PESHAWAR: At least 25 militants were killed and several others injured in an ongoing military operation in Bajaur Agency today.

Some miscreants attacked Bajaur Scouts with rockets and artillery in Tehsil Khar and Torghandi. Security forces fired back on attackers and killed 25 militants and injured several others, the sources told.

The dead bodies of the miscreants are still lying in the nearby fields, eyewitness said.

Sources further said that extremists had killed three persons accused of spying for security forces in Tehsil Charmang.

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Militants’ positions pounded in Khar

KHAR/PESHAWAR: Fighter aircraft and military gunships on Sunday pounded suspected locations of militants in various parts of Bajaur Agency, while the Taliban claimed recapturing the strategically important Loisam area from the security forces and killing another 15 soldiers.

Mass migration of panic-stricken tribesmen continued for the second consecutive day with thousands of families fleeing their homes for safer places in the adjoining Dir district and Peshawar, Mardan and Nowshera districts.

Reports suggested that four fighter planes on Sunday morning started bombing suspected locations of militants that continued till the evening. Military sources said Taliban strongholds were heavily bombarded throughout the day. However, no details about casualties were available.

An official of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), when reached by telephone, said the Pakistan Army was not taking part in the operation, therefore, they had no details on the losses suffered by the militants.

He said the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) in consultation with the local political administration was conducting the operation against militants in which fighter aircraft and gunship helicopters were being used to target the positions of militants.

Without being specific, the officer said over 100 militants had been killed and dozens injured in the four days of fighting and bombing by the gunship choppers. There has been no precedent of warplanes being at the disposal of the political agent to be used.

Also, the ISPR official said 13 soldiers of the paramilitary force have been killed and 15 others sustained injuries in the clashes in Bajaur so far.On the other hand, tribal and official sources from Bajaur told The News that dozens of people might have been killed in the heavy bombing by the four jet planes and gunship choppers on various towns of the region.

They said Tankkhata village near Loisam where militants ambushed a military convoy on Friday evening and killed dozens of security personnel and took away their vehicles and ammunition was heavily targeted and was almost levelled to the ground.

However, the sources said most of the villagers had already vacated the town when hundreds of militants took over its control and there was little chance of human casualty. A few tribespeople, who remained in the village to look after their households, said militants were still in control of the area and also did not suffer losses as claimed by the government.

The sources said warplanes also targeted militant strongholds in Loisam, Charmang, Jar Mulla Kalley, Banda, Zor Bandar, Mamond, Raghan and Haji Lowang. “I had never seen such heavy bombings by the jetfighters, killing many people and destroying villages,” said tribal elder Haji Rahmanullah from Mamond area, which serves as headquarters of militants led by Maulana Faqir Mohammad.

He said majority of the people had left their homes in Mamond and rest of the villages for fear of bombing by the security forces while militants were patrolling the deserted roads and towns.

“Every fleeing family has left one male member in their house to look after the households and livestock. I have no knowledge about other villages, but its very terrible and mysterious fear here in Mamond,” the elder explained.

He said there were no exact details about human casualties as all the people had either left or were stranded in their houses. Two houses of Maulana Faqir Mohammad, who is Taliban head in Bajaur and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) deputy chief, were destroyed in Chopatra and Seway in the bombings but no casualty was reported as he had already moved out his family.

Similarly, the house of another militant commander known as Sheena, was also targeted in Seway.Seway in Mamond subdivision is considered as militant headquarters, where they had established central Islamic court, private prisons and several other offices of Taliban leadership.

Militants’ spokesman Maulvi Omar said they had not suffered much losses in the bombing as the planes targeted camps they had already vacated. “We don’t stay at one place and frequently change our locations,” he remarked.

He also claimed that their men clashed with security personnel near Khazana Mor near Sadeeqabad on Sunday and killed 15 soldiers and captured five alive. He said their men had made all arrangements for taking control of Bajaur headquarters, Khar, and very soon they would be in control of the whole tribal region.

Omar also said they recaptured Loisam area from the security forces. He said there were 200 paramilitary Frontier Corps and Bajaur Levies personnel including a major in Loisam and all of them had surrendered to them.

“Those who peacefully surrendered were given a safe passage and some we took to our camp in Seway,” Omar claimed. Similarly, thousands of desperate families continued fleeing their homes for safer places in downtowns.

Majority of the families were going to Peshawar, Mardan, Nowshera and some of them took shelter with their relatives in the adjoining Dir district. There were relief camps established for the affected people in Munda in Dir where the fleeing families were provided cold drinks and water.

“I could not stop my tears when I saw a relief camp for the Bajaur affectees in Munda where volunteers provided us water and cold drinks,” remarked tribal journalist Sahibzada Bahauddin, who like many other people shifted his family due to the fighting.

Bahahuddin complained once they were main source of information for the national and international media but now when they were in trouble, no government or media organization took notice of their sufferings. He said transporters were also exploiting people and were charging five times higher fares.


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Pakistan forces kill 50 militants near Afghan border

KHAR, Pakistan, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Pakistani helicopter gunships attacked militants' hideout in a volatile tribal region on Monday and killed around 50 insurgents, taking the death toll to nearly 160 in five days of fighting, officials said.

More than 100 militants and nine soldiers were killed in fighting sparked by an attack on a security checkpoint on Wednesday in Bajaur tribal region, near the Afghan border. Bajaur is a known sanctuary for al Qaeda and Taliban militants.

"The helicopter gunships pounded positions of the militants in Bajaur and killed about 50 of them," a security official told Reuters. There were no casualties from the security forces, he said.

The fresh clashes erupted after militants attacked another post overnight.

A Reuters reporter said thousands of people were fleeing from the area after aircraft bombed four villages.

Separately, residents found the beheaded bodies of two men in an area 16 km (10 miles) west of Khar, Bajaur's main town, with a note that they had been killed for spying for U.S. and Pakistani forces.

"The note said the men were helping forces ... identify militant positions," said Mohmammad Khan, a local resident.

Meanwhile, two Shi'ite Muslims and a Sunni Muslim were gunned down in suspected sectarian attacks in the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan.

Violence has intensified across Pakistan's northwest after a lull that followed an election in February when a coalition government led by the party of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto came to power seeking to negotiate peace.

Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, who is also accused of plotting Bhutto's assassination, suspended talks in June and security has deteriorated since then.

Elsewhere, a man was killed when he was trying to plant explosives outside a hospital in Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, police said.

10 civilians among 30 killed in Bajaur bombings

KHAR/PESHAWAR: Around 10 civilians and 20 militants were killed and 22 Taliban fighters injured, as Pakistan Air Force jet fighters and gunship helicopters continued shelling suspected militant positions in the Bajaur Agency on Monday.

Also, there were reports about the killing of four senior al-Qaeda operatives, including the network’s chief in Afghanistan Abu Yazeed al-Misri in the bombing on Damadola village near the Afghan border.

The paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) officials based in the Bajaur Agency said 20 militants were killed and 22 others injured in shelling on their positions near Skandro area in Utmankhel subdivision.

They said the militants late Sunday night planned to capture the FC check-post near Skandro and attacked it with heavy weapons. “Their attack was repulsed by the force in retaliatory action, in which 20 militants were killed and 22 others injured,” the FC officials added.

Wishing anonymity, they said the fleeing militants even left bodies of their 10 colleagues in Skandro village. Subsequently, the area residents retrieved the bodies and handed them over to militant representatives on Monday afternoon.

The officials, however, admitted that the militants were still regrouping and planning to capture another important FC post, known as Omari near Inayat Killay. “The militants had besieged the FC fort two days ago and were still roaming around the building, where 40 FC men have constantly been refusing to surrender,” officials said.

Some reports, however, said five of the FC men surrendered to the militants on Monday morning, while the rest were threatened of attack if they did not give in. Official and tribal sources said the warplanes continued bombing militant positions in Charmang, Damadola, Tauheedabad, Mamond, Tank Khata, Haji Lawang Killay and Loisam area.

The planes blitzed militant positions almost seven times throughout the day, but there were no exact details about casualties suffered by the militants. Sources said four Cobra gunship choppers also continuously targeted militant strongholds in Mamond, Charmang and Damadola areas and reportedly caused losses to the militants commanded by Maulana Faqir Mohammad.

Tribal sources told The News by telephone that bombing by the jet fighters, gunship choppers and artillery shelling inflicted heavy losses on the local people in Damadola, Tauheedabad and Faja villages. Residents said four houses were destroyed in Damadola, and three each in Tauheedabad and Faja villages.

The sources also said that civilians, including four men and six women, were killed in the bombing in Damadola, Charmang and Tauheedabad. Two of the dead civilians were identified as Taslim Khan and Mohammad Hayat.

There were also reports that four senior al-Qaeda operatives, including Abu Yazeed al-Misri, also died in Damadola shelling. When reached by telephone, a senior Army official close to the ongoing military operation in Bajaur, said: “Yes, I also heard reports but there is no solid evidence so far.”

He said they had learnt from militants’ intercepts that four Arab nationals had been killed in the bombing on their hideouts in Damadola. “I don’t know whether it were two names of one person or two different persons, but I heard two names - Abu Yazeed al-Misri or Abu Saeed al-Misri and Abu Suleman — suspected to be killed in the air attack,” said the military officer while requesting anonymity.

The officer said senior militant commanders, including Maulana Faqir Mohammad, TTP spokesman Maulvi Omar and several others, narrowly escaped an air attack on their hideout in Mamond where they were holding a meeting.

“They had just left the Madrassa at Dabara village in Mamond when it was attacked,” said the military officer. On the other hand, the residents of Bajaur continued fleeing their houses on Monday while the region has been under curfew for the past four days.

Reuters adds: The bombings killed around 50 insurgents, taking the death toll to nearly 160 in five days of fighting, officials said.

“The helicopter gunships pounded positions of the militants in Bajaur and killed about 50 of them,” a security official told Reuters. There were no casualties from the security forces, he said.

Separately, residents found the beheaded bodies of two men in an area 16 km west of Khar with a note that they had been killed for spying for US and Pakistani forces. “The note said the men were helping forces ... identify militant positions,” said Mohmammad Khan, a local resident.

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21 more killed in Bajaur operation

KHAR/PESHAWAR: Pakistan Air Force fighter aircraft and military gunship helicopters continued targeting suspected hideouts of militants in the restive Bajaur tribal agency, killing 21 more people, including three civilians, and injuring several others, officials said.

Meanwhile, the security forces vacated yet another important post near Siddiqabad. Sources close to Arab fighters denied reports about the killing of senior al-Qaeda operative and the network's operational commander in Afghanistan, Abu Yazeed al-Masri alias Mustafa Mohammad Ahmad or Sheikh Saeed al-Masri, in bombing by the Pakistani fighter aircraft on Damadola in Bajaur a few days back.

The Taliban militants, led by their commander Maulana Faqir Mohammad, on Wednesday handed over six more bodies of slain paramilitary soldiers, who were killed on Friday, to a local Jirga of elders and traders at Tank Khata village in the Loisam area.

Official and tribal sources told The News from Bajaur that fighter aircraft and the Pakistan Army Cobra gunship choppers heavily bombarded suspected militant positions and hideouts in various parts of the tribal region, including Pashat, Naraza and Mulla Said Banda in Salarzai tehsil and Inam Khwaro and Damadola in the troubled Mamond subdivision.

The officials claimed 12 militants were killed in the air strikes. In Jar Kalley of Utmankhel Tehsil, the officials said, a group of militants sitting on the roadside to target the security personnel through improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were targeted by gunship choppers that killed six militants.

There were also complaints by the fleeing tribal people that fighter aircraft and military choppers were mostly bombing civilian populations and villages rather than the militants still moving and operating freely in their strongholds in Mamond, Salarzai, Utmankhel and Inayat Kalley.

Also, the residents complained that despite heavy bombing by the security forces for the past several days, the militants were still occupying roadside checkpoints and security posts vacated by the paramilitary Bajaur Scouts along the border with Afghanistan.

In Pashat village, three tribesmen, including an elder, were killed when his house came under attack from a warplane. Some military officials associated with the ongoing military operation in Bajaur have claimed to have intercepted militants' conversation in which they said four Arab fighters, including Sheikh Saeed, were killed in the attack.

"I must tell you there is no reality in all these reports. Totally wrong, he is alive and far away from Bajaur," remarked a senior Afghan Taliban commander, who called this scribe from an undisclosed location.

Meanwhile, the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) vacated Bajaur's biggest FC post at Sadeeqabad near Khar. Sources close to the militants said the Taliban on Wednesday sent a delegation to Tableeghi Markaz in Sadeeqabad and gave them a letter in which they urged the Ulema and local traders to ask the FC officials to vacate the Sadeeqabad post or they would attack the post and then they would not be responsible if the local people and business community suffered human or material losses.

The Jirga, comprising elders and traders, including Fazlur Rahman, president Sadeeqabad shopkeepers union, Haji Sher Zamin and schoolteacher Nisar, later met the FC officials and the post was vacated by Wednesday evening.

Residents of Sadeeqabad village said the militants later reached there and started patrolling the streets. Similarly, a Jirga of elders and shopkeepers comprising Shah Mahmud, president of the shopkeepers of Inayat Kalley Bazaar, Khan Bahadur, president of shopkeepers of Khar Bazaar and Said Rahim, president Ittehad Mamond Tehsil, received six more bodies of the slain FC personnel.

These soldiers were killed during fighting with the militants near Tank Khatta village of Loisam area on Friday. The elders said local residents approached them and said that bodies of the slain soldiers were lying in the fields of the village.

The Jirga, after a meeting with the militant commanders, went to Tank Khatta village and retrieved the bodies of soldiers and took them to the Bajaur Scouts headquarters in Khar. However, militants' spokesman Maulvi Omar claimed they had handed over 12 bodies of FC soldiers to the Jirga.

Though denied by Maulvi Omar, people reaching the provincial metropolis complained that the militants had banned tribesmen from abandoning their houses in the Mamond area. "People have been stranded in Mamond Tehsil which is a stronghold of the Taliban as they are not allowing the residents to leave their homes and move to safer places," complained a resident of Inayat Kalley, Mohammad Irfan, who had shifted his family to Peshawar four days ago.

Meanwhile, cellular phone companies have stopped their services in Bajaur due to fuel shortage. People still braving the fighting and staying in Bajaur complained of lack of food items and medicines and high prices.


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FC has proven itself to be beyond useless.

If we have to use paramilitarys here, they should be Rangers.

Pakistan says 460 militants, 22 troops killed in fighting

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — Pakistan's interior ministry chief said Friday that over 460 Islamic militants and 22 soldiers have been killed in more than a week of fighting in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan.

More than 3,000 armed militants, most of them foreigners, are taking part in the clashes in the troubled Bajaur tribal region, said Rehman Malik, the prime minister's advisor on interior matters.

Pakistan sent security forces backed by helicopter gunships and fighter jets into Bajaur last week amid intense pressure from the United States to curb militants launching attacks in Afghanistan.

"Extremists wanted to establish their hold in Bajaur and the government had to take action," Malik told a news conference in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

"Until today 462 militants have been killed in Bajaur and a similar number have been injured. Twenty-two troops have been killed and some are missing in action," Malik said.

The "major portion" of the militants were foreigners, Malik said, adding that they included "Afghans, Chechens, Yemenis and Afro-Asians."

There has been no independent corroboration of the figures.

Provincial governor Owais Ghani said that around 219,000 people have been displaced from Bajaur, adding that the provincial government had set up nine camps to provide them shelter, food and medicines.

Pakistan's newly elected government has drawn criticism from western allies for earlier negotiations with Taliban militants based near the rugged Afghan frontier.

There has been further alarm abroad over the government's plans to impeach President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led "war on terror".

21 more killed in Bajaur aerial, artillery blitz Ground offensive against militants likely today


By Mushtaq Yusufzai

PESHAWAR: Amid reports of 18 more fatalities of militants in shelling by gunship helicopters and artillery fire, the security forces have decided to launch a major ground offensive against the Taliban in Bajaur Agency today (Sunday).

Senior military officials told The News that the ongoing air strikes by the fighter aircraft and gunship helicopters had inflicted colossal losses on the militants. “Now they have been confined to their hideouts along the border with Afghanistan,” they said.

Military officials, associated with the ongoing operation against the Taliban, confirmed that a ground operation in the troubled tribal region might be launched any time.

“We cannot give a specific time frame for launching the clean-up operation but it can be started any time,” said an official, who has been monitoring the operation against the militants in the Bajaur Agency.

Besides paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) and Bajaur Levies personnel, military officials said Pakistan Army soldiers would also take part in the clean-up operation.

Sources said the clean-up operation would be launched from the Arang area near Batkhela in the Malakand Agency and Barang near Timergara in Dir Lower.

Official sources said the Taliban had small presence in Arang and Barang areas and, therefore, the clean-up operation would be started from these two areas to encircle the militants and confine them to their strongholds in the Mamond subdivision along the border with Afghanistan’s restive Kunar province.

The sources said hundreds of Pakistan Army troops armed with heavy weapons and ammunition had already reached Khar, the headquarters of Bajaur.

Similarly, several other soldiers have been deployed in the Tor Ghundai FC Fort near Munda in Lower Dir. The troops would start movement towards Bajaur after the clean-up operation is launched.

On the other hand, there were reports that despite heavy bombing by helicopters and artillery fire on militant locations in Utmankhel Tehsil, they were still occupying their positions on the Khar-Munda Road and adjoining villages, keeping the law-enforcement agencies away from the road.

“They (militants) are hiding in villages on the Khar-Munda Road and often open fire on fleeing tribesmen and security personnel,” said an official of the political administration in Khar, pleading anonymity.

The security forces late Saturday hit two vehicles in Salarzai area of Bajaur Agency, killing 14 militants.

“Yes, two vehicles carrying militants were destroyed and 14 occupants were killed in a late night attack,” an official told this scribe by telephone.

Three children were killed when a mortar shell missed its target and hit a house in Cheengai village in Damadola. “Three children of one Mirza Khan were killed in the incident,” a source said.

Meanwhile, gunship choppers targeted hideouts and locations of the militants in Loisam and Mamond areas on Saturday.

The security forces in Khar also fired artillery and mortar shells on suspected locations of the Taliban fighters.

Sources close to the militants said two fighters were killed when a mortar shell hit a roadside post manned by the armed Taliban at Lagharay in Mamond Tehsil on the night between Friday and Saturday.

Similarly, two unidentified bodies were recovered from the main road in Utmankhel Tehsil. Local residents said both the men were beardless and were killed by unknown people. They were suspected to be the supporters of the militants.

The sources also said that seven suspected militants were killed when artillery shells were fired on their position on Khaza Ghar mountain in Mamond. Militants had reportedly taken refuge in caves and bunkers in the mountain and were using the route for crossing into the adjoining Dir district from the Bajaur Agency. However, neither government officials nor the militants confirmed these reports.

Sources said the house of Assistant Political Agent, Frontier Region, Bannu, Abdul Hamid Jan, was also destroyed in the shelling by the security forces in Tauheedabad area of Khar Tehsil. Besides, the residence and Madrassa of Maulvi Niamatullah was bombed in Salarzai area.

Meanwhile, military authorities and the Taliban militants disagreed with the figures given by Rahman Malik in his press briefing in Peshawar about the casualties of militants in the military campaign in Bajaur. Malik had claimed that 461 militants had so far been killed in the military action.

Military officials, while quoting intercepted messages, said 165 miscreants had been killed in the ongoing operation.

TTP spokesman Maulvi Omar also denied losses of their people at such a large scale in the air strikes and artillery shelling.

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Air strikes kill 22 in Bajaur Agency


By Mushtaq Yusufzai

PESHAWAR: Around 22 people, including 14 suspected militants and eight civilians, were killed and several others injured seriously in latest air strikes by the PAF jet fighters and military gunship helicopters on suspected locations of the Taliban in the Bajaur Agency on Tuesday.

Also, militants handed over the bodies of five soldiers to a tribal Jirga who were killed in a Taliban’s ambush on August 6 in Loisam area. The PAF jet fighters flew after almost four days of pause in bombing and blitzed heavily militants suspected hideouts in Charmang, Mamond and Nawagai subdivisions of the militancy-stricken tribal region.

Military authorities said 14 militants were killed and several others injured in the fighting after a large number of Taliban fighters attacked the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) personnel and political administration officials at the Nawagai Civil Colony on Monday night.

Armed with sophisticated weapons, the militants reportedly opened fire on the law-enforcers, who had taken positions in their sandbag bunkers on rooftops. The officials said the FC men returned fire and forced the militants to retreat.

Later, the security forces fired artillery and mortar shells from paramilitary Bajaur Scouts’ headquarters in Khar on militant positions in Nawagai and killed 14 of them. Similarly, the officials said several other militants suffered injuries in artillery and mortar shelling and their hideouts were destroyed.

On the other hand, a Taliban commander, who introduced himself as Qari Ziaur Rahman, called The News from the Bajaur Agency and claimed responsibility for the attack on paramilitary forces in Nawagai.

He said only one of their fighters died and another sustained injuries in the artillery and mortar shelling on their positions in Nawagai. Also, he claimed, his fighters took seven FC men as hostage, destroyed all bunkers of the troops built on rooftops and snatched 20 G-III, four AK-47 assault rifles and three light machine-guns (LMG) from the soldiers during fighting.

Qari Ziaur Rahman, who is reportedly an Afghan Taliban commander operating in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Nuristan provinces, was captured in Peshawar by the law-enforcers and he was among several other Taliban fighters released in return for Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin.

Qari said he and his tribal fighters were ready to stop fighting against Pakistani security forces if the military operation and aerial bombing in the Bajaur Agency was stopped. “Our mission is to wage Jihad against US-led forces in Afghanistan but Pakistan forced us to fight against its own security forces by creating hurdles for us to cross the border and destroy positions of our fellow tribal Mujahideen in Bajaur,” explained the Taliban commander.

Similarly, seven people, including women and children were killed when four jet fighters and gunship helicopters blitzed militants’ alleged hideouts in Nawagai. Tribal sources said the warplanes and military choppers continued bombing on several villages, including Chinar Charmang, Asghar Charmang and Kotkai Charmang in the restive Nawagai subdivision.

Military authorities said militants had occupied houses of local tribesmen, which the war-frightened tribesmen had vacated due to military operation. Tribal sources said a woman died and her two children suffered injuries when a mortar shell hit her house at Shah Khani village of the Mamond tehsil.

Tribespeople also reported that nine people, including three women and six children were killed in the aerial strikes by the jetfighters on Kamangara village near Sharif Khana in Mamond.

Military officials closely monitoring the ongoing operation, however, denied reports of the killing of innocent people. Military sources said that four warplanes and gunship helicopters targeted militants’ suspected locations throughout the day and inflicted heavy losses on the tribal militants.

They, however, didn’t provide any details about the losses suffered by the Taliban fighters in the daylong bombing. Meanwhile, Taliban fighters finally agreed to hand over bodies of five slain security personnel to a jirga of tribal elders and shopkeepers.

A former agency councillor, Haji Rahat Yousaf, led the jirga, comprising Syed Rahim, chairman, Anjuman-e-Tajiran Bajaur Agency, Abdur Rahim, president shopkeepers of Inayat Kalley bazaar, etc and held talks with militant commanders at Omari village.

The Jirga was later given permission by the Taliban to go to Loisam and retrieve the bodies of the five slain soldiers. According to jirga members, they were given several coffins by the military officials in Khar to wrap up bodies of the slain soldiers but they recovered only five corpses.

These bodies, they said, were lying in the maize fields and had been decomposed.The Jirga members later took the bodies to Khar and handed them over to the military authorities.

Sources also said that military authorities had started transporting Pakistan army soldiers to Nawagai for securing the strategically important area to counter militants’ growing influence and disrupt their supply line via Mohmand Agency and stop reinforcement of militants from Mohmand and other tribal regions.


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