 |
| |
WEEKLY
SECTIONS |
 |
 |
 |
|
| 14 militants, two soldiers killed in SWA |
|
|
|
Saturday, October 31, 2009
By Irfan Burki & Daud Khattak
WANA/PESHAWAR: Security forces said they had killed 14 militants and lost two soldiers on the 14th day of the operation Rah-e-Nijat in South Waziristan Agency on Friday. Three more soldiers suffered injuries in an exchange of fire with the militants, who were offering tough resistance around the Chalweshtai village.
Official sources said the troops had captured around 10 kilometres area previously under the control of the militants since the launch of the operation on October 17. They said security forces were only a few kilometres away from Srarogha, the stronghold of the Hakimullah Mehsud-led Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The sources said the militants, hiding in caves and mountains around Chalweshtai and Kaniguram villages, were firing rockets and mortars at the advancing troops and their security pickets. The troops are also receiving small arms fire from time to time.
In retaliation, security forces are targeting militants’ positions with artillery, fighter planes and helicopters, wherever needed. Military sources said several miscreants had fled the areas of Chalweshtai and Kaniguram and looking at the level of resistance among them and the advance of the troops, security forces would be able to conclude the operation within the stipulated time or even before that.
In the Asman Manza area, the sources said, troops had discovered arms with foreign hallmark, alongside some locally-made weapons. Some state-of-the-art communication devices were also recovered from the areas used as trenches by the militants and recently captured by the troops.
A statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Friday said security forces were only 3.5 kilometres from the Taliban stronghold of Srarogha after capturing the strategic points near Dralima and Ahni Killay. Fourteen militants and two soldiers were killed in clashes in the area while three more soldiers suffered injuries, said the military statement.
On Shakai-Kaniguram side, security forces claimed capturing a peak north of Kund Mela and west of Kaniguram village, said the statement. Arms and ammunition, including rifles, hand-grenades and rounds of different arms, were captured by troops while securing Serwek village. After fully securing Asman Manza, the troops started clearance operations in the area.
From the Razmak side, the statement said the troops were consolidating their positions at Pakalita Sar and Manza Sar after dominating the Razmak-Makeen Road. A huge quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered from the area, it added.
Meanwhile, the TTP dissociated itself from Wednesday’s terrorist bombing at the entrance to the Meena Bazaar in the Peepal Mandi area in Peshawar that claimed 118 lives. Talking to BBC from an undisclosed location on Thursday night, Hakimullah Mehsud claimed they were not involved in the attack. This was the handiwork of American security agency Blackwater and local intelligence agencies to defame the Taliban movement, Hakimullah alleged.
|
|
|
| Back
| Send
this story to Friend | Print
Version |
|
|
‘Al-Qaeda, Taliban leaders not in Pakistan’
ISLAMABAD: Strongly reacting to some of the reports of the presence of al-Qaeda and Taliban leadership in Pakistan by the US newspapers and some intelligence agencies, President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday said more |
|
|
Mulla Omar in Karachi, claims WT
WASHINGTON: Mulla Muhammed Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, has fled Quetta and found refuge from the potential US attacks in Karachi with the assistance of Pakistan’s intelligence, the Washington Times more |
|
|
Will PM intervene or will robber barons kill CCP?
By Mehtab Haider
ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has warned that it will cease to exist and its actions will become invalid in case the government fails to re-promulgate the Competition Ordinance on or b more |
|
|
Eight militants die in US drone attack
By our correspondent
MIRAMSHAH: Eight militants were killed and two others injured when a US drone hit a house in the Michikhel area in North Waziristan on Friday, the second such attack in less than 24 hours.
Tribal sources sai more |
|
|
19 militants killed in SWA, Khyber, Bajaur clashes
By our correspondents
WANA/BARA/KHAR: Nineteen militants were killed in clashes with security forces in South Waziristan, Khyber and Bajaur tribal regions on Friday.
Tribal and officials sources said five militants were kille more |
|
|
|
Pakistan has nothing to fear from India: Singh
WASHINGTON: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said India is ready to resolve all outstanding issues with the country on the condition that it will not allow its territory to be used against its neighbour more |
|
|
|
Qureshi wants result-oriented dialogue with India
MULTAN: Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmud Qureshi said on Friday Pakistan wanted meaningful and result-oriented bilateral negotiations with India.
Addressing a press conference at the airport here, h more |
|
|
|
Only 15 pc believe Pakistan is going right
By Gibran Peshimam
KARACHI: Pakistan’s youths are losing confidence in the future and a mere 15 per cent believe that the country is heading in the right direction, while 72 per cent feel economically worse off than a year ago. O more |
|
|
|
Mustafa Jatoi passes away
ISLAMABAD: Former caretaker prime minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi breathed his last at the St Marry Hospital in London on Friday after a protracted illness. He was 78.
He leaves behind six sons and three d more |
|
|
|
Slaughter of animals, NRO beneficiaries begins on Eid
By Muhammad Ahmad Noorani
ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will soon announce its strategy to deal with the cases which are going to reopen on Nov 28, a NAB spokesman told The News on Friday.
“The NAB chairman more |
|
|
|
WFP, Rescue 15 attacks’ mastermind arrested
By Shakeel Anjum
ISLAMABAD: The Capital Police on Friday arrested the mastermind behind the attacks on the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the Rescue 15 offices in Islamabad.
The terrorist, identified as Jamshed Ahmad more |
|
|
|
Mushahid asks Karzai not to allow use of Afghan land against Pakistan
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Secretary General Pakistan Muslim League-Q Mushahid Hussain Sayed on Friday asked President Hamid Karzai not to allow the use of Afghan land against Pakistan under Indian designs.
“Pakistan wa more |
|
|
|
No Indo-Pak FMs meeting: Nirupama
NEW DELHI: India on Friday said no meeting had been scheduled between foreign ministers of Pakistan and India in Port of Spain later this month on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting ( more |
|
|
|
US to tighten control of Afghan contracts: Gates
HALIFAX: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday that the United States must tighten control of Afghan development contracts as a first step towards stemming rampant corruption.
“The reality is more |
|
|
|
China has stake in Kashmir: Mirwaiz
News Desk
HELD SRINAGAR: As he plans to visit China, Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Friday kicked up a controversy by saying that Beijing has a “direct link” with the Kashmir issue, drawing strong obje more |
|
|
|
Clinton favours Indo-Pak dialogue on Kashmir
WASHINGTON: The United States is encouraging Pakistan and India to resume their dialogue to address Kashmir and other outstanding disputes but any solution must come from the two countries, Secretary of State H more |
|
|
|
Competition Commission forces PIA to fly fair
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Silent prayers of many Hajis have apparently been answered as the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has ordered PIA to refund within 60 days the excessive fares charged from the passengers, wh more |
|
|
|
Attack on policemen in Peshawar
By Javed Aziz Khan
PESHAWAR: The death toll in the bomb attack on police party in Yakatoot rose to three after a sub-inspector and another cop succumbed to injuries at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) on Friday as the city mourned more |
|
|
|
‘Musharraf funnelling money to improve image’
ISLAMABAD: Former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf has reportedly funnelled a large amount of money to his former aides in the country in order to improve his image, as he is planning a return to the c more |
|
|
|
Sen Lugar’s wife arrested, charged with drinking, hit-and-run
News Desk
WASHINGTON: The wife of Republican Senator Richard G Lugar was arrested in the suburb of McLean on Wednesday night after crashing into a parked car, and she was charged with drunk driving and hit-and-run, the F more |
|
|
|
briefs...
Bombers kill 23 in Afghanistan
HERAT: Bomb attacks on Friday killed 23 people in Afghanistan, a deadly start to President Hamid Karzai’s second term that underscored spiralling insecurity nine years into more |
|
|
|
ISSN 1563-9479 
