1,000 militants killed in Bajaur
Saturday, September 27, 2008
By Mushtaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR: Military officials on Friday said around 1,000 militants, five of them important foreign and local commanders, including al-Qaeda's Afghanistan chief Abu Saeed al-Misri, had been killed in the two-month-long military operation launched by the Pakistan Army against the militants in Bajaur Agency on August 6, in which 27 personnel of the security forces also embraced martyrdom.
Also, military officials said 25 more suspected militants and three security personnel, including two senior officers, were killed in the daylong clashes between the Taliban fighters and the security forces on Friday.
Inspector General of Frontier Corps (FC) Major General Tariq Khan, while briefing media representatives who were taken from Islamabad to militancy-stricken Bajaur Agency on Friday about the ongoing military operation in Khar, said the security forces had so far achieved remarkable successes against the militants.
"The command and control system of the militants has been disrupted and they are now on the run due to effective and targeted operation by the security forces in the last two months."
After days of wait, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major-Gen Athar Abbas finally took around 50 journalists, mostly foreigners, to Bajaur in a military helicopter, where officials of Pakistan Army, Frontier Corps and the political administration briefed them about the ongoing military operation.
Gen Tariq claimed that over 1,000 militants had been killed in the operation so far, in which five were important foreign and local militant commanders. The foreigners killed in the operation belonged to various countries, including Egypt, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and other Arab states, he added.
He said among the foreign militants killed in the air strikes were Abu Saeed al-Misri, reportedly al-Qaeda's Afghanistan chief, Abu Suleman, and an Uzbek militant Mulla Mansoor.
The spokesman said Abdullah, son of Taliban leader in Bajaur and deputy chief of the Baitullah Mehsud-led banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, had also been killed in the operation.
Abdullah, the military official said, had close contacts with al-Qaeda's No 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Apart from killing important militant commanders, the official said an Afghan militant commander Munaras Khan and several others had been arrested during the operation.
Maj Gen Tariq Khan claimed that the security forces had unearthed underground channels, which the militants had dug to ambush the security forces in Tang-Khatta, Rashakai, Khazana, Kausar and Loisam areas.
He said the security forces had destroyed several strongholds of the militants in these areas and recovered arms and ammunition from their hideouts.
He said 27 personnel of the security forces had died and more than 100 were injured in clashes with the militants.
The FC commandant said the local tribesmen had extended unprecedented support to the security forces in the operation against the militants. He hoped that militants would soon be flushed out of the once peaceful tribal region.
However, Gen Tariq said the operation could last for the next six weeks for complete eradication of the militants and restoration of writ of the government.
Later, the media team was given aerial view of Kerala, Tang-Khatta and Khazana where they were briefed about the operation of the security forces.
Also, Shafeerullah Khan, political agent, Bajaur Agency, briefed the media about the role of tribal Lashkars of Salarzai and Utmankhel tribesmen against the militants.
He said due to the support of Salarzai and Utmankhel armed Lashkars, the writ of the government was now established in the two sub-divisions of the tribal agency.
The elders of Salarzai and Utmankhel tribes also informed the media about the activities of their respective armed Lashkars against the militants.
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