Tuesday, February 09, 2010, Safar 24, 1431 A.H   ISSN 1563-9479
 Group Chairman: Mir Javed Rahman Founded by: Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman Editor-in-Chief: Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman 
HOME | TOP STORIES | WORLD | NATIONAL | BUSINESS |  SPORTS |  KARACHI | LAHORE | ISLAMABADPESHAWAREDITORIAL | OPINION | STOCK INSTEP TODAY  NEWSPOST
  WEEKLY SECTIONS
    News on Sunday
    You
    Health Body & Mind
    Technobytes
    Iqra
    Galaxy
    Tapestry
    Education-Zine
    Us
    Cyber@print
    Investor's J.
    Viewers' Forum
    Today's Cartoon
    Style
    Business & Finance Review
    Instep
    MAG Fashion
    Blog
  FEATURES
   Opinion Archive
   Fashion Archive
   Magazine Archive
   Style Archive

  FINANCE
   Currency Rates
   KSE Index
   Bullion Rates
   Prize Bonds

 16 killed as militants’ hideouts pounded in SWA

Sunday, June 28, 2009

By Mushtaq Yusufzai & Irfan Burki

PESHAWAR/WANA: Sixteen more militants affiliated with Baitullah Mehsud were killed and six others sustained injuries in heavy bombing by warplanes and gunship helicopters on Taliban hideouts in parts of South Waziristan Agency on Saturday.

Also, the government took a serious note of Fridayís attack on the military convoy in Miramshah, North Waziristan, and warned the tribesmen in Miramshah to hand over the culprits within three days or face the consequences under territorial responsibility section of the laws of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR).

The government continued the military operation against Baitullah Mehsud-led insurgents and sent fighter planes and gunship helicopters to pound their hideouts.

According to sources, three fighter planes and gunship helicopters blitzed militants’ positions in their strongholds of Ladha and Makeen and other villages, including Dwatoi, Kacha Langarkhel, Kotkai and Spinkai Raghzai.

The militants reportedly suffered losses when warplanes targeted their positions in Ladha and Makeen. Officials said 16 militants were killed and six others injured in the daylong air strikes on the Taliban positions. They said the injured militants were taken to private health centres in Makeen and Ladha, as the government has already withdrawn its machinery from most parts of South Waziristan inhabited by the Mehsud tribesmen.

Besides other government buildings, the government has also vacated most of the schools and roadside posts of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC), which are now occupied by the militants.

In August last year, the government vacated the British-era Ladha Fort, which was built in 1932 and housed hundreds of soldiers.

The FC authorities on that occasion said they had vacated the fort to convert its building into a hospital. However, no hospital was set up there and later the spacious building was occupied by the militants. Portions of the historic building were dismantled and strong iron bars and other building material were sold at throwaway prices. Presently, there are no security personnel in the entire Mehsud territory.

The only option with the government to target Baitullah Mehsudís positions is bombing by fighter planes and gunship helicopters and using long-range artillery guns from the distant FC camps in Manzai, Jandola and Serwakai areas.

Keeping in view the tough resistance offered by the militants, the government will require sufficient time to send ground forces to the Mehsud region. The troops after days of battle secured the Wana-Jandola Road up to Serwakai while the Taliban militants are still in control of Wana-Jandola Road between Serwakai and Jandola.

Like the adjoining North Waziristan, where Utmanzai Wazir Taliban led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur developed differences with the government and attacks on security forces started in their territory, situation started deteriorating in the Ahmadzai Wazir parts of South Waziristan where pro-government militant commander Mulla Nazeer had signed a peace accord with the government.

Both Hafiz Gul Bahadur and Mulla Nazeer were considered pro-government and anti-Baitullah earlier when the government launched a military operation against the banned TTP chief in South Waziristan on January 13, 2008. However, this time the attitude of both the pro-government militant commanders seems different.

Hafiz Gul Bahadurís ties with the government have soured and he has threatened to scrap his peace accord with the government if the military operation in Janikhel and Bakakhel in FR Bannu was not stopped.

After North Waziristan, suspected militants have now started attacks on military installations in Wana, South Waziristan, where the Ahmadzai Wazirs are based.

On ground, Mulla Nazeer has nothing concrete to motivate his militants for fighting against the government. His lone and longstanding demand from the government was an end to the drone attacks in his region.

Sources in Wana said suspected militants attacked the military camp with rockets on Friday night. Later, the troops returned their attack with mortar and artillery shelling.

Tribesmen in Wana and nearby Azam Warsak village said they could not sleep due to the heavy firing in the area throughout the night.

A tribesman, Anwar Ashrafkhel, was killed and some villagers sustained injuries when mortar shells hit their mud houses in Azam Warsak village, seven kilometres west of Wana. Sources close to Mulla Nazeer said that he had gone underground after series of drone attacks in the region.

Gul Bahadur and Mulla Nazeer entered into an alliance with Baitullah when they formed ìShura Ittehad-ul-Mujahideenî or the council of holy warriors, promising to help each other in case anyone of them was in trouble.

Meanwhile, the political administration in North Waziristan on Saturday convened a Jirga of eight tribal elders and asked them to hand over the culprits involved in attack on the military convoy or face punitive action under the FCR.

Assistant Political Agent (APA) of Miramshah sub-division Asghar Khan called a meeting of tribal elders of Miramshah village and gave them a three-day deadline to hand over the culprits or face punishment.

The APA said security forces had decided to launch a strict military offensive in the area after their convoy was attacked. But, he said, they did not take action because of a nearby school as many children might have died had gunship helicopters pounded the militants’ positions.

Quoting senior military officials, APA Asghar Khan said the military in future would target the area where they were attacked.

Share this story!   
Back     |    Send this story to Friend    |     Print Version
 
 

Three killed as Sh Rashid escapes attempt on life
By Shakeel Anjum
RAWALPINDI: Awami Muslim League (AML) Chief and a candidate for NA-55 (Rawalpindi) by-election Sheikh Rashid Ahmad was wounded, while three people — a guard and two party workers — were killed when four gunmen    more

12 soldiers killed in South Waziristan
ISLAMABAD: Twelve soldiers embraced martyrdom while two others were injured in a clash with militants during the ongoing operation Rah-e-Nijat in South Waziristan Agency (SWA), the ISPR said on Monday. S    more

Plan to attack five-star hotel foiled
By our correspondent
LAHORE: The CIA police here on Monday claimed to have foiled an attack on Americans staying at a five-star hotel and arrested six terrorists, including a suicide bomber. Addressing a press conference, SS    more

Govt taking court for a ride
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: She fought her case in the media. She won her battle in the judicial forum too. But still the government is bent on making an example out of her for refusing to follow the illegal dictates of her min    more

Pakistan against arms race: Gilani
By Azeem Samar
KARACHI: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday said Pakistan does not want to be engaged in an arms race with any country. Speaking as chief guest at the induction ceremony of second Chinese-m    more

Punjab-Sindh water row Centre’s intervention sought
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Tension between Punjab and Sindh over opening of the Chashma-Jhelum and Taunsa-Punjnad link canals has touched a new high as the former has sought the Centre’s intervention. The Punjab has sai    more

French, Dutch fight over giving LNG to Pakistan
By Khalid Mustafa
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin and his team is all set to thwart the attempt of an unscrupulous combine of oil industry heavyweights and some functionaries of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Re    more

Nine killed as no let-up in rains
By Nisar Mahmood
PESHAWAR: Nine people were killed and scores of others injured as heavy rains and snowfall lashed various parts of the country for the fourth consecutive day on Monday. Reports from the Shangla district    more

Malik orders NUML closure as protest enters 5ht day
ISLAMABAD: The protest of the students of the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) against thrashing of Professor Malik Tahir by Registrar Brigadier (R) Obaidullah Ranjha entered its fifth consecutive    more

Malik insists no Blackwater in Pakistan
By Muhammad Anis
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik while responding to an accusation from a PML-N parliamentarian told the National Assembly that Blackwater was not providing security to the president and the prime mini    more

FBR gets list of properties rented out to foreigners
By Hanif Khalid
ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has received list of properties from Foreign Office, which were in use of foreigners in Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore, but these were not shown in annual tax    more

Repealing of 17th Amendment
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has begun efforts to create consensus on repealing the 17th Amendment before presidential address to the joint sitting of the parliament. The prime minis    more

Three suspects held in Mohmand
By our correspondent
GHALLANAI: The security forces arrested three suspected persons during search operation in Safi subdivision of Mohmand Agency, official sources said Monday. The sources said the security forces carried out sear    more

No presence of Blackwater, DynCorp in Pakistan, NA body told
ISLAMABAD: Secretary Interior Qamar Zaman again negated on Monday the presence of Blackwater, DynCorp or any other foreign security agency in the country. “Neither the Blackwater and the DynCorp nor any other s    more

Govt urged to take up water issue with India
By Asim Yasin
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Q, Parliamentary leader in the National Assembly, Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat while urging the government to take up the issue of ‘water terrorism’ with New Delhi, has question    more

Avalanche kills 17 Indian soldiers in held Kashmir
HELD SRINAGAR: Seventeen Indian soldiers were killed on Monday in an avalanche that slammed into a group of 70 combat troops at a high-altitude warfare training camp in Kashmir, the army said on Monday.    more

Taliban defiant as Afghans flee ahead of assault
KANDAHAR: The Nato commanders urged the Taliban to surrender as troops dug in on Monday for a major assault on their key stronghold in southern Afghanistan, sending thousands of residents fleeing. The Ta    more

Plea to freeze foreign accounts
By our correspondent
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday ordered the federal government to submit a reply within four weeks on a petition seeking freezing of accounts in foreign banks and recovery of illegal assets accumu    more

Attack on Sh Rashid
RAWALPINDI: The PML-N candidate for by-polls from NA-55, Malik Shakil Awan, has announced suspension of electioneering for a day to mourn the death of those killed in the attack on the office of his rival, Shei    more

Indian forces to halt Kashmir rally outside UN office
HELD SRINAGAR: The held Kashmir authorities deployed thousands of police and troops on Monday to prevent a protest outside the UN office here over the recent killing of two teenage boys by Indian security force    more

briefs...
20 die in Afghan floods, avalanches KANDAHAR: Twenty people have died in floods and avalanches triggered by some of the heaviest rain and snow in Afghanistan for 50 years, an official said on Monday. At    more

Google
 
 
The News Home  |  Jang Group Online  |  Jang Multimedia  |  Jang Searchable  |  Ad Tariff / Enquiry |  Editor Internet  |  Webmaster