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Pakistani jets attack Taliban hideouts, kill 17
Pakistani warplanes attacked Taliban positions in the northwestern Orakzai region on Tuesday, killing 17 terrorists militants, a senior regional government official said.
Orakzai is one of seven ethnic Pashtun tribal areas where the Pakistani army has supposedly tried without success to root out terrorists militants with offensives against their strongholds.
The strike came a day after a local newspaper reported that Pakistan will launch an offensive in North Waziristan, a known sanctuary for al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists militants also located in Pakistan's tribal belt.
Pakistan's performance in fighting terrorists militancy has come under close scrutiny again after it was discovered that al Qaeda terrorist chief Osama bin Laden had been living in the country.
Army operations in areas like Orakzai have failed to break the back of terrorist militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban, who have stepped up suicide bombings since U.S. special forces killed bin Laden near Islamabad on May 2.
"We had information that terrorists militants gathered there and were planning attacks so we launched the attack," a local senior government official told Reuters. He said 17 terrorists militants were killed and six terrorists wounded in the Orakzai operation.
Posted by: tipper 2011-05-31 |
