Explosive & other material recovered from IED factory
No foreign forces involved in Zarb-i-Azb: officials
By
Zahir Shah Sherazi |
Mateen Haider
ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR: High-level military and civilian officials made it clear on Thursday that the current operation in North Waziristan Agency was the Pakistan Army's own operation and had no involvement of other foreign forces.
A delegation of foreign journalists was briefed in Islamabad over the ongoing Zarb-i-Azb operation during which a a top military official said "It's wrong to link drone attacks with the ongoing operation".
The background briefing of the foreign media delegation was attended by Federal Information Minister Pervez Rasheed, Federal Minister States and Frontier Regions (Safron) and Director General Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asim Bajwa.
Director General Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asim Bajwa, while briefing a delegation of foreign journalists today, said that during ground operation in Miranshah security forces recovered a huge IED making factory.
"In the factory, security forces recovered 225 explosive-filled-cylinders (80-100 kg each), 150 empty cylinders (under manufacture), 400 prepared pallets inserted with nuts and bolts , 700 explosive-filled prepared pipes (pipe bombs), training literature, physical training facility, other facilities for cutting and welding of pipes, and 10 anti-tank mines", DG ISPR told media.
A military official said the region had become a hub of terrorists groups and sanctuaries, adding that writ of the government would be established in the North Waziristan by eliminating all terrorists and their network during the ongoing Zarb-i-Azb operation.
Answering a question about Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Mullah Fazalullah, the military official said Pakistan had requested Afghanistan through political and diplomatic channels to take action against TTP hideouts in Kunar and Nooristan provinces but action was still awaited.
Both civil and military top officials also made it clear that NW territory would not be allowed to be used for terrorist activities.
Security personnel ambushed in NWA
Two security personnel were killed and another injured in a militant attack on a security forces' vehicle in Mirali tehsil of North Waziristan Agency, as the
ground offensive launched by the military a day earlier continues.
Military sources confirmed that two soldiers have died and another injured in the ambush carried out in the area between Kajori and Ippi villages in North Waziristan tribal region.
The security forces' convoy was fired upon from an elevated position.
Secuirty personnel cordoned off attack site as a search for the attackers went underway.
376 suspected militants have been killed while 19 others surrendered to authorities since the operation
commenced two weeks earlier, according to the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR)'s latest tally.
The ISPR had said that 61 suspected hideouts had also been destroyed, while 17 soldiers of the military have reportedly died during the ongoing operation.
The fighting prompted the exodus of the civilian population of North Waziristan and more than 450,000 internal displaced persons (IDPs)
were registered at Saidgai point set up by authorities at FR Bannu.
North Waziristan is one of Pakistan's seven semi-autonomous tribal regions along the Pak-Afghan border and is rife with Taliban militant activity.