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WEEKLY
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| 14 militants, two soldiers killed in SWA |
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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.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
