South Asia News
24 militants killed as Pakistan military secures tunnel (2nd Roundup)
By DPA
Jan 27, 2008, 17:05 GMT

Islamabad - Security forces in Pakistan on Sunday killed 24 militants and gained control of a strategic road tunnel, while 31 rebels were seized in restive Swat valley in country's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), the army said.

Heavily-armed fighters captured the Friendship tunnel near the town of Darra Adam Khel on the Indus Highway Friday evening when government troops launched an offensive in the area to recover four trucks carrying ammunition that rebels had seized.

The military said it flushed out militants from most parts of the mountainous area Sunday after fierce fighting in which heavy artillery and helicopter gunships were used.

'Reportedly 24 miscreants have been killed and many more fled leaving behind huge quantity of arms and ammunition,' the statement said.

However, the military's chief spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said some militants were still holed up around a couple of peaks.

'It is a mountainous area and the operation will proceed slowly but our troops are making advance,' Abbas said.

In three days of fighting, pro-Taliban militants had suffered more than 70 casualties while government forces lost seven soldiers. Ten troops were also taken hostage when the rebels attacked the road tunnel and blocked the highway.

The Indus Highway, which connects NWFP with central and southern Pakistan, is also routinely used by the army for transporting supplies and troops from the garrison town of Kohat to the tribal areas, where the military is fighting the al-Qaeda terrorists and pro-Taliban militants.

Mass exodus is being seen in the Darra Adam Khel area with hundreds of families evacuating to Kohat in the wake of heavy artillery shelling and aerial attacks by Cobra helicopters.

The security forces have directed the non-combatant tribesmen to hoist white flags on their rooftops to avert collateral damage. On Friday, a rocket fired by the troops narrowly missed a school van.

Violence spread in many tribal districts, including South Waziristan, where another military operation was underway against a pro-Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, who has been blamed for masterminding the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The security forces are targeting the hideouts of thousands of tribal warriors loyal to Mehusd with the heavy artillery but the locals say the civilians are suffering from the government's assault.

Thousands of families have fled to the safer places in the town of Tank in neighbouring NWFP. Many of them said they had to travel through the mountains for twenty hours in the freezing temperatures to reach the town and some couldn't make it.

'I have seen the bodies of more than one dozen persons on my way to Tank and most of them were either elderly people or children,' said Shah Mohammed who arrived on Sunday morning to the town from Makeen area of South Waziristan.

'The security forces are making no distinction between the civilians and the fighters,' he added.

Hundreds of refugee families from the tribal areas are living hungry in the open sky in various parts of NWFP.

The restive South Waziristan tribal belt is a safe haven for al- Qaeda and Taliban fighters carrying out cross-border attacks on international forces in Afghanistan and hundreds of Pakistani troops are believed to have died in the recent weeks to contain them.

The country has seen more than 50 suicide bombings in the last 12 months that left over 700 people dead.

The fighting between the followers of a radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah and government forces also continued in the volatile Swat valley, which lies on around four hours drive from Islamabad.

'The security forces on Sunday morning conducted a search and cordon operation in three areas and 31 militants, including the local commander, have been apprehended,' said the military statement.

A large quantity of arms and ammunition including rifles, pistols, shot guns and rounds of different calibre were also recovered from the rebels who launched a campaign late last year to enforce Taliban-style narrow way of life in the region.