SLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military yesterday said it had killed 28 militants in air strikes in the restive tribal region near the Afghan border, a region where it has been battling Islamist groups for more than a decade. The strikes, that also killed a number of foreign fighters, took place yesterday in Dattakhel area of North Waziristan district, a stronghold of Taliban-linked groups, the military said.
In June, the army began an operation in the North Waziristan agency after a bloody raid on Karachi Airport ended faltering peace talks between the government and militants. North Waziristan is a major base for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistani Taliban), which began its campaign against the state in 2007 and also provides shelter to a number of foreign militant groups.
4 soldiers die in Kabul blast
KABUL: At least four Afghan soldiers were killed and around a dozen people including six civilians wounded when a roadside bomb planted by the Taliban exploded in the Afghan capital yesterday, officials said. The blast, caused by a remote-controlled bomb, targeted an Afghan army bus in the western part of Kabul, the Ministry of Defence said. Broken glass and debris were strewn around the site of the attack as security officials cordoned off the area.
Briton killed
MUZAFFARABAD: A gunman shot dead a British national in in Mirpur, 114km south of Muzaffarabad, police said yesterday, as authorities struggle to piece together a motive behind the murder. “Jumma Khan, 70, was shot in chest from a short range by a gunman when he opened door of his house after it was knocked (on) late on Monday, killing him on the spot,” police official Imran Qasim said.
Agencies
