Air Strikes in North Waziristan leave 70 militants dead

[Irfan Baloch]

Given this, there is no way to ascertain whether the dead are actually all TTP rebels or a mix of TTP fighters and innocent civilians. A bomb from a fighter plane has no way of distinguishing the two.

the areas that are targeted where assembly areas of TTP fighters.. they are normally in deserted villages or in the narrow valleys .

the pictures below give a glimpse of what such gatherings are like. I don't want to engage the constant troll here who is on purpose derailing the thread
but you will bet the message what I mean to say, I hope

just to show that our strikes that result in heavy number of TTP casualties are ones that are done when they are meeting up together for planning , resolving their turfs or getting ready for attacks on our positions.


no innocent civilian who treasures his self preservation would live or stay at such gatherings. they brutalize the population, snatch their children for suicide training and constantly extort from them. do recall the pictures of tribesmen vacating the areas already.


The TTP individuals might live and hide among civilians but when they are out on a mission or doing a show of force, they do it among their supporters or abandoned areas.



I strongly urge every reader to recall the news of the deployment of our Drones recently that have shortened our response time and has taken taliban leadership by surprise and their shocked radio chatter has confirmed that we are hitting them very hard resulting in much greater loss of their people, thats why they ran for peace talks

What I said was assume what ever u want to, but ur assumptions dont automatically become facts. Try to live in the real world. Not a fantasy created by ur joker media.

stop engaging the troll please

 

[chauvunist]

They must have been targeted during a meeting among different frictions of TTP as i was reading somewhere in this forum couple of days back that mullah Fazlullah was in efforts of mediating among different frictions of TTP...

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

Good riddance. Any details of key targets or killed leaders?

It happened in the early hours... it wasnt the jets that pounded them but the cobras... and the last time i checked 3 commanders were killed.. names were broadcasted on dawn n other news channels... unfortunately i forgot em...

 

[Secret Service]

KILL THEM...KILL THEM ALL ....

Good Job. Hopefully no innocent civillians have been hurt. Few lines from the original article :

There were reports of some civilian casualties including women and children but the security official did not confirm them.

Independent verification of the toll and identity of the dead was not possible as journalists are not allowed to enter the area

wel there may be chances of civilian causalities but no ones knows yet...

 

[tarrar]

These rented terrorist soon will realize that they have no chance & they will INSHAALLAH go back barking to their coward masters. Keep bombing these rented terrorists & I hope Pak Army do test their armed drones against these rented terrorists.

 

[Solomon2]

Dozens Killed as Pakistani Jets Bomb Suspected Militant Hideouts
BY WAJAHAT S. KHAN, MUSHTAQ YUSUFZAI AND FAKHAR UR REHMAN

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani fighter jets bombed suspected militant sanctuaries in villages near the Afghan border Wednesday, killing at least 60 people, according to the military.

"Air strikes were carried out on terrorist’s hideouts in North Waziristan Agency this morning," said an official statement from the Pakistani military. "Sixty hardcore terrorists, including some of the important commanders and foreigners, were also killed in the strikes and around 30 were injured."

It was not immediately clear if any civilians died in the bombardment.

Dozens of houses in the villages of Hasukhel, Hurmaz, Mosaki and Khushali were targeted in the early hours of Wednesday, according to Baharullah Dawar, who lives nearby in North Waziristan's capital of Miranshah .

"We were asleep when heavy explosions started in the area. We thought they were drone strikes but when we came out of our rooms, we noticed heavy fighter jets bombing villages," Dawar told NBC News by telephone.

Dawar said four Pakistani army helicopter gunships arrived later in the morning and started ‎pounding suspected militant sanctuaries.

"The villagers and militants later retrieved 30 bodies from collapsed houses. More than two dozen people had been injured but couldn't be taken to the hospital because the local administration had imposed curfew in the entire tribal region since Wednesday morning," he said.

The aerial strikes came after NATO, Afghan and Pakistani officials agreed to step-up their coordination in the lawless border region and try to ensure that the next round of Afghan presidential electionsscheduled for June 14 go smoothly.

Last week also saw U.S. drone strikes restart in the region following a lull of more than 130 days - the longest gap in such strikes since 2011. Those attacks reportedly killed senior Taliban targets.

US, Pakistan to meet about drone strikes [Video at original article]

Wajahat S.Khan is a correspondent and producer for NBC News based in Islamabad, covering South Asia and also assisting the Kabul bureau. Khan is the national security correspondent for Pakistan's largest news network, Geo, and its largest English newspaper, The News.

 

[Shabaz Sharif]

80 killed in one go, amazing.

 

[Solomon2]

80 killed in one go, amazing.

Who wants to lay odds that U.S. drones (which carry guided missiles with explosive warheads under ten kilos) will be blamed for ALL civilian casualties, whereas Pakistani jets dropping 500lb bombs will be said to have killed militants only?

 

[Windjammer]

Press Release

No PR105/2014-ISPRDated: May 21, 2014
Rawalpindi - May 21, 2014:
On confirmed intelligence reports, air strikes were carried out on terrorist’s hideouts in North Waziristan Agency, this morning. As per reports so far, 60 hardcore terrorists including some of the important commanders and foreigners were also killed in the strikes and around 30 were injured. Huge cache of arms and ammunition including IED making explosive material has also been destroyed in the strikes.

It may be mentioned here that since last few weeks large number of civilians and security forces personnel have embraced shahadat due to various terrorists’ acts of IED blasts and suicide attacks in FATA, KPK and Karachi. Intelligence reports and other investigations confirmed the linkage of these terrorists’ acts with terrorists targeted today who were hiding in North Waziristan Agency.

 

[Shabaz Sharif]

Who wants to lay odds that U.S. drones (which carry guided missiles with explosive warheads under ten kilos) will be blamed for ALL civilian casualties, whereas Pakistani jets dropping 500lb bombs will be said to have killed militants only?

You guys are known for blowing innocents for fun. Do you think PAF will target its own innocent children and woman to say we killed some terrorists? PAF budget is limited and missiles are expensive.

Read @Irfan Baloch post above.

 

[Windjammer]

Who wants to lay odds that U.S. drones (which carry guided missiles with explosive warheads under ten kilos) will be blamed for ALL civilian casualties, whereas Pakistani jets dropping 500lb bombs will be said to have killed militants only?

Because US like the Israelis will carry out strikes even on a single militant regardless of the location and presence of others, Pakistan is attacking their hideouts in caves and safe houses. And what makes you think only US uses smart bombs, this image is from a PAF strike using LGBs.

 

[Solomon2]

...no innocent civilian who treasures his self preservation would live or stay at such gatherings. they brutalize the population, snatch their children for suicide training and constantly extort from them. do recall the pictures of tribesmen vacating the areas already.

The snatched children aren't considered innocent civilians?

Because US like the Israelis will carry out strikes even on a single militant regardless of the location and presence of others -

Reference, please. (And if you say it's "common knowledge" then you should know by now such things should be treated with many grains of salt.)

...what makes you think only US uses smart bombs, this image is from a PAF strike using LGBs.

Thank you for the correction. Can you post the whole video?

 

[CENTCOM]

As mentioned above, the series of attacks including a blast at an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Peshawar, bomb attacks in Mohmand and Bajaur tribal regions, and attacks on security forces convoys in NWA (North Waziristan) show that the terrorists are unwilling to lay down their weapons and abide by the rule of the law. The terrorists need to be made aware that they cannot continue to attack at will. They need to be made aware that there will be serious repercussions associated with their terrorist activities. Our nations have lost thousands of brave soldiers in countering the threat of terrorism. Pakistan in particular continues to face the wrath of terrorism. At the same time, the great nation of Pakistan continues to stand tall amid this turmoil. We greatly appreciate all of Pakistan’s sacrifices in the region, and have full confidence in Pakistani government’s ability to bring the situation under control.

Ali Khan
Digital Engagement Team, USCENTCOM

 

[OrionHunter]

Looks like TTP is going to be history pretty soon.

I doubt it. They'll soon extract revenge by blowing themselves up in some market place resulting in dozens of casualties to innocent civilians. That's been their tactics since time immemorial.

 

[Kompromat]

I just want to make it clear for the buffoons secretly mourning the shaft given to TTP while playing 'collateral damage' card. These Air Strikes are coordinated by the intelligence. They are pulled off after months of intel gathering, refining, collecting actionable intel, mission planning and contingencies. They are mostly carried out at night or early morning when their meetings take place, they are getting together for distribution of booty and arms, or for solving their infighting issues. This is the work of intel craft to make sure the collateral damage is minimal. It is an utmost priority to minimize the civilian toll.