Over 900 militants killed in Waziristan offensive

ISPR says 82 soldiers also died, Taliban strongholds cleared.

PESHAWAR/ ISLAMABAD:

At least 910 militants have been killed so far in the ongoing military offensive in North Waziristan Agency, the military said in the latest updates on Operation Zarb-e-Azb.

Eighty-two soldiers have lost their lives since the start of the operation on June 15 while another 269 have been injured, the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said in a statement on Wednesday.

Of the 82 soldiers, 42 were killed in North Waziristan, 23 in the rest of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and 17 in the remaining elsewhere in the country, including Balochistan and Karachi. Security forces have cleared Miramshah, Mirali, Datta Khel, Degan, and Boya areas of North Waziristan, which were considered strongholds of terrorists.

An 88-kilometre-long road from Khajuri to Mirali and then to Miramshah and Datta Khel has been cleared, along with the Ghariom-Jhallar road. Moreover, 27 improvised explosive device (IED) factories as well as one rocket and one ammunition factory have been destroyed during the operation. “A huge cache of arms and ammunition, communication equipment, and other logistics facilities used by terrorists have been destroyed, uprooting their ability to attack as a coherent force,” stated the ISPR.



Similarly, up to 2,274 intelligence-led coordinated counterterrorism operations across the country have been carried out to forestall any possible blowback of the operation. During these operations, 114 alleged terrorists have been apprehended.

On relief efforts for the internally displaced persons (IDPs), the military’s media wing stated that 19,376 tonnes of ration has been distributed to 97,570 people so far. “At a field medical hospital established by the Army Medical Corps at Khalifa Gul Nawaz Hospital, Bannu, 113,209 patients, including 32,979 women, have been treated,” it said.

However, a spokesman for Jamaatul Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed that at least 30 of the group’s fighters have been killed during Operation Zarb-e-Azb. “Before the operation began, our mujahideen had already shifted their bomb factories and training centres to safe places,” Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed in a statement released to the media.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2014.