe’s  territorial limits in the afternoon when suspected militants ambushed a security convoy. They also expressed ignorance about the killing of the local lashkar volunteer. They said that there was a local lashkar operating in Akakhel which patrols with security forces.

Sources said the attackers were militants loyal to Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI) chief Mangal Bagh. Bara is under curfew for the past two years after security forces launched an operation to dismantle the LeI, which was posing a threat to Peshawar.

Khyber Agency, situated in the southwest of Peshawar is divided into three tehsils, Bara, Jamrud, and Landikotal. Bara was controlled by the LeI, while various militant groups are active in other parts of the agency.

Meanwhile, a person was killed and three others were injured in an exchange of fire between two friends that followed an altercation over some domestic dispute in the Badshah Kot area of Lower Kurram Agency on Saturday. A house was also set on fire during the clash.



Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2011.