Aerial shelling: Copters pound militants’ hideouts in FR Peshawar

Political administration official says cobra gunship helicopters targeted heavily wooded mountain ranges of Shankrabi.

PESHAWAR:

Gunship helicopters of the Pakistan Army pounded the hideouts of militants in the mountain ranges of Frontier Region Peshawar (FR Peshawar) on Tuesday.

An official of the political administration told The Express Tribune that cobra gunship helicopters targeted the heavily wooded mountain ranges of Shankrabi.  “These are highly wooded mountains where there is no human habitation and militants have hideouts in these ranges,” he said.

“We can see them bombing their targets in these hills but can’t say anything about the militant casualties,” said a local elder, adding that in some areas large contingents of the army had taken positions on mountain tops but there was no attack by foot soldiers.

There is no official word from the ISPR about the operation but some people in the political administration believed that the recent operation was launched after reports emerged that militants had been injured in the Sunday morning bombing and were hiding in these mountains.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2014.