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PESHAWAR: The Army targeted militant hideouts in the border area of South and North Waziristan tribal regions Tuesday in the fourth wave of recent airstrikes that killed at least 30 people.
“The militants had captured a stretch between South Waziristan and North Waziristan and had established training centres where they were also preparing suicide bombers,” said one military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Another security official said at least 30 militants had been killed in early morning air strikes.
The latest air strikes took place mainly in the remote Shawal valley and Dattakhel areas of North Waziristan, said to be sites of militant training facilities and compounds.
It was impossible to verify how many civilians might have been killed or wounded as journalists and independent observers are not allowed to operate freely in the area.
North Waziristan residents have been fleeing the area on the Afghan border in recent days, anticipating a full-scale military offensive, leaving homes, shops and villages behind and settling in safer areas, such as Bannu, a town on the edge of the region.
It was also hard to estimate how many people were fleeing the region. One tribesman, Naqibullah Khan, told Reuters he was scared for his family because of persistent rumours that the army would soon launch a full-scale offensive.
“Every day heavy arms and ammunition are being shifted to Waziristan and then war planes bomb villages,” Khan said by telephone from Bannu. Two-thirds of the population of his village in the Mir Ali area had fled, he said.
“We were hearing that the government would soon launch a big military operation in Waziristan.” Another tribesman, Gul Jabbar, 48, said by telephone that he had left his shop and home behind in a village after it was hit by fighter jets last week.
“The government is doing nothing to help the people leaving their villages or helping them find accommodation in Bannu,” he said.
Pakistani fighter jets have been pounding targets in the region since the government's efforts to engage Taliban insurgents in peace negotiations broke down this month.
Comments (58) Closed
Khoobsoorat!
The word is "Mira'n'shah" not "Mira'm'shah". :S
Bombings not enough... They must be given treatment of their own medicine..... Target kill them one by one... Starting with Shahidullah Shahid...
Kill them all. Pakistan Forces Zindabad.
That's the way to do it. Keep it up !
This shows that they knew where their training camps were and where they were hiding explosives all this time. It had to take the lives of so many soldiers before they took action. How sad!
Well done Pakistan army. Get rid of these medieval animals with religious blindness.
kill him
hit them hard .. please put on extra topping of chemical weapons flavor on those bombs as well. complete annihilation is the only solution ... Long Live Pak Army !!!!
Yes keep it on .. do it yeah ... Now they'll kill your 40-50, then you kill their 25-30.. then their turn then your turn. good job
The collateral damage would be too much for Pakistan to handle the situation later on.
Finally the PAF and PAK Army is going to teach these guys what real war is about. These terrorists think that they can strap on a bomb and kill innocent civilians without any regard. Now it's time to bring the war to them and have them suffer like the rest of Pakistan's civilians are.
Oh dear! I wonder how accurate are our bombings? Are innocent civilians dying because of these bombings or the bombs manage to kill only the militants?
PAF should have to care that Civilian Should not be targeted on name of collateral damage. Army try to minimize the civilian casualties.
Way to go pakistan..Kudos !! Wishes from this side of the border..Keep it up..
**Well... It seems Pakistan understood what Taliban means and Afghans been asking Pakistan over 12 years to take action against Taliban but they never did.
I am glad they are taking action now, it's better late than never.
Hopefully Taliban will not be welcome in Pakistan anymore as they are not welcome in Afghanistan**
Afghanistan and Pakistan should kill these Taliban uneducated stone age animals and within 1-2 years there will be no single Taliban terrorizing Pakistanis and Afghans.
Keep it up PAK Army. You earned my respect for this!!!
At the same time, local police to liquidate the terrorists hiding in cities like Peshawar, Karachi, Quetta. People should cooperate with security forces to identify and locate those criminal gangs, so that our children and future generations live in peace and prosperity.
Families and civilians should support army and provide intel on the hideouts and keep away for a while. Inshallah it will be a better place to live once the insects are crushed under army boots
It appears much more possible to account for civilian casualties if they are victims of drones. Apparently the unguided rockets and iron bombs of the Pakistani AF only kill combatants.
Allow US drones because they are more effective to kill these animals
TTP terrorists will try to move out mingling with people. Army should screen everyone coming out and settle the genuine refugees within their own agency or at the most the neighbouring agency. Under no circumstances, should they be allowed to move out of FATA since they will become a law and order problem wherever they go. Karachi a an example.
Well done Pakistan Army.
Pakistan army should send troops on the ground to eliminate this cancer forever...
Send the brave troops in FATA...
@Michael Greenwald:
Another proof of precision and accuracy of Pakistani fighter pilots.
how do they know the exact number that were killed?
@Michael Greenwald: while i truly agree with you that the fighter jets probably are as much as a threat to the civilians as the drones, but it goes beyond that. the drones are against the sovereignty of Pakistan while the fighter jets are not. imagine Chinese drones bombarding USA vs USA's own jet planes bombarding USA
While the PAF bombs the hideouts of the TTP, the army should ensure that no terrorist gets out of the region to continuehis ativities in other regions of KP or indeed other provinces. If the NS regime engages in foot dragging over the action against TTP, the miltary should ignore it and continue with its operation to eliminate the cancer that is TTP!
Payback time- This is for every innocent kid who lost his father performing his duty as an FC guard or police officer.
@hmm: Please re-read the article. Therre is nothing about "exact". They say appoximately.
I really appreciate the air strikes of Pak Air force. These Taliban are the worse animal of our country. I request all military forces to kill them all, so that we can clean our beautiful land from these animals. Because of these animals, FATA has not been developed for many years. We need peace and education in FATA. And all that is possible if these animals are killed firstly. TTP Murda-abad , PAK ARMY Zindabad.
Compared to the previous operations, this operation is unique coz Pak army has further improvised its war strategy. they use drones of thr own to get on ground intel n then they pound them within no time. if army was deployed on ground then the casualty rate of army would have gone up further. this way they kill the target n then thr ground forces take over the area as well. this is excellent strategy. plus this strategy also minimizes the collateral damage factor too. coz accurate intel makes it more precise. Stand wid the army n c these barbarians go down. Gud luck to Pak army. v love n v stand behind u.
@hmm: Its anticipated figures always. the end result is tht ttp is getting what it deserves:)
@qm: us drones r controversial, even thr own / operators complained tht thr info was usually inaccurate but still they bombed n killed. U can easily understand by facts tht mostly the drone kills were civilians, women n children even. this is insane. plus our own army can kill the terrorists themselves, v dont need usa for this. usa already has a lot of mess of its own. they cant even handle a small country Afghanistan. how cum u can even think they can handle our tribal belt. think again, dude!
@TomCruise: Tom worry abt ur own boys r in Afghanistan. do u have any idea how scared n frustated they r coz they r in a war with no direction. kill n get killed only. Insane isn't it?
@Ali Shah: Majority of people here disliked your comment even though you raised a very valid argument. It speaks volume about the emotional behavior of our nation. We they start criticizing army, they cross all limits and now they are not willing to even accept the simple logic that bombs can kill civilians as well and care must be taken.
The comments on this forum and the actions taken by our forces reminds one of 1971 war when we killed our own people and we eventually lost jalf the country.
When Taliban was ruling Afghanistan, throughout the world Pakistanis were famously defending Taliban and the true islamic rule of Taliban.How quickly the world changes!?.Now Taliban are the most hated people.
Please continue the pounding for one month non-stop, they will come to the negotiation table and accept Pak government's conditions.This is the way to go.
The Sharif Government has only one option to act; with violence which will not unite but divide the troubled country. The Waziris have several options and they will strike back and this will hurt. Sir Olaf Caroe is not with us who could have given a word of advice to the Sharif civilian and military duo.
Rex Minor
Clean Pakistan from these religious people so that we oversea Pakistani can come back to our home land
Whatever decision they have taken its absolutely right. Talibans do not deserve for negotiation. PAF and Army should carry out more attacks in their hide outs and should sweep off completely from FATA.
Way to go!!!!!
It took 60,000 innocents to die before the military and political establishment in Pakistan took these criminals seriously.
If they don't eliminate them entirely, this time around and go back to negotiations then the people are being played once again by the politicians. mullahs and the military(the feudal trio).
This is what they deserve!
Keep on pounding but keep the door of negotiation open. Any one who want to negotiate should accept the constitution of Pakistan. Live and let the other live peacefully.
To all those worried about civilians deaths in PAF bombings, please note two thirds of the population has already left or leaving. Remaining should leave now and given shelter by the govt. And then we should bombard the whole Waziristan and rebuild it. Even IK changed it's stance yesterday and said we need to bomb those areas occupied by terrorists. Hopefully we will have less Taliban apologists now and a nation standing together except JI apologists and supporters who are Talibans themselves!
Enjoy the bitter fruits from the trees that you grew in your backyard. You deserve this killing all over around you. BEWARE, they are coming back to you !! There would never be an end to this war.... keep it up guys and show the World your true colors.
@KKRoberts: Not only Pakistanis admired Taliban but also US OF A did. Taliban were the BFF of USA against Russians! Yes the world changes as it suits them! Clean Pakistan n give Pakistanis their freedom back...
@Michael Greenwald: What would you propose Mr. Greenwald? More peace talks involving severed heads? Or would you propose continued use of drones controlled by completely disconnected 20 year olds in Langley?
Pakistan forces not look back now!!!!finish the job for better Pakistan.
Go crush the monsters.. All nation behind Pak Army.
@Aslam Mirza: Are you tired of being treated as a third class person abroad?
@Pakistan: you forgot Bangladesh or have you not seen your brave ghazis surrender in mass to a handful of Indian soldiers? May be this time the Pakis will surrender to an Afghan lashkar.
Who are the terrorist and from where they came? Is it Possible to kill all the people in that area? Our forces don't have any other option except jet bombardment ? What is the difference between this Operation and Drowned Attacks ? Being a Pakistani and remaining away from own homeland;we are just making pray to Almighty Allah for solidarity ,stability and prosperity of Pakistan and her people. I would like request to concern agencies ,please take care of the innocent people in that area and make sufficient arrangement to protect their lives.
@Aslam Mirza: Aslam by no means can you consider these terrorists as religious people. I have no grief against people who value their religious beliefs and adhere to it. Islam teaches tolerance and peace. These so called baboons who think that their acts are justified because they are calling for sharia should know that Islam does not advocate acts of violence in the name of God or suicide bombings for that matter
I don't at all feel proud of myself when I say don't worry about who get killed in the process, those who are hiding them are as guilty as those who are killing innocent people in Pakistan and elsewhere.These bunch of few uneducated and ill mannered people have caused huge amount of suffering to the mankind and they don't deserve any mercy.Be it drone or PAF just keep killing them or teach them a good lesson.
Has anyone noticed that the US drone strikes have stopped lately. Don't know if this is a policy shift or just a hiatus. If it is a policy shift then it says volumes about the Pakistani leadership (military and political). It also means that if and when we want it, we can control our own destiny. Another aspect of this latest assault is the use of Pakistani drones to locate TTP targets, which are then attacked by gunships and jets based on the intelligence collected. The drones lack any warheads on them, but that should happen in good time as the next step.
Great news! Alhamdu Lillah! Please don't relax, we know that the idiots are on the run. Kill them all or chase them out of Pakistan! Victory is yours no doubt!
@Hamza:This tells us we as a nation have become barbaric. Americans bombed Afghanistan and killed hundreds of innocents. TTP killed hundreds of innocents in last 12 years. Now PAF may kill many civilians in the name of collateral damage. There is no collateral damage the life of a human is precious. Lets spread love and hate. And on your use of chemical weapons , i am confident that Pak Army is not that bad that it will use chemicals. Look at what has happened to Saddam who used Chemicals.