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Pakistani Forces Kill 59 Militants Near Afghan Border Dozens of Militants Killed in Pakistan in Wake of Taliban Attack on School
(about 7 hours later)
ISLAMABAD — (AP) — Pakistani jets and ground forces killed 59 militants in a northwestern tribal region near the Afghan border, the army said Friday, days after Taliban fighters killed 148 people — most of them children -- in a school massacre. PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The Pakistani military said on Friday that it had killed 62 militants in clashes near the border with Afghanistan, stepping up operations against insurgents after the Pakistani Taliban carried out an attack at a school that left 148 students and staff members dead.
The violence at a school in Pakistan’s northwest earlier this week stunned people around the country and sparked cries for retribution. In the wake of the violence the military has struck targets in the Khyber tribal region and approved the death penalty for six convicted terrorists. The military said that 12 insurgents had been killed in battles with security forces Thursday night in two locations in the Khyber tribal area.
The military said it had carried out air strikes and ground operations Thursday and Friday in the Khyber agency. Shahab Ali Shah, an administration official in the tribal region, said that security forces had raided the area after receiving a tip from intelligence officials. “There was an intense battle,” he said. “Bodies of the militants are available with us. They are being identified.”
The military said its ground forces late Thursday killed 10 militants while jets killed another 17, including an Uzbek commander. Another 32 terrorists were killed by security forces in an ambush in Tirah valley in Khyber on Friday as they headed toward the Afghan border, the military said. In a separate battle in the Khyber region, military and civil administration officials said, security forces had beaten back an attack by militants late Thursday night.
Three security forces were wounded in the ensuing shootout, it said, adding that the “fleeing terrorists left behind bodies of their accomplices.” “After an hourlong battle, the attack was repulsed,” Mr. Shah said. “Eighteen militants were killed. Their bodies have been shifted to a local hospital for identification.”
Khyber agency is one of two main areas in the country’s northwest where the Pakistani military has been trying to root out militants in recent months. Khyber borders Peshawar, where the school massacre happened, and militants have traditionally attacked the city only to quickly flee into the tribal region where police can’t chase them. The military said an additional 32 militants were killed when security forces ambushed them at two places near the border. Three members of the security forces were also wounded in the exchange of fire, said a statement by Inter-Services Public Relations, the communications wing of the Pakistani military.
The other area is the North Waziristan, where the military launched a massive operation in June. The increase in military operations in the Khyber region came after an attack on Tuesday on an army-run public school in Peshawar that killed 132 students and 16 teachers, staff members and soldiers.
Army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif late Thursday signed death warrants of six “hard core terrorists” convicted and sentenced to death by military courts, the army spokesman Gen. Asim Bajwa said in a Twitter post. The attack on the school has prompted a public outpouring of grief and calls for tougher action against militants. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited the headquarters of the Pakistani Army in Rawalpindi on Friday for a briefing on the security situation.
It was unclear when the military planned to hang the six men, but authorities generally move quickly once death warrants are signed. Such executions are usually carried out at prisons under the supervision of army officers and then the bodies are handed over to relatives for burial. The government has also partly lifted a moratorium on capital punishment to allow for the execution of any convicted militants.
There was no information on the men or the crimes for which they were convicted.
The news comes after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday announced that he would lift a moratorium on executions in terrorism-related cases. The government has not yet carried out any executions.