MIRAMSHAH, July 22: Sporadic clashes took place between security forces and militants in North Waziristan on Saturday night and Sunday as the army claimed to have killed six militants and arrested seven others. Twelve soldiers were injured in separate roadside explosions, sources said.
Quoting military sources, a news agency said the overnight battles had left abother13 people dead.
Cobra helicopters had to be pressed into service in the aid of ground forces after militants attacked a convoy near Kutabkhel village in the restive agency on Sunday. Sources said militants first exploded an improvised device to halt the troops’ movement and then resorted to heavy firing near the village, some 4km east of Miramshah.
The sources said six soldiers were injured in the fighting. Two Cobra helicopters pounded suspected locations in the area. Militants fired back on the combat choppers.
The heavy shelling from the helicopters and the retaliation by the militants caused panic in Miramshah. Shopkeepers pulled their shutters down and the main road remained closed for over three hours.
Four soldiers were wounded when a convoy going from Miramshah to the Datakhel area was blown up in the Khar Kamer area.
The army said six militants were killed and seven others were captured in the Ghulam Khan area near the Afghan border on Saturday night. One vehicle was destroyed and another was impounded.
Officials said security forces fired on trucks when armed men tried to pass through a checkpoint near Ghulam Khan at about 7pm on Saturday. The armed men were coming from Afghanistan.
Authorities have placed restrictions on the movement of vehicles in the area from 7pm to 7am.
The identity of the six dead and seven arrested people could not be ascertained. The casualties could not be confirmed from independent sources.
On Saturday night, militants blew up a dispensary in Khadi village of Mirali tehsil. The building was completely destroyed. Three checkpoints abandoned by the Khasaddar Force were blown up in Miramshah tehsil.
The militants had earlier issued a leaflet in the area saying that educational institutions, hospitals, roads, electricity, water supply and other social infrastructures would not be targeted. They had also announced that no attacks would be carried out in populated areas.
JIRGA: Talks between a tribal jirga and militants reportedly ended without making any progress because the latter linked further negotiations with complete withdrawal of troops from checkpoints in the area.
Sources said 45 members of the jirga were likely to leave for Peshawar on Monday to apprise NWFP Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai of the militants’ demands. A source said talks remained inconclusive due to the militants’ tough stand.
Militant commanders had told the jirga that security forces would have to vacate checkpoints before talks could be initiated to revive the peace deal with the government, the sources said.
“The government should create a conducive environment, and withdrawal of troops from checkpoints is a prerequisite for further talks,” a source quoted a militant commander as having said.
Witnesses said heavy deployment of troops was underway in the troubled region. Tension is running high in the area and local people have started shifting their families from Miramshah to Peshawar and nearby districts.