Six militants, one security man killed in FR Kohat

IDPs from Kurram block highway in protest against inadequate facilities.

KOHAT: Six militants and one member of the peace militia were killed during a clash with militants in the Jowaki area of the Frontier Region (FR) Kohat on Sunday, official sources revealed.

Sources said that security forces have launched an operation against militants in FR Kohat where they pounded hideouts of militants and killed at least six of them. It was further revealed that Wahidur Rehman, a member of the peace militia in the area, was also killed during the clash.

One member of the paramilitary force was also killed when a land mine exploded during a search operation in the area, sources added.

Security forces have taken control of Duaboki, Guluno Tangay and Babu kaly and recovered a huge cache of weapons during the search operation in the area. Sources said that security forces were proceeding towards Tor Chappar and would soon take control of it.

Security forces have launched an operation in the FR Kohat areas which lead towards the Orakzai Agency connecting parts of Fata and is considered an important route connecting Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with its southern districts.

Remote control bomb

Meanwhile, a remote control bomb went off on the Jandola-Kariwam road in the Frontier Region of Tank and killed one security man and damaged a passenger van, said officials.

According to official sources, the incident took place in FR Tank, on the border of South Wazriristan, when security forces were doing a routine check on the road.

“While defusing the bomb, it went off killing a security official and causing damage to a passenger van,” confirmed an official. Sources said that the windows of the vehicle were completely shattered; however, no casualty was reported.

Protest by Kurram IDPs

The internally displaced people (IDP) of the Kurram Agency – who had left their homes following military operations in certain areas of central Kurram – blocked the Thall-Parachinar Highway in protest against the administration for not providing adequate facilities to assimilate them.

The IDPs of central Kurram settled in a camp in the Lower Kurram Agency shouted slogans against the political administration. They complained of delayed food supply and inadequate facilities.

The people who had staged the protest belonged to the Durrani Camp. They also threw stones at the security officials, after which the Levies personnel fired shots into the air to disperse the procession.

However, officials claimed that there were no reported injuries.

Protestors gathered again after a while and blocked the Thall-Parachinar Highway for almost thirty minutes. It was after the intervention of the political administration that the road was reopened after people were reassured of timely supply of ration.

Meanwhile, sources said that gunship helicopters bombarded militant hideouts in Central Kurram’s Murghan Kandao area claiming the death of some ten militants; however, the figures could not be independently verified.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th, 2012.