After a brief uneasy calm, security forces again started pounding positions of militants in Badano village of Mamond Tehsil of the restive Bajaur Agency on Wednesday, killing 23 people, including eight foreign militants.
Also, security forces destroyed 13 houses, some of them owned by tribal militants, including one belonging to banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Spokesman Maulvi Omar, in his native Badano village.
Military officials said four gunship helicopters were sent to target militants’ positions in Mamond area after an armed Lashkar led by local tribal elders was unable to enter the Badano village and destroy positions of tribal and foreign militants, who were giving tough time to the Lashkar.
They said four gunship choppers made 10 sorties and blitzed strongholds of the Taliban fighters. The sources said both the tribal and foreign militants had gathered in Badano village after their main centres in Seway were destroyed in bombing by jet fighters and gunship helicopters.
A senior military official told The News on condition of anonymity that important militant commanders were also killed in action by gunship choppers in Badano. Tribal sources, however, said 15 people, including 10 local and three Afghan militants and three women, had been killed in bombing by gunship choppers and artillery shelling in Mamond area.
They said three other civilians, including two women, sustained serious injuries when a misdirected artillery shell fell on their mud-built home at Tanay village of Mamond sub-division. Military officials said they took action on the recommendation of the tribal Lashkar. They said the Lashkar was facing security threats and was forced to take action against the militants who were spreading terror by executing its opponents in the area.
The Lashkar people reportedly helped the security forces identify the exact locations of the militants, which were later targeted by gunship helicopters and artillery guns. Tribal sources said several houses were also damaged by gunship helicopters and artillery shelling as the small mud-built house of Maulvi Omar, which was the prime target of the troops, was surrounded by other houses.
Omar had reportedly shifted his family to an unknown location, when the government launched the operation against the Taliban militants, led by Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, in Bajaur on August 6.
Meanwhile, the US spy planes, as usual, continued flying over certain villages of South and North Waziristan tribal regions on Wednesday. In Khattey Kalley area, the hometown of Taliban commander Maulvi Sadiq Noor, and Hamzoni village in North Waziristan local people fired several times at the US aircraft when they were flying at low altitudes.
Also, two US jet fighters on Tuesday night entered South Waziristan and flew over various border areas for about half an hour. Tribal sources said the security forces deployed in the border areas did not react to violations of Pakistan airspace by the US planes.