Deadly turf war: Dozens dead as militants clash in Tirah

BARA:

Dozens of people have been killed in deadly clashes between Taliban insurgents and another outlawed group in the remote Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency since Friday evening.

Hordes of Taliban militants attacked check posts of the Ansarul Islam outfit in the Maidan area of Tirah Valley Friday evening, Nasir Khan, the assistant political agent (APA) of Bara Tehsil, told journalists. The militants belonged to the Tariq Afridi-led group of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

They mounted the surprise attack when most of the Ansarul Islam fighters manning the mountainous check posts left their positions following heavy snowfall and inclement weather. AI fighters mounted a counter-attack after mustering reinforcements from the local sub-clans of Afridi tribe, including Malik Din Khel, Qambar Khel and Aka Khel.

The AI fighters successfully wrested back control of the check posts after fierce fighting. Dozens of fighters from  both sides have been killed and injured while fighting is ongoing.

“We have recaptured 22 of 23 check posts taken over by the TTP in Maidan area,” AI spokesperson Sadat Afridi told The Express Tribune. Fighting is ongoing for the control of the main Singarh check post, he added.

The AI spokesman said that 44 Taliban militants and 23 fighters of his group have been killed in the fighting so far. He added that they also captured seven TTP fighters who were later shot dead in the Bagh area of Tirah.

Sadat Afridi claimed that they have regained control of the main posts of Kalawach, Angori, Teenstana, Bhutan Sharif and Adam Khel. He added that his group would continue to fight the TTP until they were eliminated from the region.

The AI spokesperson’s account could not be verified independently as the region is militant-infested and is inaccessible to media persons.

Tirah Valley, a scenic region in Khyber Agency, has been under the control of militants of all hues – including TTP, AI and Lashkar-e-Islam of Mangal Bagh Afridi – who have been engaged in a deadly turf war. Tirah Valley borders the tribal regions of Orakzai and Kurram and serves as a transit for militants moving in the tribal belt.

Mangal Bagh and hundreds of his loyalists have found a safe haven in Tirah Valley after they were routed from

Bara as a result of a military operation in 2009. Fighting between Lashkar-e-Islam and Ansarul Islam has claimed hundreds of lives. The TTP is siding with Mangal Bagh in his fight against the AI.

Civilian killed in clashes

Several innocent tribesmen have also been caught up in the latest spell of fighting between the TTP and AI, according to officials. Three members of a family were killed in Rajgal Bagh area when a shell missed its target and slammed into the house of a tribesman, indentified as Anar Baig. The house owner, his wife and a son were killed on the spot while his two sons were wounded.

Political administration official Asmatullah Wazir said the bodies of Ansar Baig, a Koki Khel tribesman, his wife and son were shifted to Jamrud tehsil for burial.

Another mortar shell hit the house of AI fighter Qari Abdul Shakoor, killing his brother and a guest. And in Malik Din Khel area, a shell landed on the house of tribesman Giyas Khan, killing his wife and sister-in-law. His two sons were also injured in the incident.

Search operation in Bara

Over in the Qaziabad area of Bara sub-division, a compound of Lashkar-e-Islam group was destroyed by helicopter gunships. According to an official of the political administration, after the air raid security forces mounted a search operation in the Alam Gudar, Sipah and Shalobar areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2013.