PESHAWAR: At least 70 militants have been killed and 60 others injured as clashes between security forces and militants continued here in Bajaur Agency Thursday.

Security forces targeted militants’ hideouts by using gunship helicopters and automated weapons.

Around 70 militants were killed and 60 others injured in clashes, firing and shelling, an eyewitness said.

Meanwhile, Tehrik-e-Taliban spokesperson Maulvi Umer claimed that Taliban have killed 10 security men and arrested 10 others.

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10 troops, 25 militants die in Bajaur clashes

Friday, August 08, 2008
Fighters, choppers pound area
KHAR: Hundreds of Taliban militants attacked a checkpost in the Bajaur Agency, sparking fierce clashes in which 10 troops and 25 rebels were killed, officials said on Thursday.

During the fighting, gunship helicopters pounded insurgent positions, paving the way for the paramilitary forces to reoccupy a security post in the Bajaur tribal zone, which they had abandoned several months earlier. "The fighting is intense and on going," a top security official told AFP.

"Up to 25 militants were killed and at least 10 Frontier Corps soldiers have also been martyred. Some are critically wounded."

Officials said that a contingent of troops moved into the Loesam area, around 15 kilometres from Khar, the main town in Bajaur, late Wednesday to control militant movements between several districts.

An officer from the paramilitary Frontier Corps said 300-400 militants backed by local sympathisers, participated in the attack.

They were mostly armed with AK-47 assault rifles, rocket launchers and grenades, he said. "The firing continued the whole night, this morning reinforcements were sent. One vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device on its way to the post and the convoy was then attacked by Taliban militants," the official said. A soldier was killed in the bomb blast and the rest were killed in the fighting, they said. "Taliban are still attacking the paramilitary position. The forces are holding back full use of force because of fear of collateral damage. More reinforcements are being sent to the area," the security official said. The Frontier Corps official would only confirm the deaths of five soldiers but said that many were critically wounded and had been taken to hospital outside his area.

On the contrary, a Taliban spokesman, Maulvi Omar, said militants killed 18 soldiers while only two Taliban fighters died and claimed that fighters from the hard line movement had surrounded the post.

"The fighting will continue until the troops are withdrawn from Loesam. We will respond with full might," Omar said in a telephone call to local reporters from an unknown location. -AFP

Mushtaq Yusufzai and Hasbanullah Khan add: The government on Thursday intensified the military operation against militants in Bajaur Agency in which fighter aircraft and military gunship choppers heavily blitzed suspected hideouts of militants, reportedly inflicting heavy losses on Taliban, affiliated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Army troops were also called from Peshawar and took control of the strategically important Loesam town near Nawagai. There were, however, conflicting reports

about the losses suffered by the two sides.

The paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) media cell in Peshawar issued an official statement which said 25 'miscreants' were killed and many more were injured in clashes with the militants at Loesam.

TTP spokesman Maulvi Omar claimed their people were still in control of Loesam and had so far kept the security forces out of the town. He claimed 34 soldiers were killed and several others injured in a face-to-face gun battle with the security forces.

The spokesman claimed their fighters had captured 17 FC personnel during the clashes and some of them were injured and were shifted to their safe hideouts.

However, the FC authorities rejected Omar's claim and termed it baseless.

About the losses suffered by the militants, the TTP spokesman said only two of their fighters were killed and three others injured in the daylong fierce fighting and bombing by the two fighter aircraft and five gunship choppers on their hideouts and training camps.


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37 more killed in Bajaur clashes




Saturday, August 09, 2008
Dead include seven security personnel, 30 militants

PESHAWAR: At least 37 people, including 30 militants and seven security personnel, were killed and several others injured in continued clashes between the security forces and the militants in the troubled Bajaur Agency on Friday.

Also, the militants were reported to have suffered heavy losses when jet fighters blitzed their alleged training camps and suspected locations at Loisam, Charmang, Banda, Tangi and Inzaray villages.

An official of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) told The News that troops continued targeting militants' training camps and locations in Loisam and Charmang and inflicted heavy losses on what he called 'miscreants'.

He said from militants' intercepts, they learnt that 30 of their fighters were killed and several others injured. The official said seven soldiers were also killed and five others injured in the fighting.

Another government official based in Khar, Bajaur's regional headquarters, said 70 militants were killed in Friday's clashes and during bombing by jet fighters on their hideouts.

He said he had learnt that bodies of the slain militants were still lying at various places as there weren't many people in the almost deserted villages to retrieve the corpses and make arrangements for their burial.

The official said three children sustained serious injuries when a misdirected mortar shell fell on a house in Inayat Kallay.

Sources said four jet fighters started bombing militants' locations at Loisam and Charmang when the paramilitary Frontier Corps, Bajaur Levies and Pakistan Army troops came under attack around 11am.

They said militants on Friday also targeted positions of security forces.

The official sources said soldiers were advancing on the Loisam area, adding more enforcement was being rushed to the region.

The suspected hideouts of militants were being pounded in Mand area of Khar and Dir, they added.

Eyewitness said the area had been under undeclared curfew for the last three days. Business centres were closed and terrified people migrating to safer places.

There were also reports that Taliban were distributing supplies left in Siddiqabad and Khazana Morh to the people.

An official of the political administration, however, said around 20 troops were killed on Friday in a Taliban ambush on the military convoy that was on its way from Lower Dir to Loesam in Bajaur. Requesting anonymity, he said the convoy comprising 30 vehicles was ambushed beyond Siddiqabad at a spot where a vegetable ghee factory and an abandoned camp for Afghan refugees were located. He said the convoy had safely traversed the journey from Munda in Lower Dir and crossed Bajaur's headquarters, Khar, before coming under attack.

AFP adds: Taliban militants beheaded two men and shot dead a third allegedly for spying on them, officials and witnesses said Friday.

The bodies of three men were found dumped by a road at Kayrala village in Bajaur with notes saying "these people were spying on Taliban movement fighters," a local government official told AFP.

Witnesses said that two had their heads severed and the third was killed by a gunshot.

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Bullet-riddled bodies of 22 troops retrieved




Sunday, August 10, 2008

By Mushtaq Yusufzai & Hasbanullah Khan

PESHAWAR/KHAR: Amid mass migration of the panicked tribesmen from the troubled Bajaur Agency, Taliban militants on Saturday handed over 22 bullet-riddled bodies of the slain paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) soldiers, who were mercilessly killed on Friday evening.

Official sources said a major was also among the dead. Similarly, the militants have besieged the main town, Khar, headquarters of Bajaur Agency.

Tribal sources told The News that bodies of slain soldiers were retrieved almost 24 hours after the deadly attack on their convoy.

Armed Taliban militants, led by their regional commander Maulana Faqir Mohammad, who is also deputy chief of Baitullah Mahsud-led Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), had ambushed a military convoy on Friday evening near Sadeeqabad village and inflicted heavy losses on the forces.

Local villagers said some of the wounded soldiers died of their fatal injuries as they were crying for help during the night, but the militants standing around them at a distance had warned to kill anybody who tried to provide any assistance to the injured.

A jirga of local tribal elders comprising Malik Abdul Aziz, Malik Manja Yar, Malik Gul Zada Khan, Malik Qadir Khan etc, after several appeals to the militants were finally allowed to go and retrieve the bodies.

One of these elders later told The News that they received 22 bodies, most of them in very bad condition. He said they shifted all the bodies to Khar and handed them over to the officials.

The elder said the local villagers had informed the jirga that dozens of bodies were still lying in Loisam, but they could not travel there as militants did not allow them.

He said some of the soldiers had taken shelter with local people, but they could not appear as militants were in complete control of the area. One of these soldiers, he said, was shot dead on Saturday morning when he came out of the house and wanted to return to Khar.

The military convoy that comprised 30 vehicles was carrying troops from Khar to Loisam area to secure lives of around 200 FC and Bajaur Levies personnel.

The militants had besieged the FC and Bajaur Levies men for three days and had threatened to kill all of them, if they didn’t surrender before them.

Local residents said armed militants sitting on both sides of the road opened indiscriminate fire on the military convoy with heavy weapons soon after the troops reached a stream near Sadeeqabad.

The villagers, who seemed extremely upset over the tragic death of the soldiers, said the militants’ attack was so severe that the soldiers could not get even a chance to fire back.

They said majority of the soldiers died instantly during the ambush and the rest entered into houses of the local villagers.

Later, the militants took away 10 vehicles of the soldiers, including pick-up trucks, jeeps, crane and even a tank.

The villagers of Inayat Kalley, later in the evening, saw hundreds of enthusiastic militants driving the snatched military vehicles and going towards their stronghold in Mamond subdivision.

AFP adds: The paramilitary Frontier Corps in a statement said on Saturday that at least six security personnel were killed and 15 others injured in a clash with militants in Bajaur Agency.

“Miscreants attacked a security forces convoy on Friday at Delai area while it was moving to Khar,” the statement said. It added that exchange of gunfire between troops and militants continued till early Saturday morning.

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