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Pakistani forces attack militants' compounds

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, Jan 16, IRNA
Pakistan-Military-Operation
Pakistani forces used helicopter gunships to bomb suspected militant hideouts in the tribal region near the rugged Afghan border early Tuesday, the military said.

The raid occurred in Zamzula area in the South Waziristan tribal area after information was received of training activities being conducted by foreign militants and their local supporters, Pakistan Army spokesman Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan said.

The operation was launched at 6:55 am (local time) when the foreign militants and their local facilitators were engaged in training, General Sultan, the director general of the army's Inter-Services Public Relations told TV channels.

The spokesman said that three of five compounds were destroyed and several militants were killed and injured.

However, he did not give the exact number of casualties.

There was no independent confirmation of the military claim.

General Sultan said that aviation helicopters were used in the operation, adding that 25 to 30 militants were present in the area when the attack was launched.

Their activities were being monitored for some time and the operation was conducted after confirmed reports about their activities were received, the spokesman said.

He said that no one from the security forces was hurt.

There had been calm in South Waziristan after a peace deal was signed with the militants and tribesmen in July 2004.

The Pakistani army also signed another peace agreement with militants in the second troubled spot, North Wazistan, in September last year.

For almost five years, Pakistani soldiers and paramilitary forces have battled local tribesmen, many believed to be allied with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda network, in the fiercely independent mountain region where central government powers do not reach.

The United States believes that Bin Laden is also believed to be hiding along the porous Pakistani-Afghan frontier.

Pakistani security officials have said that Arab, Afghan and Central Asian militants allegedly linked with Al-Qaeda, as well as area tribesmen suspected of ties with Afghanistan's radical Taliban militia, operate in North and South Waziristan.

Pakistan says it has deployed some 80,000 troops in tribal areas along its border with Afghanistan to check cross-border movement of militants.

Islamabad has also decided to partly fence and mine its 2500- kilometer border with Afghanistan, the decision strongly opposed by the Afghan government.

2020/235/2321/1414