PAF Jets Pounded Militant Hideouts in NWA
21 May 2014
By: Umar Daraz Wazir
Miranshah, May 21: The Pakistan Air Force combat planes bombarded militant hideouts in the restive North Waziristan Agency here on Wednesday that killed around 70 militants, according to the last reports, and all are said to be the members of banned outfits including foreign militants, FRC learnt.
The aerial bombardment started today at around 3am and lasted till 10am in morning.
According to the area stationed military sources dozens of militants were killed in the strikes that were hiding in different areas of tehsil Mirali and tehsil Miranshah of the agency.
“In the targeted military operation around 70 militants were killed, including foreign militants, who have been conducting terrorist activities across Pakistan as per our sources”, said intelligence sources to FRC upon the condition of anonymity.
According to FRC reports different areas of Miranshah tehsil including Machas, Bhaigan, Mohammad Khel, Boya and Miranshah city while Khaso Khel, Mosakai and Essory of Mirali tehsil were targeted in todays’ operation.
However the mentioned casualties could not be ascertained from independent sources. Also the area Taliban while talking to FRC refused to comment on the recent attacks and deaths of their members.
“The Pakistan Military is repeating the exercise they have had in past and we do not want to say something about it right at this stage”, said Shahid Ullah Shahid, TTP central spokesman, on telephone to FRC.
The local political administration when were contacted in this regard endorsed the military statement and revealed that curfew would be imposed in NWA today at 5pm that will last for an indefinite time period.
PAF Jets Pounded Militant Hideouts in NWA – FATA Research Center
Pakistan Air Strikes Hit Near Afghan Border, Military Says
Pakistan Says Raid On North Waziristan Militant Bases Killed 60 "Hard-Core Terrorists"
By SAFDAR DAWAR And QASIM NAUMAN
May 21, 2014
PESHAWAR, Pakistan—Pakistani warplanes Wednesday struck suspected militant hide-outs in a tribal region near the border with Afghanistan, military and intelligence officials said, bringing the government in Islamabad a step closer to a full confrontation with the country's homegrown Taliban movement.
The Pakistan military said in a statement that it killed 60 "hard-core terrorists" in strikes on militant bases in the North Waziristan region.
The statement said the offensive followed "confirmed intelligence reports" that linked Islamist militants to recent attacks on civilians and soldiers in Pakistan.
North Waziristan, part of Pakistan's lawless tribal areas, is a stronghold for Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan, a group linked to al Qaeda.
The Pakistani military also said a large cache of arms, ammunition and bomb-making material was destroyed in the attack. The statement said important militant commanders and foreign fighters were killed in the strikes.
Publicly, the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has maintained it wants to bring the Pakistani Taliban into peace negotiations. But no talks have been held for over a month, and a short-lived cease-fire by the group
ended in early April.
Wednesday's strikes appear to bring Islamabad a step closer to a planned military operation to clear out militant sanctuaries in North Waziristan. The U.S. and Afghan governments have long pressed for such an offensive, and officials in Pakistan say the offensive might now be rolled out gradually.
On Monday, the Afghan Ministry of Defense hosted a meeting in Kabul attended by Pakistani Chief of Army Staff Gen. Raheel Sharif and U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, the commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan.
North Waziristan is a magnet for jihadists from across the world, including from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, and two intelligence officials said at least 20 of the militants killed in a village called Khushali were Uzbeks.
With phone lines down in North Waziristan, it was difficult to reach villagers there to fully verify the government's account.
"We were sleeping and woke up when we heard loud explosions and the sound of jet planes," said Nasrullah Dawar, 29, a resident of Musaki, a village on the outskirts of Mirali. "There was a lot of destruction in my village."
Mr. Dawar said his wife, sister and child were all injured in the bombardment, and other houses in his village were hit. He brought two of the wounded to a hospital in Bannu, just outside the tribal areas.
The Pakistani military denied reports that civilians had been killed or injured in the airstrikes.
"There have been no reports so far of civilian casualties," said one military officer.
Gul Bahadur, a North Waziristan warlord who has a long-standing peace deal with Pakistan, condemned the airstrikes, claiming they had hit civilians. Mr. Bahadur warned his group might end its agreement with Islamabad as a result.
The Gul Bahadur group "has run out of patience, and such bombing of the people is not acceptable under any circumstances," the outfit said in a statement.
If Mr. Bahadur's jihadist group, which fights only in Afghanistan, also joined the insurgency at home, the threat in North Waziristan would be multiplied.
The central leadership of the Pakistani Taliban didn't issue an immediate response to the attacks. However, the powerful faction led by Omar Khorasani, from the Mohmand part of the tribal areas, vowed retribution.
"The lions of Islam will once again become active to avenge the blood of our tribal Muslim brothers," Mr. Khorasani said in a statement.
Pakistan Air Strikes Hit Near Afghan Border, Military Says - WSJ.com
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 elections scheduled 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.
Dozens Killed as Pakistani Jets Bomb Suspected Militant Hideouts - NBC News
some strategy. And not allowing press makes it more suspicious.
