21 militants killed in Shawal offensive

• Top civil-military huddle vows to eliminate terror day after Shabqadar attack

At least 21 militants were killed in air strikes and ground operations that began overnight in Shawal area near the Pak-Afghan border, the military’s media wing claimed on Tuesday.

Military spokesman Asim Bajwa said the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and Army Aviation’s helicopter gunships carried out strikes in Shawal Valley of North Waziristan. The strikes began Monday night and continued into Tuesday, he said.

“Ops continue. Imp heights & passes along Pak-Afgn Bdr secured. Valley’s sanitisation in progress,” he said on Twitter.

He later posted photographs of soldiers fanning out in a forested area and a ruined building engulfed in smoke.

This information could not be independently verified as journalists have limited access to the war-torn region.

Meanwhile in Islamabad, the country’s top civil-military leadership vowed to eliminate terrorism and reviewed the internal security situation, a day after Shabqadar court attack.

In a meeting of the country’s top civil-military leaders, chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the PM House, the participants condemned the cowardly act of terrorism in Shabqadar in which civilians and law enforcement agency personnel lost their precious lives, a statement said.

“The meeting agreed that elimination of terrorism from our soil is a national resolve and paid tributes to the personnel of law enforcement and security agencies who embraced martyrdom while fighting this menace of terrorism,” it added.

Further, issues pertaining to national and internal security were discussed during the meeting which was attended by Army chief General Raheel Sharif, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar, SAPM on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, National Security Adviser Lt-Gen (retd) Nasir Janjua, DG ISI Lt-Gen Rizwan Akhtar, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chauhdhary and other senior officials of the government.