MIRAMSHAH, Aug 23: Four militants, three of them foreigners, were killed and one was captured along with a Pakistani accomplice in an operation in South Waziristan tribal region on Monday, officials said.
Security forces conducted an early morning raid in the rugged Bangi Dar area near the Afghan border, about 18 kilometres north of Miramshah, the administrative headquarters of the region.
Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan, director-general of Inter Services Public Relations, said that four miscreants were killed in the operation. He said three of the four militants killed had been identified as foreigners. Informed sources said they were Uzbek nationals.
Gen Sultan said that the security forces had destroyed a compound used by the miscreants and arrested two suspects, one of them a foreigner. Giving details of the operation on telephone from Islamabad, the ISPR chief said that the security forces struck a compound of the militants in the Bangi Dar of Mirali tehsil.
The operation was launched after reports that some miscreants were hiding in the area north of Miramshah, Mr Sultan said, adding that the hideouts had been destroyed and the area secured.
The army spokesman said that encounter between the troops and the militants continued for quite some time. He said the security forces had recovered rockets, missiles, light machine-guns and ammunition.
Independent sources suggested that the military had moved in the area quite rapidly and there was a heavy exchange of fire between the security forces and the militants. The ground forces had the aerial cover of gunships, they said.
The sources said that security forces had sealed off the area close to the Afghan border. There were no independent reports about casualties and the number of arrests. Witnesses said that eight helicopters appeared on Miramshah early in the morning and flew towards Bangi Dar and Hassankhel area of the Mirali tehsil.
They said the army helicopters were flying from Miramshah helipad and troops were seen heading towards the Afghan border till the filing of this report. The sources said that an extensive search operation had been started in Bangi Dar and Hassankhel area inhabited by Gorbazkhel Wazir tribe.
Unofficial reports said that US-led allied forces had started action against Al Qaeda and Taliban suspects on Monday morning across the border and pounded suspected locations in Shankai, Dabgi and Mandokhel areas. These reports suggested that jets and helicopters were taking part in the operation and dropped bombs on several positions near the Pakistan border.
DILAWAR KHAN ADDS FROM WANA: Suspected militants fired rockets and missiles on army installations in Bosh Narai Ghar near the border on Sunday night. Unofficial reports said that three soldiers received injuries when a shell hit a military outpost.
However, the ISPR spokesman denied the report. He confirmed that miscreants had fired rockets on the security forces in Bosh Narai, but did not cause any loss to the forces.
In a related development the Utmankhel sub-tribe of the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe signed an agreement with the authorities in the South Waziristan region on Monday. Under the agreement they would not protect militants.
Elders of the Utmankhel tribe handed over 25 Kalashnikov rifles to Assistant Political Agent Khan Bakhsh in Wana as a guarantee for providing security to security forces and to cooperate with the authorities to check militants in the area.
The Gangikhel tribe had signed a similar agreement with the authorities last week. So far two out of nine sub-tribes of the Ahmadzai tribe have signed agreements with the government.