LANDI KOTAL, Dec 30: Paramilitary forces closed the Peshawar-Torkham highway and the Torkham border, blocking the major Nato supply route, and imposed a curfew before launching an operation on Tuesday against militants to clear the Jamrud area of militants and criminal elements.

The operation, spearheaded by the Khyber Rifles, was launched because of spectacular raids by militants on Nato supply depots in the vicinity of Peshawar.

Officials said that six people, including a militant, were killed and five others injured on the first day of the operation.

The Operation, ‘Here I Come’, has been launched to to clear the area for Nato supply caravans which use the highway linking Pakistan with Afghanistan. The operation is also aimed against criminal elements who have become a nuisance for the people of Peshawar who have to live with increasing incidents of kidnapping for ransom and other crimes.

Capital City Police Chief Safwat Ghayyur supported the operation, but said that its success would depend on the way it was carried forward and sustained.

“Naturally, it will have a sobering effect on Peshawar’s security situation. There have been a couple of good catches and a couple of good hits but we would like to see it sustained,” Mr Ghayyur said.

Administrator of the Khyber Agency Capt (retd) Tariq Hayat said the operation was launched after the administration had

exhausted all options under the tribal code to maintain peace in the region.

The operation was launched after the government deployed a wing of the paramilitary Khyber Rifles in the region.

“Now that I have the force, I am not going to stop at Jamrud. Landi Kotal will be the next stop,” Mr Hayat said.

“Tanks, helicopter gunships, infantry and artillery are being used in the operation,” he said.

“The operation will continue till we achieve our objectives,” he said. “There are 26 targets and security forces have full information about them.”Eyewitnesses reported seeing helicopter gunships in action against militants hideouts in a number of areas of Jamrud. Heavy artillery was used against the Qadam area, considered to be a militant stronghold.

Mr Hayat said that at least six groups of militants and outlaws were operating in Jamrud and on the main Peshawar-Torkham highway.

He warned that the administration would not tolerate any obstruction from residents.

“Action would be launched under the Frontier Crimes Regulations against people providing shelter to or helping militants,” he said.

“We will arrest militants and criminals, demolish their houses and hideouts. We will not hold talks with them,” said the administrator.

The administration declared the Kukikhel and Jandakhel-Malakdin Khel as hostile tribes and initiated action against them under the FCR after they did not flush out militants and outlaws from their areas.

According to tribesmen, most of the people killed or injured were non-combatants.

But officials said that the operation was meant to clear the area of militants and claimed to have taken control of at least two important hideouts in Teddi Bazaar and Sur Qamar.

The officials also claimed to have freed a man who had been kidnapped by a criminal gang.

Mr Hayat said that seven houses of militants and criminals had been demolished and a brother, uncle and cousin of Iftikahr Ahmad Kukikhel had been detained to pressurise him to surrender.

AFP adds: Alternate routes are being studied to supply international troops in Afghanistan, after Pakistan temporarily shut down Khyber Pass, the traditional supply line, a US military official said on Tuesday.

With NATO reinforcements expected soon, potential alternatives could include “neighboring countries in the north,” according to the official.

In the north, a route coming from Uzbekistan was closed in late 2005 after Tashkent ended permission for the United States to use the former Soviet air base at Karshi Khanabad, which was a logistical staging ground when US forces arrived in the area after the September 11, 2001 terror strikes.

Other countries bordering Afghanistan to the north are Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.

“Not only because of the attacks (at the Khyber Pass) but also because we are expecting an increase of troop numbers and equipment” in the coming months which means there will be a greater need for supplies, the official said.

The United States is expected to send an additional 20,000-30,000 troops into Afghanistan in the next several months.