ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces yesterday arrested 28 rebels and killed three civilians as troops backed by helicopter gunships continued a major operation against militants for a second day yesterday, a senior official said.
Supplies to NATO and US forces in Afghanistan via the historic Khyber Pass remained suspended because of the operation, local administration chief Tariq Hayat told a news conference.
Hayat told Arab News that “We have not closed the Khyber Pass. We are just weeding out all those criminals who disrupt NATO supplies to Afghanistan from Pakistan via Khyber pass.” Hayat said “for us there are no Taleban; they are all criminals who took sanctuary in Khyber Agency and lately they had started looting NATO convoys.”
The offensive in the lawless Khyber tribal region near the Afghan border was launched at dawn on Tuesday after a series of attacks by suspected Taleban militants on foreign military supply depots in northwest Pakistan.
Hundreds of NATO and US-led coalition vehicles were destroyed in the militant raids in December. “The operation will continue until the militants are flushed out and the supply route is secured,” Hayat said. A total of 28 suspected militants have been arrested and 19 houses belonging to those harboring Taleban militants have been demolished, he said.
Three civilians were killed yesterday when their home was hit by “mistake,” he said adding that the government had decided to give cash compensation to their families. Hayat said 116 Afghans living in Shakas town had been rounded up and put into Jamrud jail. He gave no details. A curfew remained in force in Jamrud town, the gateway to the Khyber Pass, and traffic was suspended on the highway linking Peshawar to the border town of Torkham, he said.
The bulk of the supplies and equipment required by NATO and US-led forces battling the Taleban insurgency in Afghanistan is shipped to Karachi in the south. From there, the containers of food, fuel, vehicles and munitions are taken by truck to depots outside Peshawar before being transported to Afghanistan via the Khyber Pass.
— With input from agencies
