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| 22 soldiers killed in Waziristan |
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Monday, June 29, 2009
20 troops die as convoy comes under attack in NWA; 12 militants, two soldiers perish in SWA
By Mushtaq Yusufzai,
Malik Mumtaz Khan & Irfan Burki
PESHAWAR/MIRAMSHAH/WANA: Twenty-two soldiers were killed and thirty-five others injured in two separate attacks by militants in North and South Waziristan agencies on Sunday. Also a same number of militants were killed in the day-long blitz and retaliatory attacks by security forces in the restive region.
20 Pakistan Army soldiers, including a senior officer, were killed and 35 others sustained injuries, several of them seriously, when dozens of militants, affiliated with Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, ambushed a military convoy in Madakhel area of North Waziristan Agency on Sunday.
Also, 12 militants and two soldiers were killed in the ongoing offensive in neighbouring South Waziristan Agency.Ahmadullah Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Hafiz Gul Bahadur-led Taliban in North Waziristan claimed responsibility for the attack on the military convoy and warned to continue similar attacks on the security forces in the region till the US drone strikes were not stopped.
Ahmadi phoned The News from Miramshah and claimed 60 soldiers were killed and 15 vehicles were destroyed in the ambush.Pakistan Army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas confirmed the attack and said 12 soldiers were martyred and 10 others seriously injured.
When reached by telephone, Athar Abbas told The News that 10 terrorists were later killed when the Pakistan Army gunship choppers pounded positions of the terrorists where they had ambushed the military convoy.
Official and tribal sources told The News from Miramshah that the military convoy was travelling from Madakhel to Wocha Bibi area near the border with Afghanistan when ambushed by the militants.
The convoy came under attack when it was passing through a narrow road surrounded by mountains.Almost in the same place earlier, militants had ambushed a military convoy and killed 16 soldiers in 2007.
The militants first attacked the military with an improvised explosive device (IED) and then started firing with heavy weapons.They said the militants used heavy weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades, mortar shells and AK-47 assault rifles.
After the attack, the militants reportedly took away weapons and other items from the slain soldiers.The area is away from main Miramshah town and it took some time when senior military officials came to know about the incident.
Almost two hours later, two military helicopters — a gunship and a transport — were sent to the troubled spot. The chopper shifted 20 bodies of the soldiers and 35 injured to Miramshah. Military officials, who airlifted the injured troops, said a majority of them were in a critical condition.
Some of them were later sent to Bannu and Peshawar in choppers and admitted to military hospitals. Maj Gen Athar Abbas said gunship helicopters later pounded militant positions in the area. It was the second attack on military convoy by the Hafiz Gul Bahadur-led militants in North Waziristan in a week. In an earlier attack near Miramshah, four soldiers were killed and 20 others injured.
Gul Bahadur, who was considered a pro-government Taliban commander after he signed a peace accord with the government on February 17, 2008, has suddenly changed his stance. The tribesmen fear after the attack the government might launch a military operation in North Waziristan.
Elsewhere in South Waziristan, 12 militants were killed and seven others sustained injuries as jetfighters bombed the suspected hideouts of the Taliban. Also, two soldiers were killed and four injured seriously in different parts of the tribal region.
The tribal sources said the gunship helicopters and jetfighters bombed hideouts of the militants at 10:00 am in Saam, Kacha Lungerkhel, Kuram Garhi, Ladha Serai, Tangi Budenzai, Makeen, Janata, Srarogha, Kotkai, Garhagah and suburbs of Ladha Tehsil, killing 12 militants and injuring seven others.
It was reported that six houses of civilians, including that of Dr Bashar Khan, Malik Saad, Noor Khan, Jalut Khan, Bachi Gul and Sher Dati, were bombed by the jetfighters in Saam area of Ladha Tehsil. A fort-shaped-house of Malik Nasir Khan was also destroyed in Garhagah area.
The sources said four compounds of the militants were also targeted by the gunship helicopters in the mountainous areas of the agency. Security forces used artillery while firing from the hilly area of Naray and hit different areas of the Mahsud tribes, including Badar, Sina Tera and Chalweshti.
Forces and militants also traded heavy gunfire in Sholam, Raghzai and Tanai, due to which two soldiers were killed and four others injured. Meanwhile, people started migration from the area amid shelling by security forces towards Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts. |
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ISSN 1563-9479 
