PHOTO: AFP
At least 33 terrorists were killed in fresh air strikes in North Waziristan and Khyber tribal regions on Wednesday. The air blitz came hours after a remotely-piloted US aircraft struck in the Shawal Valley of North Waziristan, killing at least five suspected militants, including foreigners.
The Pakistan Army has launched the much-awaited ground offensive in the thickly-forested Shawal Valley in the final stage of Operation Zarb-e-Azb. Most of North Waziristan has been cleansed of terrorists while the remaining militants are now holed up in Shawal.
On Wednesday, warplanes carried out raids in different parts of the strategic valley, sited on the confluence of the borders between North and South Waziristan agencies and Afghanistan. Five bases of militants were decimated and 18 terrorists were killed.
Earlier in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, fighter jets bombed compounds of terrorists in the Kokihel tribe-dominated areas of Tirah Valley, in Khyber Agency. Officials said five dens of terrorists were eliminated in the air strikes that also left 15 terrorists dead and another five injured.
According to officials, the dead and the injured militants in Shawal and Tirah valleys belonged to the outlawed TTP and Mangal Bagh Afridi-led Lashkar-e-Islam religious extremist group, respectively. The claim could not be verified independently since both regions are off-limits to journalists since military operations began there.
In Islamabad meanwhile, the Foreign Office denounced Tuesday’s US drone strike in Shawal Valley that resulted in a number of casualties. “Pakistan condemns such strikes which are in disregard of our territorial sovereignty and international law. We reiterate our call for cessation of such strikes,” it said in a statement.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 3rd, 2015.
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