LANDI KOTAL: Over 20 suspected militants were killed and their hideouts destroyed in artillery shelling across the border in Afghanistan and clashes in Kurram Agency as the counterterrorism action spread to other areas on Sunday.

According to a terse late-night statement issued by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), terrorists had tried to regroup in Wucha Bibi, a border area in North Waziristan Agency. But they were targeted by the Pakistan Air Force planes, their hideout destroyed and those inside killed.

It was not immediately clear how many suspects were present in the hideout.

Earlier, official sources claimed that 15 suspects, among them 11 foreigners, were killed in clashes in the Kurram tribal region. Several militant hideouts and training facilities in the Afghan area were also destroyed.

PAF planes target regrouping ‘terrorists’ in NWA

An ammunition depot in the Reney-Parchaw locality, in Nangarhar province, was hit by artillery shelling from the Durma Korona and Khanakai areas of Loe Shalman.

There were conflicting reports about the number of suspected militants killed on the third day of shelling inside Afghanistan. According to one report, six people were killed but another said ‘heavy casualties’ were inflicted on the militants.

The security forces pounded hideouts of the Jamaatul Ahrar, a splinter group of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces. The group reportedly has hideouts and training centres in the Reena, Parchawo, Lal Pura and Sarkano areas on the border.

Sawab Khan, a local resident, said the shelling had continued since Friday morning. “We are hearing heavy shelling in the border areas,” he said.

Officials told Dawn in Parachinar that at least 15 suspected militants were killed and two security personnel injured in clashes in the Sperkat area of the central tehsil of Kurram.

They said there were 11 foreigners among the dead and seven others injured, but did not release details about their nationality.

The injured security personnel were taken to a military hospital in the area.

The officials claimed that the militants left behind the bodies of 11 fellow fighters.

Sperkat is adjacent to Orakzai and Khyber tribal agencies, where security forces had earlier carried out several operations to expel militants.

Intense artillery shelling during the past three days has forced nearly 300 families residing on the banks of the Kabul river, near the border, to leave for safe places.

The local administration set up a committee to enrol all the families displaced from the Sheen Pokh, Shalman Khula, Samsai and Kund Darra areas and set up an enrolment point at the Ghakhi check-post. Roads leading to the border villages were closed and the families moved out through alternative routes.

The border crossing points in various parts of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas remained sealed.

Witnesses said hundreds of vehicles, most loaded with perishable items, were stranded on both sides of the border at Torkham, Kharlachi and Borki.

Trucks loaded with export items were stranded along the road in Landi Kotal as clearing of goods to Afghanistan was suspended since Friday.

A large number of people were also left stranded at Torkham in Khyber Agency.

Residents said that the Frontier Constabulary and Khasadars had intensified patrolling and the number of security personnel deployed at the border check-posts had been increased.

Ameer Khan, an Afghan national who had come to Peshawar from Afghanistan with some patients, said they had run out of money.

He said a large number of women and children, particularly patients, were suffering because of tension between the two countries.

Our correspondents in Parachinar and Ghalanai contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, February 20th , 2017