KHAR: Seven militants were killed by troops in Bajaur Agency’s Charmang area, considered to be a Taliban stronghold, on Friday.
 
Planes and helicopters attacked militants’ positions in Tangi, Hashim Ziarat, Kotki and Babara. A curfew has been imposed in the area of operation and all roads had been sealed.

A local man said that he had seen the bodies of two militants lying near a bunker. Militants had used Mamond and Charmang for regrouping after having signed a peace deal with the government.

They built bunkers and dug trenches to protect themselves against ground and air assaults. They had occupied agricultural land of tribal elders and government buildings.
 
Local people had organised an anti-militant Lashkar a few months ago but could not make much headway.

Militants had destroyed houses of villagers who had joined the Lashkar and evicted them from the area, forcing them to live in camps in Peshawar and Nowshera.

The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, meanwhile, urged the government to halt the operation and its spokesman Maulvi Umar said that peace deal would be derailed if the operation continued.