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| Foreign militants on the run in South Waziristan |
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Monday, November 02, 2009
Nine more militants, two soldiers killed in operation
By Irfan Burki & Daud Khattak
WANA/PESHAWAR: Nine militants and two soldiers were killed in the ongoing offensive in South Waziristan Agency on Sunday, raising the militants’ death toll to over 300 in the past 16 days.
The figures revealed by the Pakistan Army shows 38 losses on its side, including two officers, since the launch of the operation Rah-e-Nijat on October 17. The Army on Sunday also claimed seizing huge cache of arms, including rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), heavy machine guns, anti-tank mines, a missile launcher and some jamming equipment to intercept the communication lines.
After seizing Kaniguram, military officials said a clearance operation was underway and 50 percent of the town had been cleared. Having a population of 30,000 with majority from the Burki tribe, the people are mostly pro-government in Kaniguram and education ratio among them is almost 95 percent.
The sources said the villages of Asman Manza and Karwan Manza were the next important points to be captured by security forces in their advance on the Shakai-Kaniguram axis. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), small arms and rocket fire from militants at a security check-post injured one soldier. The troops killed four militants near the Asman Manza area, it added. One militant was arrested by the troops along with a machinegun.
In Karama area, security forces discovered and destroyed two caches of mines, explosives, ammunition with a medical operation theatre and one ammunition and explosive-laden vehicle. Five militants and two soldiers were killed during a clash in Patkot area while another militant was apprehended from the Karwan Narai area.
The troops continued the siege of Srarogha town on the Jandola-Srarogha axis. Security forces said the town was surrounded from three directions and the village of Zariwam had been secured in the same area.
In their advance from Razmak, the troops have surrounded Makeen, considered as the nerve centre of militants, from three sides. During search operation on all the three sides, security forces claimed to have destroyed militants’ hideouts in the area.
Tribal sources said that around 16 kilometres area had so far been captured and cleared by security forces in their advance from Jandola towards Srarogha, one of the three strongholds of the Taliban. The other two are stated to be Makeen and Ladha.
Jet fighters also bombed militants’ hideouts in Ladha, Saam, Gadawai, Maidan and Makeen, killing five militants and injuring several others, the sources said. Four hideouts of Taliban had been destroyed in artillery and jet shelling in those areas, according to intelligence reports.
The villages captured by security forces in their three-pronged advance on the Taliban strongholds since October 17 include Sherwangai, Chalweshtai, Momi Karam, Salay Rogha, Nawazkot, Speen Kamar, Wedan, Tauda Cheena and Kaniguram. The areas of Srarogha, Karwan Manza and Asman Manza are expected to be captured by the troops in the coming few days.
As the operation continues in Waziristan, militants have once again increased their attacks on civilians, security forces and government installations in other tribal agencies.
AFP adds: The military claimed that hundreds of foreign fighters in South Waziristan were on the run. Between 600 and 800 foreign militants had been in and around Kaniguram but their resistance was broken by heavy bombing from jet fighters, helicopters and artillery, Brigadier Muhammad Ihsan told reporters on a visit to the normally closed conflict area.
“They are on the run,” Ihsan said, referring to the foreign fighters. The foreigners were mostly Uzbeks but also Chechens and Arabs, he added.They may have made a strategic withdrawal but the military is prepared for any guerrilla attacks the militants may mount, Brig Ihsan said. “The direct operation will take one to two months,” he said.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
