[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Sixteen more militants were killed and 35 others arrested on the second day of the Operation Bia Daraglam in different parts of Bara Tehsil of Khyber Agency on Wednesday, the Frontier Constabulary (FC) sources said.Two explosive-laden vehicles, houses of six commanders, including those of Abid Murad, Tayyab and Sabeel and six hideouts of militants were destroyed in the operation.
As many as 59 miscreants have been killed and 78 others apprehended during the Daraglam operation so far. Political Agent Khyber Tariq Hayat Khan told reporters that the operation would continue till the elimination of all terrorists. He said relaxation of curfew would be announced after the approval of the competent authorities.
Nasrullah Afridi & Daud Khattak add from Bara: Security forces killed three more suspected militants, demolished houses of several commanders and razed a centre of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) in different areas on the second day of the Operation Bia Daraghlam (Here I come again) in the Bara sub-division of Khyber Agency on Wednesday.
Another 35 people, believed to be militants, were arrested and a huge quantity of arms and ammunition was seized during raids on suspected locations, security officials said. The detainees and arms seized during the swoop were presented before the media at the Frontier Constabulary's (FC) Shahkas Fort in Bara.
The arrested people also included a prominent elder, Malik Durran Gul, who was presented blindfolded before media persons. However, the elder was freed later, saying he was taken into custody for violating the curfew.
Malik Durran Gul was kidnapped by the Bara-based banned LI some time back and remained in their custody for several months on charges of his alleged links with the government. Locals said the elder was freed after payment of Rs 3,000,000 as fine to the banned outfit.
Talking to journalists, several of the arrested people said they had nothing to do with the LI or any other militant outfit. "I was sitting outside my house when arrested by security forces," said one man seemed to be in his 20s. He added that all the LI people had already vacated their centres and taken refuge in the mountainous areas.
Officials said the house of a key LI commander, Haleem Shah, was demolished in the Kamarkhel area of Bara. Shah was leading the LI before its present chief Mangal Bagh. The house of another commander, Misrithe Gul, an erstwhile spokesman for the banned outfit, was also destroyed in the Shalobar area.
In the Sipah area, the house of commander Ghuncha Gul Zakhakhel was demolished, while another two houses owned by commander Sabeel and commander Saifoor were razed in Malik Dinkhel and Sipah areas of Bara, respectively.
The houses of the commanders were captured by security forces on Tuesday. Besides the residential constructions, a centre of the banned LI was also destroyed in the Shalobar area while a market consisting of 18 shops dealing in small arms and ammunition was also flattened in Bara bazaar.
Security officials at the Shahkas Fort told journalists that two vehicles, prepared for suicide attacks, were also destroyed during a raid on an LI centre by the troops. Locals said none of the three people killed in Wednesday's action belonged to the LI while bodies of three of the nine people killed on Tuesday were still lying in Dogra hospital as people could not come out of their houses to identify and take the bodies because of the curfew in the Bara sub-division.
In the Sipah area, security forces arrested the chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Khyber Agency, Shah Faisal, during a raid on his house. Faisal's uncle, six other members of his family and four guests were also taken into custody, the locals said.