46 terrorists including three TTP commanders killed in Khyber, Ziarat, Karachi, Gujrat, eight terror suspects arrested in Mandi Bahauddin while US drone killed eight in Afghanistan
In a countrywide crackdown following the Peshawar massacre in which over 140 people, mostly children were killed, security forces across the country killed at least 46 terrorists and suspects besides arresting eight suspected militants. Moreover, US drone strikes killed at least eight suspected militants in District Nazyan of Afghanistan from where the attack on Army Public School Peshawar was planned, said security forces.
As many as 32 terrorists were killed in clashes in the troubled Khyber Agency near the Afghan border, days after a Taliban massacre killed 148 people at a school.
The insurgents were killed by security forces in an ambush in the Tirah valley of Khyber, where the Taliban and other militants have taken refuge from an army offensive, the military said in a statement.
“Reportedly a group of terrorists was moving from Tirah towards the Pak-Afghan border. Security forces ambushed the moving group at Wurmagai and Spurkot, killing 32 terrorists in exchange of fire,” the Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) statement said, adding that three security personnel were injured.
EIGHT MILITANTS SHOT DOWN IN ZIARAT:
In the meanwhile, eight suspected militants including a local Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander were killed by security forces in Ziarat district on Friday.
According to security sources, an operation was conducted in the Chotair area of Ziarat during which a TTP commander of Balochistan chapter named Najamuddin and another seven militants were killed.
Security forces also claimed to have recovered arms and ammunition from the possession of militants.
Sources said that the deceased militants were involved in acts of kidnapping and other terrorist incidents in the area. They added that the militants who were killed appeared to be not locals.
The incident has come a day after security forces and police picked up four militants from Quetta’s Eastern Bypass area.
Security agencies started investigation from the arrested militants who belong to the country’s volatile tribal belt.
FOUR SUSPECTS TARGETED IN KARACHI:
Four alleged members of banned militant organisation were killed during a search operation launched in Musharraf Colony area of the city, said a spokesman for the Pakistan Rangers Sindh on Friday.
The spokesman told that the Rangers personnel launched a targeted operation after receiving the tip off regarding the presence of banned outfit members in Musharraf Colony area.
While Rangers were searching the area, militants opened fire on them and during the retaliatory action, four militants belonging to the banned outfit were killed.
One Rangers man was also injured when militants hurled a hand grenade during the clashes.
Rangers spokesman said a key militant figure identified as Abid Machar was also killed in the shootout. He was an expert in manufacturing bombs and was also involved in Karachi bomb blasts, said the spokesman.
Identities of the others suspects were yet to be known. Huge cache of arms including four SMG was also recovered from their possession.
TWO KILLED IN GUJRAT:
In a separate incident, two Taliban militants were killed in a police encounter in Gujrat on Friday.
Gujrat District Police Officer (DPO) Gujrat Rai Ejaz Ahmad, in a press conference, said that the two terrorists identified as Afzal alias Fauji and Ahmad alias Baba were members of an outlawed group named Al-Furqan and later joined TTP.
He added that the terrorists had killed Head Constable Arshad Mehmood, Constable Qamar Butt, Shafqat Azam and Seerat Abbas by attacking a police checkpost in 2002.
It is said that Afzal alias Fauji was a native of Gujrat whereas Ahmed alias Baba was a resident of Toba Tek Singh
EIGHT SUSPECTS ARRESTED IN MANDI BAHAUDDIN:
In the meanwhile, police in Mandi Bahauddin arrested eight suspected terrorists besides recovering weapons and explosives from their possession on Friday.
On a tip off the police launched search an operation in Afghan Basti located at Sugar Mill Road in Mandi Bahauddin. During the action, eight suspected terrorists stated to be hailing from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) were nabbed.
Police also recovered weapons and explosives from the possession of the detained culprits who were shifted to undisclosed location for further interrogation.
THREE FC PERSONNEL MARTYRED IN BAJAUR:
In the meanwhile, three Frontier Corps (FC) personnel lost their lives in an explosion in Mamond area of Bajaur Agency.
Sources said the unidentified miscreants had planted the explosive material alongside the road in Dola Cheena.
Security forces cordoned off the area and launched search operation after the blast.
US DRONE KILLS EIGHT IN NAZYAN:
As Pakistani security forces carry out ground offensives in Khyber Agency, particularly the Tirah valley of Bara which borders Nazyan, United States (US) drones strikes against militants have increased on both sides of the border.
At least eight suspected militants were killed in a US drone strike in the Nazyan district of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, on the zero line bordering Khyber Agency.
Intelligence sources said the drone targeted a militant compound in Cort Village of Nazyan, completely destroying the compound. Apart from the eight dead, scores of others were reportedly injured on the zero line, which has been serving as a safe haven for the Mullah Fazllullah led TTP.
According to security officials, militants based in the District Nazyan had planned the devastating attack on the ArmyPublic School in Peshawar, which left over 140 children and teachers dead and scores injured.
Soon after the attack in Peshawar, Army chief General Raheel Sharif in an unscheduled visit to Kabul had been given assurances by the Afghan government as well as the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF) for action against a Kunar-based Taliban splinter group which is believed to have been behind the attack.