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Tuesday, May 19, 2009
27 militants killed in ‘Rah-e-Rast’ operation
By our correspondent
PESHAWAR: Several persons, including women and children, were killed and a number of others sustained injuries when families fleeing the military operation in Swat’s Matta town were shelled while crossing a mountainous path to reach Karo Darra in Dir Upper on Monday, eyewitnesses and official sources said.
Eyewitnesses, who escaped the attack or were able to reach Wari town of Dir Upper in injured condition, said they were targeted by gunship helicopters. However, police officials said they might have been hit by a stray shell. Local people said they saw some 12 to 14 bodies on a mountain on the Swat side but could not go near to retrieve them or help the injured for fear of another aerial attack.
Talking to local journalists, an eyewitness Bacha Zada claimed that a number of families were going to Dir Upper from Matta and Kabal areas of Swat when they were attacked by a helicopter. He said as they rushed to the help of the victims, the gunship helicopter re-appeared and again fired at them. He said at this stage all of them ran away and abandoned the dead and the injured.
Confirming the incident, police sources said the families might have been hit by a stray shell as the survivors did not remember source of the attack. “There might have been some killings in the incident but we cannot comment on it because the dead and the injured were found on the Swat side and not in Dir Upper,” a police official told The News.
It was learnt that some of them with minor injuries were being treated in Wari while seriously wounded persons were rushed to Timergara. A woman Sardara, whose son Rahmat Sher was killed in the incident, said she left the body of her child on the mountain and fled to save her life. The woman, who managed to cross into Wari while injured, said her son breathed his last in her lap.
Though information from the area was sketchy, villagers put the number of those killed by in shelling by helicopter at 12 to 14. Some of the dead were identified as Rahmat Sher, Amanul Mulk, Irfanullah and Hasina.
Among the injured included Sardara, Ajab Khan, Azam, Lakhtay, Ismail, Raham Bibi, Muhammad Sher, Zahir Mina, Bakht Rawan, Shagai, Nawab Sher, Begum, Shtamand and Dost Muhammad. It may be mentioned that Karo Darra and Nihag Darra areas of Dir Upper share border with Matta’s Peuchar area, a stronghold of Maulana Fazlullah-led Taliban militants.
Intense fighting is taking place in Matta and other areas of Swat to rout the Taliban. Tens of thousands have already left the valley but a vast majority of the people were still trapped due to fighting and continuous curfew. The trapped people have been trying to move out of the valley using mountainous and unfrequented paths as they don’t have enough time in curfew relaxation, or transportation, to flee the intensified military operation.
The injured said those who had sustained minor injuries were able to come to Wari while the critically wounded persons were lying near Shagai in Karo Darra, where the attack was carried out.
Meanwhile, thousands of residents of Doog Darra, which was attacked by warplanes on Sunday, fled the area. The authorities got vacated some buildings at the Shringal campus of the University of Malakand and declared it a camp for the IDPs. Another camp was established in the Government Middle School at Rehankot in Dir town. The displaced persons had no food and other facilities and were stated to be in a miserable condition.
Muhammad Anis adds from Islamabad: As the security forces started ground offensive in troubled Swat Valley, street battle has started in Matta tehsil with infantry going into streets of cities and towns.
“Three important commanders including Okasha, Malanga and Riaz were among 27 militants killed during the operation that has now been named as Rah-e-Rast, military spokesman and the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Athar Abbas told newsmen at a briefing.
He said the dead body of Malanga was lying with the security forces, but did not tell if the rest of the bodies had been removed by the militants.
He said Mamdherai Markaz was targeted by the security forces and 10 to 15 terrorists hiding inside were killed. He said the security forces continued cordon and search operations in Matta town.
He said three security forces’ personnel including an officer were also killed and 17 others injured during the fighting. The DG ISPR said the security forces were engaged with militants inside Kanju town to clear the area. Operation is in progress in Takhtaband area, where seven combatants were killed in a close encounter, he said, adding that the security forced had also expanded their foothold in Peuchar and killed 12 militants in the area.
The troops attacked and secured Dumber training centre, which was also being used by miscreants as their logistics base. When asked, if the militants arrested by the security forces have made any disclosures during investigations about the source providing weapons and finances to them, he said those so far arrested were low level Taliban fighters.
To another question, he said an inquiry has been ordered into the abduction and killing of army officers by the Taliban, allegedly in collusion with some government officials The military spokesman assured the nation that the security forces were strictly resorting to precision targeting and that no heavy weaponry will be used in the populated areas. “Our target is to clear the area of miscreants while ensuring minimum collateral damage”, he said.
AP adds from Batkhela: The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Swat chapter spokesman Muslim Khan has said the Taliban would resist the security forces until the “last breath”. “We will fight until the last breath for the enforcement of Islamic law,” Muslim Khan told The Associated Press in a brief phone call from an undisclosed location late Sunday. “We consider ourselves on the right path,” he insisted.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
