WANA, June 17: Security troops and fighter jets swooped down on suspected Al Qaeda hideouts near the Afghan border on Thursday, launching their third offensive this year in a protracted campaign to rid the tribal region of Al Qaeda-linked militants.
The latest target was Baghar, lying 60km in the stretch of mountains between the South Waziristan tribal district capital Wana and the porous frontier, a local official said, requesting anonymity.
"There was a hideout in the area, it is being knocked out," military spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat told newsmen in Islamabad. "It is part of a continuing process which comes with different intervals."
Military officials said the operation was launched over intelligence reports that a group of "miscreants" was hiding in the area. "This a targeted operation meant to kill or capture this group of miscreants," said an official who could not be identified. The exact number of militants in the targeted area was unknown.
Residents in Wana said jets and helicopters flew overhead on Thursday and that a Pakistani spy plane conducted sorties on Wednesday, but Gen Sultan refused to confirm whether warplanes conducted air strikes.
"We are using whatever resources we consider necessary against miscreants," he said. "We locate and destroy whenever we get information about their hideouts." Fighters jets and helicopter gunships pounded an Al Qaeda training camp and two Al Qaeda safe houses at nearby Shakai, just north of Wana, last weekend, killing 55 militants.
The military said it had secured the area by Sunday night and declared the operation over, but was unable to say where hundreds of other militants had fled to. US forces hunting Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan believe the militants hiding on the Pakistani side have been slipping over the border to stage guerilla attacks on aid workers, troops and officials.
The Baghar hideouts lie opposite Paktika, one of Afghanistan's most insurgency-hit provinces Paktika. They are surrounded by forests and rough terrain. Hideouts used by Central Asian militants in the nearby border town of Angoor Ada were targeted last October in an air and ground attack by the military that killed 10 militants, including a wanted Chinese Uighur fighter.
Clashes erupted on Tuesday night south of Wana when militants attacked a paramilitary post with rockets. In the ensuing gunfight two foreign militants were killed and scores were injured, the military said.
"We destroyed a terrorist hideout in Shakai on June 11 and now another hideout is being knocked down," military spokesman Gen Shaukat Sultan said. He denied use of any "overwhelming force" but local residents said they saw about 25 gunship helicopters and several warplanes flying over the area.
"They (the army) have surrounded the mud-walled compounds in the area and are exchanging fire with the terrorists," local resident Tariq Noor said. Gen Sultan said the operation was continuing and the required force was being employed against the terrorists.
"We are trying not to use overwhelming force to avoid any collateral damage," he added. A five-day military operation that ended on Sunday claimed 70 lives including 16 government soldiers but locals claimed nine of the dead militants were innocent villagers.
The fresh assault came one day after two foreign militants and a Frontier Constabulary (FC) soldier were killed in a shootout, sparked by an armed attack on a paramilitary post at Lada fort, 45 kilometres northeast of Wana.
Another paramilitary base in Sarwaki, about 100 kilometres from Wana, was also hit with a rocket early Wednesday but no casualties were reported. On Tuesday, government forces killed a suspected Chechen when he was moving out of South Waziristan with his family.
Government says that up to 600 foreign militants, including Arabs, Chechens and Uzbeks linked to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, have been hiding out in tribal areas protected by tribesmen.
Many of them fought in the US-funded war against Soviet occupation in neighbouring Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, and have married into local Pakistani tribes since.
In a separate incident, militants fired three rockets at a security post around 40km north of Wana in a pre-dawn raid, but there were no reports of casualties, witnesses said. -Agencies
Our Correspondent from Wana adds: Baghar used to serve as a base for the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Comprising four small villages of about 4,000 people, Baghar has zero literacy and has no communication link with the rest of the country.
It is reported that a good number of tribal militants had gathered at Baghar for some unspecified reason. The operation launched at around 8 am continued well into the afternoon and appeared to have taken a heavy toll of militants, witnesses said.
Exact figures of those killed or wounded in Baghar were not available nor was there any word on casualties suffered by security forces, as the military continued to keep a tight lid on operational details.
However, locals said that the military had hit houses of three tribesmen in Baghar, Salam Khan Utmankhel, Shamer Jan Utmankhel and Badkai Kakakhel. The brother of Salam Khan Utmankhel is said to have died in the operation. Meanwhile, relatives of Nek Muhammad said the top tribal militant was safe and remained in his native Azam Warsak.
