MIRANSHAH, 8 August 2007 — Pakistani troops launched fresh anti-terror offensive and targeted militants near an area on the Afghan border yesterday, killing 10 militants, military sources said.
Troops backed by artillery and helicopter gunships attacked bombarded two militant hide-outs yesterday that had been used to launch attacks on Pakistani security forces in a troubled tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said.
There were at least three other militant attacks on troops elsewhere yesterday in the tribal areas, where President Pervez Musharraf has been under pressure to crack down on Taleban and Al-Qaeda fighters allegedly operating there.
One soldier was killed by a bomb in the North West Frontier Province, and another was killed in a drive-by shooting in North Waziristan, police and intelligence officials said. But the casualty toll from the bombardment was not immediately known.Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said Cobra helicopters and artillery targeted two compounds in Daygan, a village about 15 km west of North Waziristan’s main town of Miranshah, after receiving credible intelligence that militants were there.
“The militants used to regroup and prepare attacks on security forces and take refuge at these compounds, so security forces targeted them,” Arshad said.
Militants inside the compound fired back, but they were “wiped out” in the four-hour attack, Arshad said.
“Local sources have told us that at least 10 local militants have been killed and seven have been wounded,” Arshad said.
An intelligence official in Miranshah said they had reports that 27 militants had been killed. A local security official said a stray mortar had hit a home in Miranshah, injuring three or four people.
Shortly after the operation, militants fired rockets at military checkpoints in the area, triggering more fighting, the official said. No casualties were reported in that fighting. But a soldier was killed when a bomb exploded near him as he collected water from a stream near Miranshah, another intelligence official said.
Yesterday’s assault on Daygan village appeared to be the toughest military action since troops were withdrawn from key checkpoints under a controversial peace deal with pro-Taleban militants in September 2006.
Meanwhile, two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on paramilitary forces in a town in North West Frontier Province, killing one, police official Israr Khan said.
In southwestern Balochistan province, security forces detained five Uzbeks, five Tajiks and two Afghans as suspected militants, a border security official said on condition of anonymity because he was unauthorized to make media comments. Their Pakistani drivers were also taken into custody. The arrests were made at a roadblock near the town of Zhob.
In other violence, a bomb exploded at the main bus station in Peshawar, the largest city in the northwest, but no one was hurt, said Fazl-e-Maula Khan, a city police officer. And tribesmen shot to death three militants in a town south of Peshawar who were suspected of killing local bandit Ameer Said on Monday, said Kamal Afridi, a resident. Militants have launched an unofficial anti-vice campaign in the region.
