Wazoo on Sunday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) released a statement in the afternoon saying that a check post in the area was assaulted by a group and in an exchange of fire, three people were killed while 15 were maimed ─ including five soldiers.According to the statement by the Army's media wing, MNAs Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir ─ both of whom are leaders of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) ─ were leading the group.
"A group led by Mohsin Javed [Dawar] and Ali Wazir assaulted Kharqamar check post, Boyya, North Waziristan tribal district this morning. They wanted to exert pressure for release of suspected terrorists’ controller tossed in the calaboose
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the other day," added the statement, without specifying who the suspect was.
"Troops at the check post exercised maximum restraint in the face of provocation and direct firing on the post. Due to firing of the group, five Army soldiers got injured. In exchange of fire, three individuals who attacked the post bit the dust and 10 got injured," it said.
All injured have been shifted to Army Hospital for treatment, said the ISPR statement, adding that Ali Wazir along with 8 individuals have been arrested while Mohsin Javed [Dawar] is on the lam.
| An Nahar provides background: |
Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir, both members of parliament, led a group that attacked a checkpost in Boyya in North
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Wazoo tribal district to "exert pressure for release of a controller of suspected terrorists," the military said in a statement. North Waziristan, once plagued by militancy and unrest, is where Washington believes that Pakistain is providing safe haven to hard boy groups including the Afghan Taliban
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and the Haqqani Network.
The army has carried out multiple operations in the region, and security there and across Pakistain has dramatically improved in recent years.
But the military maintains a heavy presence there still, and the PTM has unleashed festering anger over the alleged abuses against Pashtuns across the country, including enforced disappearances and assassinations.
The movement remains peaceful, but has been notable for its direct verbal attacks on the armed forces in a country where such criticism is largely seen as a red line.