Several militants, soldier killed in Mohmand
GHALLANAI: One soldier was killed and two others sustained injuries as clashes between the security forces and the militants continued in Safi Tehsil and the adjoining areas of the Mohmand Agency for the second consecutive day on Thursday.
The security forces also claimed to have killed several militants when their hideouts were dynamited besides arresting 10 suspects and recovering explosives and suicide vests from them during the operation in different areas of the restive tribal agency. Sources told Geo News that the militants attacked the security forces’ checkposts in Darwazgai-II and Lakaro with mortar guns and rocket launchers after which a fierce clash started.
The sources added that a mortar shell fired by the militants hit the Darwazgai-II checkpoint in which Lance Naek Niaz Muhammad Jan was killed and two others, whose names could not be ascertained, sustained injuries. It was learnt that several cattle heads perished in Utmanzai area because of the artillery shelling by the security forces.
A spokesman for the Mohmand Rifles, a wing of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) in Ghallanai, told the media that they pounded different areas of Safi, Lakaro and Utmanzai Tehsils with artillery and mortar guns, killing several militants.
“We have also arrested 10 suspects in Qandaro area who were transporting arms and ammunition to their associates engaged in clashes with the security forces in Darwazgai-II and Lakaro checkpoints. A vehicle laden with explosive devices, Kalashnikovs, bombs, suicide jackets and masks was captured,” the spokesman claimed while showing the seized items to media persons.
He said that the security forces targeted several suspected hideouts with artillery and dynamited 25 houses of those helping the militants in Qandaro, Habibzai, Haider Koroona, Malakana and Sandokhel areas. Later, the captured militants were shifted to Ghallanai, the headquarters of the Mohmand Agency, for interrogation.
It was learnt that security was beefed up before the shifting of alleged militants by placing curfew in Ghallanai and Mian Mandai bazaars while Gandhab-Peshawar Road was closed for all kinds of traffic. Hundreds of vehicles and passengers remained stranded on the main road due to an unannounced curfew by the security forces.
Source: The News
Date:1/2/2009
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