Nearly 1,200 militants killed during Operation Zar-e-Azb so far, says Maj Gen Zafarullah Khan
At least three soldiers and seven militants were killed on Sunday in a clash between militants and security forces in Dattakhel area of North Waziristan Agency (NWA) while airstrikes targeting militant compounds eliminated at least 27 suspected terrorists in the region.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), four soldiers were injured in the clash whereas the dead also included an army officer. Officials said atleast soldiers were missing after an attack on their check post in Dattakhel.
Meanwhile, 27 terrorists including some senior commanders and foreign fighters, were killed in precision strikes in Dattakhel area.
The strikes are part of the military’s ongoing militant clean-up operation in the restive tribal area, however as access to the agency is limited, there can be no independent verification of the information provided by the military.
ZARB SUCCESSES:
The Pakistan Army says it has so far cleared 90 percent of the territory of NWA from militants since the start of Operation Zarb-e-Azb in June.
Zarb-e-Azb Commander Major General Zafarullah Khan told reporters specially flown to Mirali and Miranshah for a briefing, “In an across-the-board military operation against foreign and local terrorists hiding in NWA, we have also made major recoveries of weapons, ammunition, explosives, IEDs and their manufacturing facilities.”
“So far an area of 2,708 square kilometres has been wrested back from the terrorists while the rest will be cleared as early as possible,” said Maj Gen Khan.
A total of 1,198 terrorists have been killed and 356 injured since the operation was launched five months ago, said the army officer on Saturday.
The ongoing operation has targeted the militant stronghold in North Waziristan, a mountainous region that borders Afghanistan and has acted as a staging post for deadly attacks in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The offensive was launched as Western forces began withdrawing from Afghanistan.
The Pakistan army has killed 1,200 suspected militants in the anti-Taliban offensive during the past five months, seriously reducing the group’s ability to carry out attacks, senior officers said on Sunday during a rare trip to the conflict zone.
In the centre of Mirali, the second largest town in the region, there is hardly a building untouched by the fighting.
Khan said that a widely-predicted wave of violence in response to the operation had failed to materialise.
“The action which was expected has not come,” he said, picking his way through shattered buildings as he pointed out places he said were used for torturing prisoners or producing propaganda videos. “Significant successes have been made.”
The military had killed nearly 1,200 militants since the operation began, he said, but refused to show their pictures out of respect for the dead. Another 230 had been arrested, and around 132 tonnes of explosive recovered so far, he said.
Large amounts of weapons, ammunition and many vehicles had also been seized, he said, showing off a US-made Hummer jeep whose windscreen had been shattered by bullets.
Many of the areas the military moved into had been booby trapped, Khan said, and soldiers were going house to house to defuse bombs.
“They have planted (them) in houses, they have planted (them) in the streets, they’ve planted (them) even in the trees,” he said.
The militants generally rely on bombs and ambushes to engage the military rather than risking an open battle.
Khan would not be drawn on how long the operation might take. Most of the civilian population of North Waziristan — estimated are around a million people — were ordered to leave before the operation began.
Many now face a harsh winter away from their homes and businesses, reliant on food aid and cramped quarters with relatives. When they return, many will find their homes destroyed in the fighting.
