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LANDI KOTAL, Feb 16: There is no trace yet of the 24 missing army soldiers despite a lapse of six days as bad weather was hampering rescue workd in the remote Tirah valley of Khyber Agency.
Sources in Landi Kotal told Dawn that a 50-member Khasadar rescue party was in the Mesh Dara-Bazaar area to help assist the army teams in their efforts to locate the missing army men. The Lhasadar rescue party includes people with knowledge of the territory.
Khyber Rifles Commandant Col Riaz Shahid is in the Jarhobi army camp to overlook the rescue operation. Some Khyber Rifles soldiers are also posted in the area.
About 30 army soldiers from the 64FF unit were hit by an avalanche on Thursday last when they were on their way from Kachkol post to help rescue their colleagues posted at Kot Mamad post in Tirah hill near the Pakistan-Afghan border.
The Kot Mamad post inmates sought help from Kachkol post after one of their bunkers caved in due to heavy snowfall. Immediately after the rescue operations were initiated, six out of 30 army men were retrieved by army helicopters.
About 14 others posted in the nearby bunkers were also evacuated by army helicopters and shifted to a military hospital for treatment as they had received injuries after being hit by the avalanche.
ISPR officials in Peshawar told Dawn that the search operation for the missing army men was continued despite inclement weather and they had received information from locals that another five to six persons were also spotted in the area but were not sure whether they were army men or locals. Due to bad weather and heavy snow, the helicopters could not make landing, they said.
The official further said that army helicopters were busy carrying food stuff to the affected area and had so far dropped 9,000 kilogram of rice, medicine, tea, dry milk, biscuits and other edibles for the local residents. The official, however, parried questions about the possible survival of the 24 missing soldiers.
PRISONERS ESCAPE: Three notorious outlaws, including the ringleader of a kidnappers group, escaped from Bara prison on Wednesday, sources said. Bara's political tehsildar Afsar Ali told Dawn that Sedak Zakhakhel, Naseeb Khan and Dowa Khan escaped from their cell in the early hours of Wednesday. They also took with them locks and keys of the prison room.
There was no evidence of either gate-crashing or wall breaking, Afsar Ali said and added that night guards might have help in the escape. The authorities have taken into custody two havaldars and two khasadars who were on duty at the time of the incident. One of the khasadars was reportedly a co-tribesman of Sedak Zakhakhel, the sources said.
At the time of the escape, there were 17 prisoners in the cell. Except for the three escapees, other prisoners did not flee as they were involved in petty crimes, said the Bara tehsildar.
Sedak Zakhakhel had recently surrendered to the authorities through a peace committee. His three-room house was demolished by the peace committee on Feb 3 after he admitted his involvement in the abduction of Dr Sarwar Shah, who was kidnapped for ransom from Peshawar in October last year. Two of his accomplices, Lal Hussain and Hashmat, are still at large.
Naseeb Khan was also involved in a number of cases and surrendered to the authorities through tribal elders after being put under pressure. A jawan of the Mehsud Scouts was killed and a khasadar injured in a shootout during a raid in November last year when Bara authorities tried to arrest Naseeb Khan.
