46 militants killed in Orakzai operation

By Syed Hassan Mehmood

KALAYA: Forty six militants have been killed and 26 injured in the four-day military operation in the Orakzai Agency, tribal and official sources said on Thursday.

The sources said jet fighters and gunship helicopters pounded the militants’ hideouts in Balozai area of the Kalaya Tehsil on Thursday at 2:00 pm, killing five militants and a civilian. A number of hideouts and bunkers of the militants were destroyed on Shawazar mountains, the sources said.

They said several government and private installations were also damaged during the shelling by the jet fighters and gunship helicopters on Wednesday. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Orakzai chapter commander, Hakimullah Mehsud, told reporters by phone from an undisclosed location that the TTP was not responsible for the killing of civilians. “Until the government stops operations and ensures a halt to the drone attacks in the tribal areas, the TTP will continue attacking the government installations,” he added.

The residents of Dabori, Khadizai and Ghiljo Tehsil have started migration to safer places in tractors, vans and carts. They complained that no camp had been set up in Hangu for the migrating people by the political authorities.

“We have no proper place to accommodate the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Hangu and have requested the provincial government to allot us a place for setting up a camp for the affected people,” Political Agent Orakzai Agency Abdul Baseer said, adding the political authorities had also sought funds from the central government on an emergency basis for the rehabilitation of the affected people in the district.

Meanwhile, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) media cell said the security forces had killed 11 militants in the Orakzai Agency on Thursday after hitting the militants’ hideouts in Chapri, Ferozkhel, Khwajakhizar and Bizoti areas of the Orakzai Agency.

It further said that the security forces in operations on Tuesday and Wednesday killed 27 militants in Ghiljo Tehsil. A big cache of arms and ammunition was seized in a search operation in Darra Adamkhel, Frontier Region (FR), Kohat.