Counterterror operations: Air raids kill 25 terrorists in Khyber, South Waziristan

Four Customs officials killed in Kohat ambush

HANGU/ KOHAT/ ISLAMABAD/ BANNU:

At least 25 suspected terrorists were killed in fresh air strikes in South Waziristan and Khyber tribal regions on Wednesday. Elsewhere in the country, suspected militants killed four government officials in a brazen ambush in Kohat district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Tuesday night.

“In precise aerial strikes, a total of 25 terrorists were killed in the Sanzila area of South Waziristan and Tirah [Valley] of Khyber Agency,” the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement. “Seven hideouts of terrorists were also destroyed in these strikes,” it added.

A military operation, codenamed Zarb-e-Azb has been ongoing in North Waziristan Agency, which borders South Waziristan, since mid-June. A follow-up offensive, codenamed Khyber-I, was launched in the militants-infested Tirah Valley and Bara areas in mid-October.

Earlier a group of militants ambushed a Customs squad on Hangu Road near Tableeghi Markaz in Kohat Tuesday night. Four officials were killed and three wounded in the attack. The injured were driven to the Liaquat Memorial Hospital, where they were listed in stable condition.

The slain officials were identified as Inspector Abdul Wahab, Constable Shamim Iqbal, Constable Muhammad Hafeez and driver Hidayat Ullah.

The police has registered the FIR on the complaint of Hukam Khan, a security guard at a fuel station situated near the attack site. Hukam claimed that the militants beat him and snatched firearms from the gas station before ambushing the Customs squad.

Separately, at least three suspected militants were killed and one was injured in an armed clash with the security forces in the Janikhel area of Frontier Region Bannu. Officials said the clash took place while the security forces were carrying out a search operation. The gunfight came two days after the vehicle of a tribal elder, Malik Movez Khan, was targeted by militants with an improvised explosive device while he was travelling back home from a grand tribal Jirga in the Janikhel area.

In a related development, the security force rounded up around 20 militants from the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) during search operations in parts of Hangu district and Kurram Agency, according to the ISPR.

The militants were shifted to an undisclosed location for investigation. The security forces also showed to the media the body of a militant, named Ahmad Gul, who was killed during a clash in the Warmigai area of Kurram Agency on Tuesday.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2015.