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| India-Pakistan |
| Soldier, 15 Taliban killed in Mohmand |
| 2009-01-19 |
| At least 15 Taliban and a soldier were killed when clashes broke out between the Taliban and security forces in Mohmand Agency, a security official said on Sunday. The clashes, which broke out late on Saturday, occurred as the forces cleared a road linking Bajaur Agency with Peshawar, the official said. "Fifteen militants were killed in a successful raid by security forces on their stronghold in Darwazgai area of Mohmand Agency," the official said. "One security forces personnel embraced martyrdom in the encounter," he said, adding that the Taliban fired mortars at the troops from their hideouts. The toll could not be confirmed independently. The Pakistani military has said more than 1,500 rebels have been killed and hundreds more captured since August, when the military launched an operation in Bajaur Agency, which borders Mohmand, to cleanse the area of the Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked terrorists. Meanwhile, a meeting of a peace jirga from Hangu, which convened to discuss the law and order situation in the district, was postponed for Monday (today), officials said. They said government offices, which were closed following sectarian clashes in the district, would reopen the same day. The jirga's meeting, which was scheduled on Sunday in the office of the Hangu district coordination officer (DCO), could not proceed due to the absence of Orakzai Agency's elders. DCO Mujibur Rehman and Hangu Nazim Haji Afzal told reporters that all government offices had been asked to open on Monday, adding attendance of the Orakzai elders in the jirga's meeting would be ensured. They said the jirga would be reformulated if the elders did not show up in the meeting. |
| Posted by:Fred |