 |
| |
WEEKLY
SECTIONS |
 |
 |
 |
|
| Troops advance towards Makeen |
|
|
|
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
By Irfan Burki & Daud Khattak
WANA/PESHAWAR: Security forces advanced towards Janta on Tuesday after securing areas around the Taliban stronghold of Srarogha in the South Waziristan Agency, where 21 militants and one soldier were reported dead by the ISPR.
Official sources said the troops had secured the areas around Srarogha while clashes had taken place near Makeen and Sam where the militants were offering resistance. The troops claimed killing 16 militants during clashes in Srarogha while a soldier was killed and another injured in a landmine explosion in the area.
They said several improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted by the militants were discovered and defused by the troops. The military claimed considerable gains against the Taliban on all the three fronts. The officials said the troops were now advancing towards Makeen and Ladha, considered as two major strongholds of the militants.
Refuting the Army’s claims about gains in Waziristan, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed that its fighters had staged tactical retreat from some areas to bring the troops into hilly and forested areas.
In a telephonic chat with a foreign news agency, TTP spokesman Azam Tariq denied the Army’s claims of killing over 300 militants during the last 18 days. “Only 11 of our men have been killed so far,” Azam Tariq was quoted as saying. He said they were prepared for a long war with the Army and that they had retreated as part of a strategy from certain areas that the Army was claiming to have captured.
With the 21 casualties on Tuesday, as claimed by the Army officials, the death toll of the militants has mounted to 364 in the past 18 days. Claims and counter-claims from the two sides could not be confirmed from independent sources mainly due to inaccessibility of the area, severance of communication lines, and displacement of people from South Waziristan and their shifting to safer places.
Local sources said security forces had captured the Janta area located between Srarogha and Ladha. However, they said the area had already been vacated by the militants. Janta is said to be a mountainous area and once a base of the Taliban because of its strategic location.
They said the troops were now advancing towards Ladha, Asman Manza and Karwan Manza, the next important points after the capture of Kaniguram.The sources said the Taliban hideouts were targeted by fighter jets and with heavy artillery in Ladha, Makeen and Sam areas. Four militants’ positions were reportedly destroyed in the attack, the sources added.
According to local officials, the troops have yet to reach the areas of Ladha, Janta, Shaktoi and Barwand. However, they said Makeen was almost under siege by the troops, who had established strong posts on the nearby mountains to facilitate their advance on this stronghold of the militants.
The ISPR statement said besides killing 16 militants and the death of an Army soldier, two suspected militants had been arrested in Srarogha. It said militants fired six rockets on security forces in Kaniguram as they were busy searching the area for IEDs, weapons and militants to secure the adjoining ridges.
The military said five militants were killed during a clash in Ghanikhel near Kaniguram. On the Razmak-Makeen axis, the troops said they had secured the area from Cheena up to Mian Nurkhel. Manza Sar had also been secured and the troops were consolidating their positions, the statement added.
The ISPR said the troops came under a rocket and small arms attack from the militants near Razmak, but no one was killed or injured. One soldier suffered injuries while defusing an IED at the Chashmai bridge on the same axis.
|
|
|
| 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 
