ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military said yesterday it had killed 65 militants and destroyed five hideouts in fresh air strikes as part of a major offensive against the Taliban in the northwest.
Pakistan began the long-awaited push to clear insurgent bases from North Waziristan district, on the Afghan border, in June after a bloody attack on Karachi airport finally sank faltering peace talks with the rebels.
According to an official statement, the military first carried out air strikes early yesterday in Datta Khel area of North Waziristan tribal district, killing 35, and later targeted a village in the Shawal Valley, killing 30.
The conflict zone is off-limits to journalists, so there is no way to independently verify the number and identity of those killed.
Air strikes, artillery, mortars and ground troops have all been used to retake territory in North Waziristan, which had become a haven for fighters with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militant outfits.
The military has said the major towns of Miranshah and Mir Ali had now been cleared of insurgents, along with a 90-kilometre road through North Waziristan.
Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal areas on the Afghan border have for years been a hideout for Islamist militants of all stripes -- including Al Qaeda and the homegrown TTP as well as foreign fighters such as Uzbeks and Uighurs.
Attack on polio team kills cop
BAJAUR: Gunmen killed a policeman guarding a polio vaccination team in Pakistan’s restive northwest yesterday, officials said, the latest attack on health workers trying to tackle the crippling disease.
Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio remains endemic but efforts to stamp it out have been badly hit in recent years by attacks on immunisation teams.
The country has seen 117 cases of polio so far this year -- outstripping the 93 reported in the whole of 2013.
The latest attack was in Bajaur, one of seven tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan where polio is a particular problem.
“A member of the tribal police guarding a polio vaccination team was killed when the team came under attack in Damadola area of Bajaur agency”, local administration official Shah Nasim Khan said.
He said the attackers lay in wait for the polio team in nearby fields before opening fire.
The health workers escaped unharmed.
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