... which is owned and operated by Hafiz Gul Behadur...
of North
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Wazoo.A security bigshot said the jets targeted gunnies in the forested Shawal Valley.
According to an intelligence official, 35 gunnies were killed in air strikes carried out in Degan, Saeedabad, Manzarkhel and Dattakhel.
He said the Shawal bombing had forced gunnies to flee their hideouts. Fifteen 'Punjabi' gunnies fleeing the bombing in pickup trucks were captured by security forces in Birmal and taken to Wana camp in South Waziristan.
"The bombing is having an effect. The gunnies are feeling the heat. These are the ones who fled the military operation in Miranshah
... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a
ministatein centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...
and Mirali," the official said. "It is a mixed bag of local and foreign myrmidons," he added.
Local residents said the US drone fired four missiles into a compound and a vehicle in Zoi Saidgai, about 45km west of regional headquarters Miranshah, killing 20 myrmidons.
They said that 12 of those killed were foreigners of central Asian origin and eight local myrmidons.
According to an official, the foreigners were members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
A security official confirmed the drone attack which, he said, was carried out close to the Afghan border.
There was, however, some confusion over the timing of the two strikes.
The area is a stronghold of myrmidon commander Hafiz Gul Bahadar, who once had a peace agreement with the government, but has now seen a spate of bombings by jets as security forces move towards Dattakhel.
Military officials said that 30 soldiers, including two officers, had bit the dust since the army launched the Zarb-e-Azb operation in North Waziristan on June 15. More than 400 gunnies were killed, the officials said, though there has been no independent confirmation about the claim.
Three soldiers died in an ambush near Boya on Tuesday and two others in a gunbattle with gunnies in Mirali on the first day of the ground offensive in what once was a myrmidon hotbed, a security official said.
The military claimed it had cleared Miranshah and was now clearing Mirali in a phased manner.
Most gunnies have fled the town but fire-raids, including rocket and mortar attacks, continued, the official said.
Security forces are now moving on two fronts — westwards on Dattakhel road and eastwards in Mirali.
Though Mirali, like Miranshah, is now deserted, it still has remnants of gunnies here and there, sniping and attacking security forces, an official said, referring to the attack on Tuesday which resulted in the death of two soldiers.
More than 900,000 people have left North Waziristan. Several thousand others have taken refuge in Afghanistan.
According to Rooters, a high-ranking military official denied that the United States was responsible for the drone attack. He did not elaborate.
Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said the Pak military had no confirmation there had been a US drone strike.
Pakistain publicly condemns the US drones strikes saying they often kill civilians and are a violation of illusory sovereignty.
But some officials, including a former president, have said the military has secretly approved them in the past.