Zarb-e-Azb: Ground operation begins in Miranshah

RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan Army has started the ground operation in and around Miranshah after evacuation of the civilian population. The army has started a house to house search in Miranshah which is being carried out by infantry troops and special service group.


An ISPR press release said 15 terrorists had been killed in the ground offensive while troops have recovered underground tunnels and IED preparation factories inside. Three soldiers were injured in an exchange of fire.

Terrorist concentrations continue to be targeted by artillery fire, tanks and other heavy weapons in Mir Ali and other areas of North Waziristan.

Since the start of Zarb-e-Azb on June 15, 376 terrorists have been killed while 19 have surrendered to security forces. The Pakistan military has destroyed 61 terrorist hideouts while 17 soldiers embraced martyrdom.

US drones hit Miranshah after six-month gap

 

PESHAWAR: After a gap of almost six months, the US drone strikes resumed in Miranshah of North Waziristan Agency (NWA) on Wednesday, the latest attack killing six suspected militants. It was the first strike by the CIA-operated spy planes after December 25, 2013 in the North Waziristan tribal region.
In the second strike, six missiles were fired on Danday Darpakhel area of Miramshah. There were no reports of casualties till the filing of this report. Official and local tribal sources said the first drone fired two missiles and hit a mini-truck in Tabi Tolkhel village, eight kilometres northwest of Miranshah, the administrative headquarters of North Waziristan, along the Afghan border.

“According to intercepts of the militants, six people were killed and some others injured in the drone strike on the mini-truck in Tabi village on the Miranshah-Ghulam Khan Road,” a local administration official said.

Pleading anonymity, he said a large number of armed people reached the spot after the drone disappeared.The militants reportedly retrieved the bodies of the slain men and shifted them to an unknown location.

Official sources in Miranshah said that four among the six killed in the drone attack were Uzbek militants and two were members of the so-called Punjabi Taliban.

On December 25, 2013, the drone had fired four missiles and struck a mud-house in the Qutabkhel village, located two kilometres east of Miranshah, and killed four people, two of them reportedly Arab, one Punjabi and another a local tribal militant.

Tribesman in the area saiddrone strikes in Pakistan after the Pakistan government started peace negotiations with the local Taliban in late January 2014.However, now when the talks have almost fizzled out after the recent devastating Taliban attack on the airport in Karachi, the government is reportedly preparing to launch a military operation in North Waziristan.

Abdullah Bahar Mehsud, a senior Pakistani Taliban commander and spokesman for commander Shehryar Mehsud group that claims to represent the faction of Hakimullah Mehsud and having links with Uzbek militants, told this correspondent on phone that the Karachi airport assault was a joint work of the Pakistani Taliban and Uzbek militants.

“It was our joint operation in which our Uzbek brothers played an important role. I can’t tell you about the nature of support they provided us but in operations like the Karachi airport, one group provides fighters while another arranges finances for weapons and explosives,” he said.

Abdullah Bahar said they were working with their Uzbek brothers and there would be more devastating attacks in the near future. “The government will forget the Karachi attack after we carry out other attacks on them,” he threatened.

Leaflets distributed in Miranshah on Mulla Omar’s behalf

MIRANSHAH: Some persons claiming to be members of the Afghan Taliban on Monday distributed leaflets in Miranshah on behalf of the supreme leader of the Afghan Taliban movement Mulla Mohammad Omar, asking the people to pray for an end to the ongoing fighting between the rival militant groups of the Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan.

Tribesmen in Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan, said some bearded people standing outside the main Jamia Masjid in the city handed over leaflets to each person entering the mosque for the Zuhr prayer.

Handwritten in Pashto, the leaflet quoted Mulla Omar as saying that all the Muslims and particularly the “Mujahideen” are informed about the serious differences and ongoing clashes between two “Mehsud Mujahideen groups”.

Mentioning a prayer, Mulla Omar is again quoted as asking the people to recite it 100 times a day so that the differences and fighting between the warring militant groups of Mehsud tribe were resolved.It is for the first time that such a leaflet has been issued in Pakistan on the behalf of Afghan Taliban and specifically by their supreme leader, Mulla Omar.

The leaflet didn’t mention the name of the person who issued it and simply stated it was from ‘the Mujahideen’. Also, the leaflets were issued in North Waziristan, instead of South Waziristan where the two militant factions have been fighting each other.

Efforts were made but the spokesman for the Afghan Taliban Zabihullah Mujahid could not be reached. However, senior members of the Afghan Taliban doubted the authenticity of the leaflet.

“Well, at least we don’t know about any such statement issued on behalf of Mulla Mohammad Omar Mujahid. Anyone can issue a statement and attribute it to someone as it is no longer a problem doing this,” a senior member of the Afghan Taliban movement argued.

He said there had been many significant developments in Pakistan and differences had cropped up among the Pakistani Taliban in the past as well, but the Afghan Taliban and its supreme leader Mulla Omar had never issued such a statement.“The Afghan Taliban had played their role on several occasions and resolved the issues between the Pakistani militant factions but they never issued a statement,” the Taliban leader said.

Pleading anonymity, he argued that if the Afghan Taliban had issued the statement, they would have mentioned either ‘political Shura’ or the ‘Rehbari Shura’ (leadership council) in the leaflet.

Two factions of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), one headed by commander Khan Said alias Sajna, and another by commander Shehryar Mehsud have been fighting against each other in different areas of South Waziristan for the past one week.

There have been conflicting claims by members of the two rival Mehsud Taliban factions regarding the losses they had inflicted on each other during the clashes.Meanwhile, a commander of one of the militant factions led by Shehryar Mehsud, who is the successor of the late TTP head Hakimullah Mehsud, alleged that the rival commander Khan Said Sajna wanted to capture and take full control of South Wazirstan. Haji Daud Khan, claiming to speak for his faction, said their fighters were resisting the Khan Said Sajna’s group.

Earlier, Azam Tariq, member of the TTP central Shura belonging to the Khan Said Sajna faction, claimed that the differences between the two groups had been resolved. He insisted that ‘petty issues’ created confusion but the media played it up.

13 killed in Miranshah bombing, rocket attacks

MIRANSHAH: At least 13 persons were killed in remote control bomb and rocket attacks on two vehicles on Friday morning, Geo news reported.

Sources said that the first incident occurred in Tehsil Dattakhel of Miranshah, when a remote control bomb planted by the roadside targeted a vehicle that killed three persons and two sustained injuries.

Meanwhile in another incident, a rocket fired on a vehicle at Shawal killed 10 persons. Those killed could not be identified yet.