72 killed in North Waziristan air raids

MIRANSHAH: Pakistan Air Force fighter aircraft on Tuesday pounded terroists’ hideouts in the Dattakhel area of North Waziristan and reportedly killed 76 suspected terrorists.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) issued a brief statement to the media about the air strikes in Dattakhel. It said the aircraft hit militants positions and killed 76 of them.The ISPR statement didn’t elaborate the identity and nationality of the slain militants.
Tribal sources confirmed heavy bombing in Dattakhel, close to the Afghan border. They said that 40 people were killed when the jets targeted some villages in Dattakhel on Tuesday morning, followed by the second round of air strikes in the same area.
“We heard heavy bombing in Dattakhel and its adjoining villages where the local Taliban headed by Hafiz Gul Bahadur and some foreign militants are operating. Later, we came to know that 40 people, including militants, were killed in the bombing,” a local tribesman, Jamal Din, said from a village located near the Afghan border.
He said Dattakhel is the hometown of Taliban leader Hafiz Gul Bahadur, who once enjoyed the reputation of a pro-Pakistan Taliban leader.He and his militants decided not to flee the area and vowed to resist the Pakistani forces in the area.
This is stated to be one of the reasons the troops didn’t launch a ground offensive in Dattakhel, after they cleared most parts of Mir Ali and Miranshah, the two major residential towns of North Waziristan, of militants.
Security officials said a number of militants were targeted in Khar Tangi, Tor Tangi, Lataka, Shawal and Madakhel.There was no independent confirmation of these reports and the killing of 76 militants as North Waziristan is not accessible to the media.
The Taliban had first stopped the journalists from doing their work independently and now the armed forces have kept the media out of the tribal region. ­In such circumstances, it becomes difficult for journalists to get accurate information from the area or verify one-sided claims about their success.
Our Bara correspondent adds: Sixteen suspected militants were killed and 12 others sustained injuries when PAF fighter aircraft pounded terrorists’ hideouts in the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency on Tuesday.
Official sources said the aircraft targeted the hideouts of militants belonging to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) in Wocha Wona, Srawala, Tarkho Kas, Nakai and various other areas.
The sources said at least 16 suspected militants were killed and 12 others were wounded in the bombing. They said several hideouts of militants were also destroyed in the air strikes.INP adds from DI Khan: Six terrorists, including a key Taliban commander, were killed in a blast and 10 suspects were arrested during a search operation here on Tuesday.
Security forces on a tip-off on the presence of militants launched an operation in the Kot Sultan area of Tehsil Kolachi and its surrounding areas.During the search operation, six terrorists, including commander Malangi, were killed due to an explosion and 10 suspects were arrested.Security in the area was beefed up after the blast and arrests of suspects.