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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan: Army takes control of Nawagai |
| 2008-12-05 |
| (AKI/DAWN) - Pakistani security forces on Wednesday took control of an important town in the country's troubled Bajaur tribal region as 21 people, including 14 militants, were killed in an air strike in the adjacent Mohmand tribal region in the country's northwest. Local officials said that troops backed by tanks and armored personnel carriers secured Nawagai town, some 30 kilometres northwest of Khar near the Afghan border. Local people reportedly welcomed the troops and hoisted white flags on their rooftops. Residents said militants had already vacated their positions before the Pakistani troops entered Nawagai. The town which is adjacent to Afghanistan's Kunar province was a militant stronghold, according to the Pakistani military. Forces had secured hilltops and took positions in all sensitive areas. Officials said authorities had asked the displaced people to return to their homes. Sources said militants had set up a vast network in the town where they had set up detention centres, and constructed tunnels and bunkers. Nawagai is the second major town in the troubled region which has been fully secured. Forces launched an operation in Bajaur in August to flush out suspected Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants and establish the rule of law. Officials claimed to have killed over 1,500 militants in recent months in operations along the Afghan border and in the restive Swat valley in which over 1,500 died. Meanwhile jet fighters and helicopters hit suspected positions in the Lakaro area of Mohmand tribal region on Wednesday inflicting casualties on militants, official sources said. According to unconfirmed reports, 14 militants and seven civilians were killed in the air strike carried out in Ziarat, Ghaziabad, Bagh Pahar and Karier areas. Also on Wednesday, a suicide bomber killed four people in an attack on a paramilitary convoy, 32 km west of the capital of North West Frontier Province, Peshawar, near Mohmand, Pakistani daily Dawn reported. The ongoing military action has triggered an exodus from the region and 168,000 internally displaced persons have sought shelter in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province. |
| Posted by:Fred |