Security forces shelled suspected militant hideouts in North Waziristan on Wednesday after a senior government official survived an ambush on his convoy. The government’s top official in North Waziristan, Zaheerul Islam, told Reuters one of his bodyguards was killed in the late Tuesday ambush as he was travelling from curfew-bound Miranshah, the main town in N Wazristan, to Peshawar. Islam said four of the attacking gunmen had been killed as his guards fought back. Later, security forces shelled suspected militant hideouts in the area. “Miscreants’ hideouts were destroyed and this operation will continue,” Islam said by telephone from Mir Ali.Dozens of residents of Naurak, a village near the scene of the attack on Islam, were fleeing on Wednesday, fearing fighting between troops and militants, an AP reporter saw. Authorities using explosives demolished 10 homes of suspected militants in a village near Miranshah. The homes were empty and no one was hurt. Residents of the area said artillery fire resounded all night and more people were joining the thousands who had already fled.
Islam said security forces had on Tuesday destroyed a madrassa that had been run by a prominent militant cleric. “It appeared to be a madrassa but terrorists were being sheltered there and a lot of weapons were also found there,” he said. The whereabouts of the cleric were not known.
| Comes as a surprise, huh? |
A delegation of 16 tribal elders travelled to Rawalpindi on Wednesday where they met with President Gen Pervez Musharraf. Army spokesman Gen Shaukat Sultan said the elders promised to extend “full support to the government” in evicting foreign militants and their local supporters from the tribal areas.
| "Oh, yasss! Just as we always have, sahib! We shall get together some tribal lashkars and drive them into the sea!" |