|
January 10
|
The army, reportedly acting on
intelligence provided by the US-led coalition in Afghanistan,
used mortars and artillery in the attack at Gurvek, near the border,
spokesperson Major General Shaukat Sultan. However, he said it
is not clear if any militants are killed in the incident, adding
the target of the attack are several supply trucks used by militants.
|
|
January 11
|
Pakistan army attacked supply
trucks used by suspected militants for cross-border attacks in
Afghanistan. It is the army's first reported attack in North Waziristan
since a September 2006 peace agreement between the Government
and pro-Taliban militants.
|
|
January 14
|
Pro-Taliban
militants shot dead a suspected Uzbek
militant and captured another in the Butkhela village of North
Waziristan. The duo were reportedly traveling in a car and did
not stop at a barrier set up by "local Taliban", after
which they are chased and shot at, said an unnamed Pakistan intelligence
official.
|
|
January 16
|
Pakistan Army helicopter gun-ships
attacked a suspected militant hideout in South Waziristan, killing
at least 20 militants. Helicopter gun-ships reportedly targeted
a cluster of compounds at Salamt village in the Zamzola area,
30km to the east of Razmak in South Waziristan. Officials said
that the compounds situated in a desolate area are completely
destroyed, killing most of the people inside. "This used to be
an Arab-dominated hideout… But as of now, we don't know whether
any of them has been killed," one official said. Another official,
citing intelligence reports, said some 25 militants had been killed
and bodies of eight of them had been retrieved from underneath
the rubble. Of the eight, five are stated to be Afghans and three
locals from the Kikari Mehsud tribe inhabiting the Ludda sub-district
of South Waziristan.
|
|
January 17
|
Top militant commander Baitullah
Mehsud vowed to avenge the air strikes at Zamzola on January 16
in the next two weeks in his native South Waziristan which, in
his words, would cause pain to Pakistan. However, he did not renounce
his February 2005-peace agreement with the Government, but said
that the military action in Zamzola had forced him to take action.
"We will definitely avenge this action in 10 to 15 days," he told
a foreign media organisation. He added: "And it (the action) would
be such that it would pain their heart."
|
|
January 22
|
A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden
car into a military convoy near Mirali in North Waziristan, killing
four security force (SF) personnel and a woman, and injuring 23
persons, including 20 soldiers. The incident occurred at the Khajori
checkpoint, about two kilometers east of Mirali town, when a joint
convoy of the army and paramilitary force is heading from the
Bannu Garrison to Miranshah, administrative headquarters of North
Waziristan.
A Frontier Corps soldier is killed
and at least two others sustained injuries when helicopter gun-ships
from the US-led coalition forces bombed a Pakistani border post
in the remote Shawal area in North Waziristan. The Pakistan Government
reportedly lodged a strong protest and asked the coalition forces
to investigate the matter and take necessary measures that such
incidents are not repeated. However, a US military spokesperson
earlier said the incident occurred in Afghanistan. Colonel Paul
Fitzpatrick in a statement said he cannot confirm or deny loss
or injury of Pakistani military.
|
|
January 23
|
Six mortars are fired from Afghanistan’s
Khost province at a Frontier Corps check post in the Naridag area
of North Waziristan, However, no casualties are reported.
|
|
January 25
|
Dozens of militants attacked a
tribal police post in Bajaur with rockets and machine-gun fire,
wounding one police personnel.
|
|
January 28
|
35 tribesmen held hostage by rival
clans in North Waziristan are released after a negotiation breakthrough,
reported a private television channel. According to the report,
the Dawar tribe had taken hostage three members of the Bakakhle
tribe, who had seized 32 Dawar members, following the murder of
a tribesman. Local tribal chieftains and the Ulema (religious
scholars) negotiated between the two clans, leading to the release
of all detained members.
|
|
February 1
|
Suspected militants ambushed a
van and killed two government officials and a police personnel
in North Waziristan. Two Communication and Works Department officials
and police personnel Nekmatullah are on their way to Mir Ali when
four gunmen in a vehicle fired at their van, killing all three
on the spot and wounding three others.
|
|
February 3
|
The Government has ordered the deployment
of thousands of paramilitary personnel across Waziristan to neutralize
"high value" terrorist targets. Sources in the Interior
Ministry said the Government had ordered the deployment of 2,000
personnel each of the Frontier Corps and Levies in Waziristan
to comb the region ahead of the "grand operation". "Security
forces are expected to begin a grand operation in the troubled
Waziristan tribal region to hunt down al
Qaeda and Taliban militants,
including Baitullah Mehsud, who is holed up in the area,"
the sources said, citing a decision made at a high-level meeting
held.
|
|
February 4
|
Security forces and political
administrations in Waziristan have reportedly been asked to block
all entry and exit points and land routes leading to other agencies
in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) so that no militant
could escape or sneak into settled areas. "Intelligence reports
have pointed to the presence of high value militants like Baitullah
Mahsud in the area," said sources.
|
|
February 6
|
Suspected militants killed two
Afghan nationals they accused of being spies of the United States
in North Waziristan. An administration official told that the
two bodies, recovered near Mubarak Shahi village were kept in
the Town Hall in Miranshah for identification, but were later
buried at Sheikh Adam cemetery when nobody came to claim them.
|
|
February 14
|
President General Pervez Musharraf
said that the peace deals like the one with tribal elders in North
Waziristan should take place "in other areas" too.
|
|
February 15
|
The Crime Investigation Department
of Karachi Police raided a house in the Gulistan-e-Jauhar area
on February 16 and arrested three suspected suicide bombers, identified
as Muhammad Shahid, Muhammad Farhan and Ghani Subhan. The police
also seized three hand grenades, two pistols, one AK-47 assault
rifle and a suicide jacket from their possession. Police said
that the three suspects belonged to a group headed by Al Qaeda
leader Qari Zafar and they had been especially sent to Karachi
from Wana in South Waziristan to carry out terrorist activities
and suicide attacks.
|
|
February 20
|
An Afghan refugee is beheaded
on suspicion of being a US spy in North Waziristan. The decapitated
body of Nek Amal, a 35-year old man from Zozak village in the
Afghan province of Khost, is found in Saidgey village, near the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border. A note found near the body read,
"Whoever spies for America will meet the same fate."
The militants, suspected to be pro-Taliban elements, also cut
off his hands and feet.
|
|
February 21
|
One person, identified as Ghulam
Khan Megalkhel, is killed in the Badar area of South Waziristan.
No group has claimed responsibility for the killing. Relatives
said Ghulam Khan had no personal enmity.
|
|
February 22
|
Security agencies claimed to have
averted at least four major terrorist attacks in different parts
of the country and said that 19 suspects, who are being controlled
by some people in tribal areas near the Afghan border, had been
arrested.
|
|
March 5
|
In North Waziristan, suspected
militants shot dead two-tribesman accused of spying for United
States forces operating in Afghanistan. Body of 30-year-old Qayyum
Shahmiri is found south of Miranshah. Another body is found later
from a drain in Manzar Khel town, south of Miranshah. Notes left
with the bodies described the killed as ‘American spies’.
|
|
March 6
|
Around 15 people are killed and
several others injured in a reported clash between the Wazir Zalikhel
sub-tribe and foreign militants near Azam Warsak in South Waziristan.
Eyewitnesses told, "Among the dead are 13 militants, most of them
Uzbeks and Tajiks, while two brothers of Zalikhel chieftain Malik
Saeedullah are also killed." Eyewitnesses further said, "Foreign
militants and their local supporters attacked the brothers of
the chieftain on Tuesday, killing both of them, and this led to
a gunbattle." A confirmation of the report from authorities in
Wana, however, could not be received.
|
|
March 7
|
The death toll rose to 19 in a
reported clash between the Wazir Zalikhel sub-tribe and foreign
militants near Azam Warsak in South Waziristan on March 6. "The
death toll has risen to 19, from 15 yesterday. The dead include
12 Uzbek militants and three local supporters, three members of
local peace committee and one Afghan shopkeeper," a security official
said, adding, "The militants regrouped Tuesday night and torched
two residential compounds belonging to Malik Saadullah(a pro-government
tribal chief). Militants also abducted six of Saadullah's men
but released three of them after a few hours."
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates
said that the Taliban and Al Qaeda are using Pakistan's tribal
areas, particularly North Waziristan, to regroup. "I would say
the Taliban and Al Qaeda have been able to use the areas around,
particularly North Waziristan, to regroup and it is a problem.
We are working together with Pakistan to address that problem,"
Gates told reporters at the Pentagon.
|
|
March 8
|
Suspected militants fired rockets
at a paramilitary base at Miranshah, slightly damaging a barrack,
but there are no casualties, said security officials. The officials
told that two rockets are fired at the base inside the heavily
fortified Tochi Fort in Miranshah: one hit the barrack that is
damaged and the other landed in an open area near a preaching
centre. "We are investigating who carried out the attack," they
said. A spokesman for pro-Taliban militants denied involvement
in the attack. "The enemies of the peace accord are behind the
attack," Abdullah Farhad, a purported spokesman for militants
in North Waziristan told.
The outgoing US Ambassador Ryan
C. Crocker has said that the peace deal between the Pakistan Government
and tribal elders in Waziristan, though "well written", has not
been implemented. In an interview with Khyber television channel,
Crocker said the Waziristan agreement had all the points that
the allies of Pakistan including the US wanted, but the question
is implementation. "We asked Pakistan to ensure that the agreement
would be respected. I personally appreciate the points written
in the agreement but unfortunately the militants haven't respected
the agreement because there are some tribal areas where the Pakistan
government doesn't have full control," he added.
Suspected pro-Taliban rebels in
Pakistan’s tribal belt shot dead an Afghan refugee accused of
spying for United States forces operating in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Abdul Rahim is shot dead in Mohammad Khel village south of Miranshah,
the main town of North Waziristan tribal district, a security
official said. A note near his body said that he is an "American
spy," the official said, adding, that Rahim had been abducted
by militants a few weeks ago and his body had been taken to Afghanistan
by relatives. It is the third such killing in a week near Miranshah
and the eighth this year in the tribal areas.
|
|
March 9
|
Pakistan Government agreed to
launch no more land or air attacks in North Waziristan and also
agreed to the withdrawal of the army from check posts into camps.
The deal is signed between the North Waziristan political agent
representing the NWFP Governor and "Tribal leaders of North Waziristan,
local mujahideen and elders of the Utmanzai tribes". The party
of the second part agreed to ensure that no attacks are carried
against law-enforcement agencies or on government assets and there
would be no "target killings". The tribal elders and others also
agreed not to set up a parallel administration, and accept the
writ of the Pakistan Government.
|
|
March 10
|
Security forces killed three militants
who are trying to enter Pakistan from Afghanistan in Dwatoi of
North Waziristan. A junior commissioned officer is also killed
during the encounter, the first direct confrontation with militants
following the September 5, 2006 peace accord between the government
and pro-Taliban elders. The army provided no details about the
identity of the slain militants.
|
|
March 12
|
An unnamed security official said
that the headless body of a person is found in a sack on a roadside
in Jandola town, bordering South Waziristan. He said that the
severed head had been placed near the sack and a note near his
body read "US spy" and "Rawalpindi", in an apparent reference
to the garrison city housing the army headquarters.
|
|
March 13
|
Suspected tribal militants fired
two rockets in Miranshah that landed near a Military base and
Government installations. They said that the rockets, which appeared
to have been fired from the southeast of Miranshah, caused no
loss of life or damage to property. "One rocket landed near a
civil colony, which is 200 yards from an army rest house, while
another landed near an intelligence official’s house," No
group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Pakistani militants beheaded a
person near the South Waziristan area, whom they accused of spying
for United States forces in Afghanistan.
|
|
March 19
|
Suspected militants attacked an
Army convoy with a remote control bomb near Mir Ali in North Waziristan,
but there were no casualties, security officials said.
|
|
March 20
|
Pakistan Ambassador to United
States Munir Akram told the UN Security Council that there was
no proven direct co-relation of an increase in incidents inside
Afghanistan with the conclusion of the North Waziristan agreement
signed by the Pakistani Government with tribal leaders. He said
that suicide attacks, facilitators and Taliban commanders were
crossing over from Pakistan, crossing of the border was in both
directions, and the Taliban must be controlled on both sides of
the border. He refuted allegations of "safe havens and sanctuaries"
for Taliban in Pakistan as "unsubstantiated".
|
|
March 19-22
|
Nearly 160 people, including 130
foreign militants, have been killed in four days of fighting between
the al Qaeda-linked militants and Pakistani tribesmen, Pakistani
Government officials said. Fresh fighting broke out on March 19
in Shin Warsak village, 7-km west of Wana. Earlier, a battle between
foreign militants, most of them Uzbeks, and ethnic Pashtun tribesmen
erupted in the remote area near the Afghan border on March 6,
when militants tried to kill a pro-Government tribal leader, in
which seventeen people, most of them Uzbeks, were killed. This
followed Government efforts to convince the tribesmen to help
keep order and stop militant raids into Afghanistan. "It's a success
of the Government tribesmen strategy ... the tribesmen are fed
up with them because they and their activities adversely affect
their lives and business," said Military spokesman Major General
Waheed Arshad.
A Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) –
Fazlur Rehman dominated tribal jirga on March 22 brokered a temporary
cease-fire between foreign militants and Wazir tribes in South
Waziristan. "Both sides have agreed to the jirga demand for a
ceasefire," said Niaz Muhammad Qureshi, JUI-F information secretary
for South Waziristan. "We are glad that the two sides conceded
to the tribal elders and clerics’ plea for silencing their guns
in order to solve their issues through peaceful means," he added.
Senior militant leaders like Baitullah Mehsud, Sirajuddin Haqqani,
son of senior Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, and an unnamed
Taliban commander from across the Afghan border reached undisclosed
locations in South Waziristan to take part in the cease-fire negotiations.
"They are all monitoring the situation and discussing with key
local militant commanders how things can be cooled down," said
tribal sources. Tribal sources said that Maulvi Nazir, commander
of pro-Taliban tribal militants in Wazir areas, at one point was
unwilling to negotiate a cease-fire with foreign militants and
their local harbourers. "The jirga members convinced him after
hours-long parleys," said sources in Dera Ismail Khan city, 200
miles south of Peshawar.
Government is considering launching
an offensive to flush out foreign militants in the Waziristan
tribal region, particularly in Wana. A senior ministry official
said the Government had prepared a plan in consultation with the
army.
|
|
March 21
|
Tribesmen, led by Maulavi Nazir,
are reported to have recovered 18,00 hand-grenades, 175 rocket-propelled
grenades, 188 Kalashnikovs and thousands of rounds of ammunition
from a private jail run by Uzbeks in the Kaloosha area.
|
|
March 23
|
The NWFP Governor Ali Jan Orakzai
said that foreign militants battling tribesmen in South Waziristan
could still avail an amnesty offer if they surrendered to the
authorities. Orakzai said there could be around 500 foreign militants
still hiding in the area.
|
|
March 24
|
After a one-day lull, clashes
erupted once again between local tribal militias and foreign,
mostly Uzbek militants, in North Waziristan. A Jirga (tribal council),
comprising tribal elders, religious leaders, local and Afghan
Taliban commanders and a delegation of the Jamaat-e-ulema Islami,
a pro-Taliban constituent of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal coalition,
failed to persuade the two sides to continue a cease-fire that
they had agreed to on March 22.
|
|
March 26
|
Tribal militants praised by the
Government for a bloody assault on foreign fighters in Pakistan
said that they would continue to go to Afghanistan to fight foreign
forces. The tribal militia told reporters that they had not turned
against the foreigners for the Government’s sake. "We will continue
our jihad (in Afghanistan) if that is against America, the Russians,
British or India as long as we have souls in our bodies," Haji
Sharif, an aide to Maulvi Nazir, told reporters in Wana. Nazir’s
representatives escorted reporters to the area, where sympathies
for the Taliban run high and which is generally off-limits to
outside journalists. Sharif said "Our activities across the border
have been affected by our crisis with the Uzbeks. We have enemies
in our home," he said.
|
|
March 29
|
At least four persons were killed
and as many wounded in clashes between two militant groups in
South Waziristan.
Tribesmen claimed to have captured
five foreign militants in fresh clashes in Wana, Azam Warsak and
Sheen Warsak areas of South Waziristan.
|
|
March 30
|
Pakistani tribesmen traded heavy
rocket and mortar fire with foreign al Qaeda militants in South
Waziristan for a second day, leaving 56 people dead. Interior
Minister Aftab Sherpao said, "Fifty-four people were killed today
(and) two yesterday. They include 45 foreigners."
Two children were killed when
a mortar shell fired by Uzbeks landed in their home in Shen Warsak
town and the body of a tribal fighter was found in the area.
|
|
March 31
|
Local tribesmen attacked foreign
al Qaeda militants hiding in bunkers in the ongoing clashes that
killed five people in South Waziristan, bringing the total death
toll since fighting began on March 19 to 177.
Pro-government tribesmen attacked
bunkers occupied by the militants as part of efforts to drive
them from Waziristan. They reportedly seized seven bunkers dug
into a mountain from where Uzbek militants and their Chechen and
Arab allies could launch attacks on the main town of Wana in South
Waziristan.
The body of a tribal fighter was
found in the Shen Warsak town area.
|
|
April 2
|
Ten people were killed and an
unspecified number of them wounded in renewed fighting between
the pro-government tribesmen and foreign militants, even as the
Ahmadzai Wazir tribe gave a call to all the tribesmen to go after
the foreign militants and their local supporters to purge the
area from outsiders.
At least seven tribesmen from
both sides were reportedly killed in fresh fighting in the Zeirha
Letta area of South Waziristan.
The foreign militants publicly
executed Juma Khan alias Haji Jimak in the Azam Warsak area of
South Waziristan to punish the family of a tribal journalist,
Din Muhammad, accused of leaking information about the fighting
to media from the region. The Uzbek militants, backed by ‘commander’
Haji Omar and his supporters, attacked the house of Din Muhammad
in Wana and killed Muhammad Amir, father of Din Muhammad, his
brother Muhammad Islam and a cousin on the spot while abducting
four persons along with them.
Business centres were closed down
in Wana due to an armed clash between the supporters of ‘commander’
Nazeer, who is leading the ongoing campaign against foreign militants
in South Waziristan, and ‘commander’ Javid in Rustam Bazaar leaving
one person dead from both sides. There were also reports that
Haji Nazeer’s armed men captured four vehicles along with the
armed men belonging to the rival group in Wana.
The Jirga (tribal council)
in Wana resolved that all the foreigners and their local supporters
were liable to death and all those tribesmen able to pick guns
should join the tribal force to eliminate these elements or evict
them from the agency.
There were reports that some Uzbek
and Tajik families have left South Waziristan and settled in the
Mirali sub-division of North Waziristan during the last few days.
|
|
April 3
|
A tribal army of 900 volunteers
was raised to support Maulana Nazir, a pro-government militant
commander waging a fight against Uzbek militants and their local
supporters in South Waziristan. A Jirga (tribal council)
of Ahmedzai Wazirs met again in Wana’s Rustam Bazaar to consider
the request for an army from Nazir, the chief of the Taliban in
South Waziristan, against Uzbeks resisting attempts to be expelled
from the area. "Tribal elders of Ahmedzai Wazirs gathered in the
bazaar and approved raising a lashkar [army] of 900 volunteers,"
said reports.
|
|
April 4
|
An estimated 50 people were killed
in fresh clashes between pro-government tribesmen and foreign
militants in South Waziristan. A tribal army led by Maulana Nazir
captured the strategic area of Sheen Warsak west of Wana after
a fierce battle in which 19 Uzbeks and five tribesmen were killed.
Three paramilitary soldiers were also killed during the fighting.
In a gunbattle in Zaghunday, north of Sheen Warsak, the tribal
army killed 25 Uzbeks.
South Waziristan administrator
Hussainzada Khan told Reuters that 40 foreign militants had surrendered.
Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao
told reporters in Islamabad that around 200 Uzbek militants and
50 tribesmen have been killed since March 19. "This is the result
of the agreements the government made with tribal people in which
they pledged to expel foreigners and now they are doing it," he
said.
|
|
April 5
|
The elders of the Ahmedzai Wazir
tribe have formally requested the government for air support and
supply of weapons against foreign militants, said a deputy spokesman
for the Maulana Nazir-led militants.
|
|
April 6
|
Pro-government tribesmen stormed
key bunkers occupied by foreign al Qaeda militants, killing around
20 people.
|
|
April 8
|
In a clash with militants, a tribal
elder and a deputy were killed late near Wana.
|
|
April 9
|
Pro-government tribesmen have
reportedly cleared the Azam Warsak area in South Waziristan of
Uzbek militants linked to the al Qaeda and hoisted their flags
after establishing their control. An official said that around
2,000 tribal volunteers and militants allied to ‘commander’ Maulana
Nazir entered Azam Warsak on April 9-morning and hoisted white
flags. "With God’s help, we have forced Qari Tahir Khan and his
supporters to flee," Mullah Owais Hanafi, a spokesman for the
tribal army led by Maulana Nazir, said in a statement. Qari Tahir
Khan is a local name for Tahir Yuldashev, leader of the outlawed
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. "By (Monday) mid-day, the tribal
army reached the centre of Azam Warsak to hoist a white flag –
signifying the return of peace – and Uzbek militants left the
area long before our mujahideen’s arrival," Hanafi said.
|
|
April 12
|
One person was killed and three
others, including a girl, were injured when unidentified militants
fired nine mortar shells at an area 50 kilometres west of Miranshah
in North Waziristan.
|
|
April 27
|
Four people were killed and three
others sustained injuries when five missiles fired from Afghanistan
struck the Darul Uloom Hassania seminary in the Saidgi area of
North Waziristan. The seminary belongs to tribal militant commander
Maulana Noor Mohammad, who had signed a peace deal with the government
in September 2006.
Pakistan said that a total of
about 1,400 people have been killed in over 100 military operations
in South and North Waziristan and asked the international community
to extend over a billion dollars for development schemes to win
the hearts and minds of the people. The NWFP Governor told that
Pakistani forces had killed over 600 militants, including foreigners,
and handed over to the United States an equal number of persons
involved in acts of terrorism. He said approximately 700 security
force personnel had died besides more than 100 pro-government
tribal elders.
|
|
April 29
|
Suspected militants attacked the
army check post at Naridog in North Waziristan, killing one soldier.
Three militants were killed when the troops deployed the check
post returned fire.
Suspected militants shot dead
two men in South Waziristan for "spying for the United States."
The bodies were found near Khirgi check-post in the Jandola town,
the gateway to South Waziristan. An unnamed official said that
a note found besides the two bodies accused them of spying for
the US and of making fake currency.
|
|
May 2
|
Suspected pro-Taliban militants beheaded an Afghan
refugee, identified as Shamsuddin Afghani, at Goorwak village
in North Waziristan on charges of spying for US troops in Afghanistan,
a security official said. A note left near the body said "this
is the fate of American spy."
|
|
May 3
|
Ten rockets were fired on an army camp in the
Dukoye area of North Waziristan.. Security forces reportedly returned
fire in the direction from where the rockets originated but there
has been no information on casualties so far.
|
|
May 4
|
Seven soldiers were wounded when a hand grenade
was lobbed on an army convoy near Mirali in North Waziristan.
Officials said the convoy was going from Razmak town to its garrison
in the Bannu district.
|
|
May 7
|
The local Taliban imposed a ban on the sale of
CDs and cassettes and music in buses and passenger coaches in
North Waziristan. The Shoora (executive council) of the
Taliban also ordered owners of music and video shops in Miranshah,
headquarters of North Waziristan, to close their businesses immediately.
|
|
May 10
|
At least 14 mortar shells, which were fired from
Tarkhobi Checkpost located at Khost in Afghanistan, landed on
the mountains in the Ghulam Khan area, 32 kilometres north of
Miranshah in North Waziristan. However, they did not cause any
damage and the Pakistan security forces reportedly did not retaliate.
|
|
May 19
|
Suspected militants abducted nine government officials,
including six women, at gunpoint on the Bannu-Miranshah highway
in North Waziristan. More than 30 masked gunmen stopped the government
officials' vehicle near Nawrak, 15 kilometres east of Miranshah
and near Mir Ali town. The militants took away wireless communication
equipment and six Kalashnikov rifles from the six guards.
|
|
May 22
|
SF personnel clashed with Islamist
militants at Zakerkhel village in North Waziristan in the FATA,
killing three foreigners and one tribesman. The gun-battle reportedly
occurred when talks between tribal elders and militants hiding
in a house in the village failed. According to the deal signed
between the government and militants in September 2006, the army
has to take the peace committee into confidence before taking
action in the area. This was the first coordinated operation in
the area since the deal was brokered.
|
|
May 23
|
Militants released nine government
employees, including six women, who had been abducted on May 18
while they were going to Miranshah, administrative headquarters
of North Waziristan, to conduct a survey. They were freed in the
Bakakhel area of Bannu district in the NWFP, adjacent to North
Waziristan. According to Zair Gul Wazir, one of the freed hostages,
the militants had abducted them to protest against the policies
of the NWFP Governor and the political administration in North
Waziristan.
11 of the 15 members of the tribal
peace committee in North Waziristan are reported to have resigned
in protest against a recent military operation in Zargerkhel village.
Led by former senator Mateen Shah, members of the committee, formed
after the signing of the September 2006 peace agreement, handed
over their resignations to Political Agent Pirzada Khan Wazir.
They alleged that by conducting the operation, the military authorities
had violated the accord.
|
|
May 30
|
The Interior Ministry’s National
Crisis Management Cell has reportedly warned three federal ministers
that they are on the hit list of Baitullah Mehsud, the South Waziristan-based
Taliban leader, and should take extra security measures. Baitullah
Mehsud, according to reports, was running the biggest suicide
training camp in the country and planned to assassinate Interior
Minister Aftab Sherpao, Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad
and Minister for Political Affairs Amir Muqam. Mehsud is believed
to have been behind the suicide attack on Sherpao on April 28,
the sources said.
|
|
June 3
|
A bomb exploded by the roadside
when a military convoy of four vehicles was passing by. Officials
said that the convoy was going from Miranshah to Razmak when the
remote-controlled bomb exploded. However, no loss of life or injuries
was reported.
|
|
June 8
|
Islamist militants shot dead a 30-year-old man
suspected of spying for the US in North Waziristan. Rahim Khan's
bullet-ridden body was found near the village of Alikhel, 12 kilometres
west of Miranshah. A security official said, "A note left on the
body said Rahim was spying for the US forces stationed across
the border and has met his fate."
|
|
June 13
|
Taliban militants shaved the heads
of seven alleged bandits, blackened their faces and paraded them
in a bazaar in North Waziristan, bordering Afghanistan. Witnesses
said the heavily-armed Taliban, mainly students from local Islamic
schools, arrested the alleged criminals on June 12 from the Mir
Ali town as part of their campaign to curb crime in the region.
|
|
June 14
|
Militants loyal to the anti-Uzbek
commander Mullah Nazir have warned Wazir elders against sheltering
Uzbeks in South Waziristan. "The Taliban are angry at the
presence of Uzbeks being hosted by some elders and they demand
action against such people," a tribal elder said. According
to him, the Taliban told the Ahmedzai Wazir tribes they had reports
that Uzbek militants were "still being sheltered in Wazir
areas" and if locals harbour rather than expel them they
would take action.
|
|
June 17
|
Two people were wounded in a landmine
explosion at Miranshah Bazaar in North Waziristan.
Authorities said that they had
increased security at existing Frontier Corps check posts and
were setting up additional check posts in North Waziristan, following
information that "foreign terrorists" based in neighbouring
South Waziristan were planning to enter the area. They confirmed
that additional check posts were being set up at Boya Rizmak Road,
Dosali Garyum, Esha Khujre and Tardoni.
|
|
June 18
|
The Taliban have banned TV and
video CDs in public in the Wazir areas of South Waziristan, warning
that strict punishment will be meted out to violators. A pamphlet
issued by Mujahideen Waziristan and Aman (Peace) Committee chief
Qasim Khan declared that the decision would take effect from June
20. The pamphlet did not state the reasons for the ban but a senior
Taliban leader was quoted as saying the move was aimed at "keeping
children away from watching jihadi CDs". Eyewitnesses said
all tea shops and restaurants removed TV sets and CD players immediately
after the Taliban announced the ban.
|
|
June 19
|
At least 22 people were killed
and 10 others sustained injuries when a missile hit a cluster
of compounds in the Datakhel area of North Waziristan. A Madrassa
(seminary) used by the Taliban as a hideout was attacked by
a US-controlled drone, killing over 20 militants and wounding
15 others, a report said. The ISPR Director-General, Major General
Arshad Waheed, however, denied reports that Pakistan army or coalition
forces had carried out the attack. "It was an accidental blast
in the area and, according to the tribal administration, 20 people
were killed," he claimed. Tribal sources quoted local militants
as saying that the attack had been carried out from Afghanistan.
The US-led coalition in Afghanistan said it was not involved.
|
|
June 20
|
The caretaker of a Madrassa
(seminary) near a site in North Waziristan which was the target
of a suspected missile strike on June 19 said that a total of
34 people were killed, and all of them were locals. Maulana Muhammad
Amir, caretaker of the Ziul Aloom seminary in the Dattakhel area,
said all those killed were local tribesmen, and the target was
not a Madrassa, as reported in the press, but "a tent on
a hilltop". However, the political administration of North Waziristan
said that 30 "terrorists" were killed and 18 of them were foreigners,
including Chechens, Uzbeks and Arab.
|
|
June 22
|
A local militant commander has
denied the existence of training camps in North Waziristan and
warned that his supporters would lose patience if the government
carried out a military operation in the region. "There will be
a tit-for-tat response if the government violates the peace deal
by launching combat operations," warned militant commander Maulana
Abdul Khaliq Haqani while talking to a group of journalists in
Miranshah. Haqani, who along with a group of militants signed
a peace agreement with the government in September 2006, denied
the presence of foreign militants and training camps in the region.
He claimed that after the agreement, foreigners had gone across
the border.
|
|
June 23
|
10 civilians were killed and 13
others sustained injuries in North Waziristan in a mortar attack
from Afghanistan. "Ten innocent people were reported killed
when some mortars hit civilians in Mangroti village in the Shawal
region," military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad
said.
A roadside blast killed three
paramilitary soldiers and wounded two others in Mir Ali town,
20-kilometres east of Miranshah.
|
|
June 25
|
A rocket landed 200 meters away
from the runway of a military base in North Waziristan. It landed
on the western side of the base and did not cause any damage.
The political administration arrested four people under the Frontier
Crimes Regulation for the attack.
|
|
June 27
|
Three militants were killed when a bomb they were
planting on a road used by the Pakistan army detonated prematurely
at Datta Khel in North Waziristan. The blast reportedly occurred
on a route used by troops to travel between Lwara Mundi and Miranshah,
headquarters of North Waziristan.
|
|
July 2
|
A soldier from Mir Ali in North Waziristan was
murdered and his associate abducted by armed assailants.
|
|
July 4
|
11 people, including six SF personnel,
are reported to have died in a suicide attack on a caravan of
SFs in North Waziristan. The caravan of SFs was going to Bannu
in the NWFP from Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan.
A suicide attacker rammed his explosive-laden car with the caravan
near Mir Ali. Four SF personnel and a passer-by child died on
the spot while two soldiers and three passers-by succumbed to
injuries at a hospital. The suicide attacker also was killed.
|
|
July 6
|
A Waziristan tribe killed four
suspected Taliban militants while rescuing a Pakistan Army captain
who was abducted at gunpoint. Lashkar, an armed group of the Dirdoni
tribe, chased the militants after they abducted Captain Faisal
Islam, a trainer at Razmak Cadet College in North Waziristan.
Four militants were killed in the ensuing encounter while Captain
Islam and two Lashkar men sustained injuries.
Mehboob Khan, a clerk at the Food
Control Department in Bannu, was abducted by suspected militants
on July 5 and his beheaded body was found on July 6 near Edak
village, 20 kilometres east of Miranshah, headquarters of North
Waziristan.
|
|
July 12
|
A suicide bomber blew himself
up in front of the Political Agent’s office in the Miranshah area
of North Waziristan, killing four people and injuring three others.
Political agent Pirzada Khan, who was in the office at the time,
is reported to have escaped unhurt. Three of the dead were identified
as Attaullah, Fareedullah and Saddique Amin, also a government
employee. The Taliban, however, denied involvement in the suicide
attack.
|
|
July 13
|
Suspected militants killed three
pro-government tribal leaders at Miranshah in North Waziristan.
|
|
July 14
|
At least 23 Frontier Corps (FC)
personnel were killed and 27 others injured when a suicide bomber
rammed an explosives-packed car into their convoy. An unnamed
senior administration official said the attack occurred 20-kilometres
southeast of Miranshah when a FC convoy was heading towards Miranshah
from the Razmak area.
Another FC personnel was killed
by masked gunmen near Essa check-post on the Miranshah-Bannu road.
Three soldiers were wounded when
a military convoy heading for Miranshah was hit by an explosive
device planted on the roadside at Bannu.
Militants fired two rockets at
troops in the Lower Dir district, police official Muhammad Asghar
said.
Abdullah Farhad, a spokesman for
the Taliban in North Waziristan, said the militants would consider
the 2006 peace deal with the government over if the security forces
were not withdrawn from the area by July 15.
|
|
July 15
|
Tribal militants in North Waziristan
unilaterally scrapped their 10-month-old peace accord with the
government on the expiry of a four-day deadline and threatened
to launch attacks against the security forces in the area. Soon
after the expiry of the militants’ deadline on July 15, leaflets
announcing the scrapping of the peace accord were distributed
in Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan.
|
|
July 17
|
Four persons, including three
soldiers, were killed in a suicide attack at the Kajhri security
check-post in North Waziristan. Three soldiers, a civilian and
the bomber died in the attack, and two people were injured, said
military regime spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad.
Militants fired five rockets on
a military base in Miranshah.
A landmine exploded outside the
residence of a former Federal Sports Minister, Ajmal Khan, in
Miranshah. The blast destroyed the front gate of the residence.
Security forces fired mortar shells
on suspected militant positions on hilltops surrounding Miranshah.
|
|
July 18
|
A military convoy coming from
Lwara Mandi was attacked in the Ghazlami area, 40 kilometers west
of Miranshah in North Waziristan. "Seventeen soldiers were martyred
and 12 others injured in the clash," military spokesman Maj. Gen.
Waheed Arshad said. Denying that the militants had ambushed the
convoy he said that 12 to 15 militants were killed in retaliatory
fire. Gen Arshad also said that five militants were killed when
Frontier Corps personnel challenged them near Mir Ali.
|
|
July 20
|
Four persons, including a paramilitary
soldier and two civilians, were killed and five others injured
when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into the
Boya security check post near Miranshah in North Waziristan.
|
|
July 21
|
SFs killed 13 militants in Ghulam
Khan, 15 kilometers north of Miranshah, headquarters of North
Waziristan. The incident occurred when unidentified militants
attacked a Frontier Corps check-post. The troops also reportedly
arrested seven militants and seized a vehicle.
Members of an all-tribes jirga
(council) trying to revive the September 2006-peace deal between
tribal militants and the government escaped a rocket attack by
the militants at a girls’ hostel where they have been staying
since July 20.
Militants attempted to cut off
Miranshah from the rest of the country by trying to detonate the
Chashma Bridge.
Suspected Taliban militants detonated
three tribal police check posts in North Waziristan.
|
|
July 22
|
Gunship helicopters killed seven
militants who were shooting at an army convoy from hilltops in
Qutab Khel, five kilometres east of Miranshah. Six SF personnel
were wounded in the clash.
Unidentified militants attacked
another army convoy at Khar Qamar, 20 kilometres west of Miranshah,
with a remote-controlled bomb at about 4pm, injuring four SF personnel.
Taliban militants in North Waziristan
demanded that the government abolish security check-posts before
further talks for the revival of the September 2006-peace deal
with the government.
|
|
July 22-23
|
Heavy fighting killed at least
35 militants and two soldiers in North Waziristan, the military
said. Major General Waheed Arshad, chief of the Inter-Services
Public Relations, informed that at least 30 militants died in
a series of clashes since late July 22, and five more were killed
in a battle that continued on July 23-evening. Two soldiers were
killed and 12 others injured in the violence over the past 24
hours, he added.
At least seven soldiers were injured
in two roadside explosions in the region on July 22-night and
July 23. A checkpoint in the Dangeen area and another in the Razmak
area came under rocket attacks in which two paramilitary soldiers
were injured. An army convoy going from Miranshah to Razmak was
attacked near Dosali area and six soldiers sustained injuries.
Further, a Khasadar (a local security force) checkpoint was blown
up near a government school in Miranshah. However, no casualty
was reported.
|
|
July 23
|
The pro-Taliban groups warned
Pakistani soldiers to quit fighting or face the "gift of
death" through new suicide attacks. In pamphlets, distributed
in Miranshah town on July 23, entitled "Till Islam Lives
in Islamabad" a group calling itself the Mujahideen-i-Islam
threatened that suicide bombs would again bring soldiers the "gift
of death". They warned that suicide attackers "love
death more than you love your 5,000-rupee salary, nude pictures
of Indian actresses and liquor." It added "We know that
you have become America’s slave and are serving infidel Musharraf
and have become a traitor to your religion for food, clothes and
shelter."
The Federal Government rejected
the local Taliban demand for the removal of security check posts
across North Waziristan.
|
|
July 25
|
Four SF personnel were killed
in an attack by militants on the Kambar check post at Dattakhel.
Militants targeted a Frontier
Corps (FC) convoy with remote-controlled bomb at Razmik Road in
Dosli, some 40 kilometres from Miranshah, injuring five soldiers
and damaging a vehicle.
Two FC soldiers were also wounded
in an attack on the Dangeen check-post.
Militants targeted the Gosh check-post
near Miranshah, which resulted in the suspension of electricity
in a number of areas due to damaged electricity wires.
|
|
July 26
|
A soldier was killed in a rocket
attack on an army post in the Sarwaki area of South Waziristan.
10 persons were wounded in a roadside
bomb blast that targeted a military convoy in North Waziristan.
Paramilitary forces reportedly
exchanged fire with militants at Mir Ali. However, no casualties
were reported.
|
|
July 27
|
One soldier was injured when militants
attacked a security checkpoint in the Ghazlamai area with at least
20 rockets even as security forces set up new posts around Miranshah
town.
|
|
July 29
|
Militants targeted the paramilitary
headquarters in Miranshah with two rocket attacks. Sources said
that one rocket hit the nearby airstrip and another a tube-well
near the base wounding four paramilitary soldiers.
A post of the paramilitary Bajaur
Scouts in Badan Kot came under rocket attack. Residents said that
five rockets hit residential compounds and the security forces
subsequently retaliated. However, no loss of life or injuries
was reported.
Unidentified people abducted an
Intelligence Bureau official and his relative from Mir Ali in
North Waziristan. Five masked men abducted Sub-Inspector Bahadur
Nawaz and his relative Muhammad Javed, a government schoolteacher,
when they were going from Mir Ali Scouts Cantonment to a local
bazaar. Both hostages reportedly hail from the Bannu district
in the NWFP.
|
|
July 30
|
Three paramilitary soldiers were
killed when an improvised explosive device exploded close to the
Mashes camp near Miranshah.
Three paramilitary soldiers were
killed and another sustained injuries when a convoy hit a roadside
bomb near Thall picket. The convoy was going from Dosali to Bannu
in the North West Frontier Province.
A helicopter gunship fired on
a suspicious car that was following an army convoy near the Afghan
border, killing four suspected militants. "The army spotted
the car and ordered them to stop and they ignored the warning.
They were fired on by a helicopter escorting the convoy… Four
people inside the car were killed, they are suspected militants,"
said an unnamed security official.
Security force personnel arrested
seven suspected militants with "remote-controlled explosive
devices" after a roadside bomb hit a military convoy heading
towards Bannu from Razmak. Four soldiers were injured in the blast.
|
|
July 30
|
Militants attacked the headquarters
of paramilitary forces in the Miranshah town, but no casualty
was reported. While one rocket hit the hostel of a government
school in the town, two others landed near the army camp.
In the Mirali subdivision, two
telecommunication installations and a roadside shed were blown
up. Rockets were also fired at the Ghazlamai post in the area.
However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.
|
|
July 31
|
Security forces, assisted by helicopter
gun-ships, killed 15 militants in an encounter near the Banda
checkpoint in North Waziristan. Major General Waheed Arshad, Director-General
of the Inter-Services Public Relations, said 18 "miscreants" were
killed when about 40 of them tried to attack a military checkpoint
near Miranshah. Though the military spokesperson denied any casualties
among the troops, villagers said some soldiers were killed or
injured in the fighting.
The political administration have
reportedly suspended payment of incentives and salaries of the
residents of Darpakhel, Borakhel and Miranshah villages under
the collective and territorial responsibility clauses of the Frontier
Crimes Regulation. An official said that the incentives were suspended
after security forces had come under attacks in the areas.
|
|
August 1
|
A paramilitary soldier sustained
injuries in fresh overnight clashes at the Banda checkpoint in
North Waziristan, where 18 militants were killed on July 31, officials
said.
Militants fired five rockets at
a military post on the border, while another rocket aimed at an
army camp in Miranshah missed its intended target and exploded
near a hospital. However, there were no casualties.
|
|
August 3
|
At least four people were killed
during a shootout between tribesmen and SF personnel in the Asadkhel
area of North Waziristan. The exchange of fire followed a bomb
explosion moments before the arrival in Asadkhel of a convoy of
army and FC which was on way from Bannu in the NWFP to Razmak.
The remote controlled bomb explosion, however, caused no casualty.
Three missiles were also fired at an FC checkpoint and the Miranshah
Fort.
People in Miranshah observed a
‘black day’ against the ongoing military operation in the FATA,
threats of direct intervention by US forces and establishment
of checkpoints by army and the Frontier Corps.
|
|
August 4
|
Four SF personnel, two each from
the army and Frontier Corps, were killed and six others injured
when militants attacked the Salanghi check post in Dosali area,
35-kilometres south of Miranshah. In the retaliatory fire SFs
killed 10 militants.
Militants fired eight rockets
at a check post near Miranshah, but there were no casualties reported.
|
|
August 5
|
Two soldiers were injured when
militants attacked the Banda security post near Miranshah in North
Waziristan.
|
|
August 6
|
Militants distributed pamphlets
in the bazaars of Miranshah expressing hatred for the security
forces. Titled ‘Taliban’s message to a missile,’ the pamphlet,
written in Urdu, blamed the army and paramilitary troops for "spilling
the blood of Muslims." It added: "Go and explode on the head of
a soldier or a spy. See, make no mistake, go straight and target
the enemies of Islam, the dogs of army and paramilitary."
|
|
August 7-8
|
At least 12 militants were killed
and several others injured during helicopter raids by the security
forces at Degan village in North Waziristan. Military spokesperson
Major General Waheed Arshad said that the operation commenced
at 5:00am when artillery and Cobra helicopters targeted two compounds
of the militants. "The militants used to regroup and prepare attacks
on security forces and take refuge at these compounds," he disclosed.
Some low-level al Qaeda members were identified as having been
among the 12 militants killed. Chechens and Arabs were among the
militants killed, an unnamed security official said.
|
|
August 8
|
A soldier fetching water from
a stream near the Banda security checkpoint in North Waziristan
was killed and another wounded in an explosion caused by an improvised
explosive device. Subsequently, the Pakistan Army troops retaliated
through gunship helicopters which strafed places on the banks
of river Tochi and also the nearby hills. However, no casualties
were reported.
Militants fired several rockets
at the paramilitary base in Miranshah. One of the rockets hit
the air strip near the base, but caused no damage or casualties.
Three rockets were fired at the
Saidgai checkpoint in the region.
|
|
August 9
|
At least 15 people were reported
to have died after army’s helicopter gun-ships attacked the Degan
village in North Waziristan following a roadside bomb blast which
left four soldiers injured. The four soldiers were wounded when
a bomb exploded near the Boya checkpoint on the Miranshah-Datakhel
road.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
two pro-government tribesmen at Mir Ali in North Waziristan.
About 16 personnel of the paramilitary
Frontier Corps went missing on Jandola-Sara Rogha road in South
Waziristan. They are believed to have been abducted by militants.
Reports indicated that Uzbek militants, who were evicted from
Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan, and its surrounding towns
as a result of a tribal force led by ‘Commander’ Nazeer and his
associates, had shifted to the Mehsud-dominated area and might
be behind the abduction.
|
|
August 10
|
Militants opened fire at a check
post, around half a kilometre east of Miranshah in North Waziristan,
injuring a Frontier Corps official.
Gunship helicopters targeted a
suspected militant hideout at Boya, west of Miranshah in North
Waziristan, but there were no reports of casualties.
|
|
August 11
|
Troops killed three suspected
militants during an encounter in the Mir Ali town of North Waziristan.
One SF personnel was injured in the incident.
Two civilians were killed and
five others, including an army soldier, injured when militants
attacked an army convoy with a remote-controlled bomb at Patassy
Ada in North Waziristan.
The dead body of a civilian, identified
as Qader Jan, was recovered from the Amin check-post, southwest
of Miranshah.
Militants fired two missiles targeting
a security forces’ check-post in the Miranshah area of North Waziristan.
One missile landed near the check-post and the other hit the roof
of bunkers, injuring a soldier. The SFs retaliated, but no damage
or loss of life was reported.
SFs arrested four suspected people
at the Eisha check-post and recovered eight hand grenades and
four Kalashnikov rifles from them.
|
|
August 12
|
Militants beheaded two Afghan
nationals on alleged spying charges in North Waziristan. The first
beheaded body was found near Miranshah while the second was recovered
from Datakhel bazaar. The deceased were identified as Habibur
Rehman and Amir Khan, both residents of Afghanistan’s Paktika
province.
|
|
August 13
|
At least three militants were
killed during an encounter with the SF personnel which ensued
after the militants attacked the Dargai check post in South Waziristan.
A military convoy going to Miranshah,
headquarters of North Waziristan, from Bannu in the North West
Frontier Province was attacked with a remote-controlled bomb,
in the Karam Kot area, wounding three SF personnel.
Militants attacked a military
camp in the Shawal area, two kilometres west of Miranshah, injuring
two soldiers.
Militants attacked the SFs check-post
at Ghulam Khan, 15 kilometres north of Miranshah. However, no
casualties were reported.
The Taliban in South Waziristan
announced that they would release the abducted 16 Frontier Corps
personnel if their 10 accomplices were also released.
|
|
August 14
|
Pro-Taliban militants beheaded
one of 16 paramilitary soldiers abducted on August 9 in South
Waziristan, and threatened to kill more unless 10 of their associates
are freed. Residents found the body and severed head near a football
ground in Jandola, 50 kilometres east of South Waziristan’s main
town of Wana, said Latifur Rehman, a senior government official.
A civilian was killed and three
soldiers sustained injuries during an encounter between troops
and suspected militants in North Waziristan.
Suspected militants fired two
missiles at the Mana military camp in the Shawal Valley of North
Waziristan. However, no loss of life or injuries was reported.
|
|
August 16
|
Ten militants and two soldiers
were killed in an attack on a military convoy in South Waziristan.
"Militants ambushed a military convoy near Chaghmalay, and
air support was sought against them. Ten militants were killed
and 12 injured while the security forces suffered two casualties,"
said military spokesperson Major General Waheed.
Two soldiers were killed and four
others injured in a roadside explosion near Kaka Ziarat in North
Waziristan, while the security forces arrested six persons for
carrying out the attack.
Residents of Jandola, the entry
point of South Waziristan, said the Wana-Tank highway was blocked
after Mehsud militants stopped traffic to and from Wana. Wazir
elders reportedly said they feared a full-scale war between the
Mehsuds and Wazirs if the highway remained blocked and attacks
on security forces in Wazir areas by Mehsud militants continued.
The Bhittani tribe has warned
Mehsud tribesmen at a jirga (council) that it will raise
an armed force against it if the eight paramilitary soldiers abducted
on August 9 were not freed immediately. The eight soldiers belong
to the Bhittani tribe.
|
|
August 17
|
Officials and residents said the
death toll in the clashes in South Waziristan reached to 32, including
19 militants and 12 soldiers. At least 12 security force personnel
were injured.
In North Waziristan, two Uzbek
nationals and two men of the Janikhel tribe were killed when security
forces fired at a car which did not stop for checking at the Jaler
checkpoint. One person was arrested.
A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden
jeep into a military vehicle near Jandola, killing himself and
wounding five soldiers.
|
|
August 18
|
Two soldiers were killed and an
equal number of them injured in a suicide attack at the Dharkhubi
checkpost near the Mir Ali town in North Waziristan. The suicide
attack came hours after troops attacked three suspected militant
hideouts in South Waziristan, triggering a shootout that left
at least 10 soldiers injured.
Two more soldiers were killed
when militants attacked Isha and Qamar checkposts in North Waziristan.
The beheaded body of a religious
scholar, Maulana Zarma Khan, abducted a day earlier, was found
near Jandola in South Waziristan.
One soldier was injured when militants
clashed with security forces near the Christian cemetery in Miranshah
in North Waziristan.
Militants fired up to 20 rockets
at the Banda checkpost outside Miranshah, but there were no reports
of casualties.
|
|
August 19
|
At least 15 militants were killed
during military operations that targeted militant hideouts near
the Mir Ali town in North Waziristan. Military spokesperson Major
General Waheed Arshad said the military attacked hideouts of the
militants after security checkpoints near Mir Ali came under attack.
"We have credible information that the two compounds have
been destroyed and 15 miscreants, including 10 Uzbeks, have been
killed in the strike," Arshad said. There were unconfirmed
reports that an Iraqi national Abu Akasha, a suspected al Qaeda
operative, may have been the target of the military operation.
Two women, two children and a
man were killed in a village near Mir Ali town in military operations
involving Cobra gunship helicopters. Tribal sources in Mir Ali
said the five civilians were killed in Hormuz and Issori when
the gunship helicopters bombed and strafed the two villages. The
Mosaki, Hasokhel and Khushali villages were also attacked by the
five helicopters and several houses were damaged.
The bodies of two Frontier Corps
soldiers were brought to the Mir Ali Fort after being killed in
a militant attack on the heavily-defended Qamar Post between Eidak
and Noraq villages.
A female member of a soldier’s
family residing in an Army camp at Mir Ali in North Waziristan
was wounded when it was attacked by suspected militants with three
missiles. The Khajuri checkpoint, an entry point to North Waziristan
located near the FC Fort in Mir Ali, was also fired at. However,
no loss to life or property was reported.
Local Taliban militants have agreed
to unconditionally release 15 paramilitary personnel who were
abducted from Spinkai Raghzai in South Waziristan 10 days ago,
a tribal negotiator claimed.
|
|
August 20
|
A soldier, identified as Faisal,
was wounded in an improvised explosives device blast that targeted
an army convoy near Tank in South Waziristan. Two villagers were
also injured when soldiers resorted to indiscriminate fire following
the attack.
In Miranshah, the military’s Amin
Picket, built on a hill overlooking the town, was attacked with
small arms by suspected militants. There were no reports of casualties
on either side.
Taliban militants in South Waziristan
have reportedly not commenced the phased release of 15 abducted
FC soldiers in exchange for their 10 colleagues detained by the
government.
|
|
August 21
|
Two army convoys were reportedly
attacked with improvised explosive devices in North Waziristan.
However, there was no loss of life or injuries.
Unidentified militants targeted
a camp of the Frontier Corps on the Jandola-Tank Road at Manzai
in South Waziristan, with rockets and automatic weapons. However,
no loss of life or injuries was reported.
|
|
August 22
|
One soldier was killed and five
others sustained injuries when militants fired rockets at the
Tiarza check-post in South Waziristan.
One Taliban militant, identified
as Sher Ayub of Mir Ali town, was killed and nine FC personnel
were injured when hundreds of Taliban militants armed with heavy
weapons attacked a FC fort in the Nawai Dand area bordering North
Waziristan. Police sources said that the militants used heavy
weapons in the three-hour attack.
Security has been tightened at
check-posts in the Hangu district of NWFP and on the Hangu-North
Waziristan border as Taliban militants are suspected of using
the Kurram Agency route to launch attacks in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar
province, security experts said. The sources said the Kurrum Agency
route was very strategic for the North Waziristan militants and
they had stepped up attacks on security forces blocking their
way.
|
|
August 24
|
A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden
vehicle into the military convoy at Qamar Picket near the Mir
Ali town in North Waziristan, killing five soldiers and injuring
10 others. The same convoy, which had come from Bannu in the North
West Frontier Province and was on its way to Razmak, was attacked
once more when it proceeded further. Another suicide bomber riding
a vehicle struck the convoy near Asadkhel village on the road
to Razmak, killing two soldiers and injuring two others. Military
officials stated that two militants were killed by the troops
in retaliatory firing.
Three soldiers were injured in
an attack on a military convoy transporting troops from Qutabkhel
to Miranshah.
Suspected militants abducted a
senior Pakistani army officer and three others from Ladha tribal
region bordering Afghanistan. Colonel Shahid Kiyani of Bajaur
Scouts, two soldiers and an administration official were abducted
at gunpoint.
An FC soldier, identified as Zaman,
was abducted by suspected militants in Miranshah.
The government has rejected the
phased release of 15 FC personnel abducted by the militants, and
told the Mehsud peace jirga (council) that it wanted the
abductors to release the hostages simultaneously.
|
|
August 25
|
SFs killed five militants and
arrested another in the Datakhel area of North Waziristan in a
clash which followed an attack on the Ismailkhel security post
leaving one soldier dead and two others wounded.
An army helicopter opened fire
on a vehicle on a road near Miranshah killing three suspected
militants. An official said the vehicle was targeted because it
failed to stop at a checkpoint at Mir Ali, about 20-kilometers
from Miranshah.
Rockets were fired at the Banda
post near Miranshah. But no casualty was reported.
|
|
August 28
|
Five civilians were wounded from
artillery fire after security forces came under attack from militants
in North Waziristan as gunship helicopters targeted suspected
militant targets for hours. Two civilians at a preaching centre
near Miranshah and three others in a nearby village were injured
when security forces fired artillery shots in the direction from
which militants fired two rockets at the army.
One soldier was injured when two
rockets were fired on the Banda Post close to Miranshah.
Militants freed 18 FC personnel,
including a senior officer, and a political agent in the Sam area
of South Waziristan after an assurance from the government that
it would abide by the February 2005 peace agreement. Chief negotiator
Maulana Mirajuddin, a Member of the National Assembly, informed
that all hostages had been released unconditionally. He, however,
said the militants wanted the government to respect the February
2005 peace accord. Officials said that Noor Syed, a close associate
of militant commander Baitullah Mehsud, handed over the captives
to a 35-member Jirga (council) in the Sam area on August
28-morning.
|
|
August 29
|
Three soldiers suffered injuries
when a rocket fired by suspected militants hit a paramilitary
base near Miranshah in North Waziristan.
|
|
August 30
|
Militants in South Waziristan
abducted around 150 Pakistan Army personnel and shifted them to
their hideouts in the mountains. They laid siege to two Pakistan
Army convoys which were on their way from Wana and Shakai to Ladha
subdivision. When the convoys reached Shawangi Narray, 40 kilometres
north of Wana, South Waziristan’s regional headquarters, the militants
accused them of violating the Sara Rogha peace accord, signed
between the government and Taliban on February 9, 2005, under
which, according to tribal militants, security forces were have
to withdraw from the areas inhabited by the Mehsud tribesmen.
Both the convoys comprised 16 vehicles in which around 150 soldiers
were travelling.
|
|
September 1
|
Six troops were injured when a
suicide bomber targeted a check-post in the Jandola area of Tank
district in North Waziristan.
One soldier was wounded when militants
fired rockets on the paramilitary headquarters at Miranshah in
North Waziristan. Security forces retaliated and targeted suspected
militant locations in the area. The electricity supply was disrupted
in Miranshah when a shell hit the main power line.
|
|
September 2
|
Two persons were killed and 11
others, including a tribal elder, were injured when a remote-controlled
bomb exploded at a shop in Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan.
Sources said that Meta Khan Wazir, a close associate of pro-government
militant commander Maulvi Nazir, who had launched an armed campaign
against foreign militants in the Ahmadzai Wazir-dominated areas
of South Waziristan, was the main target and suffered fatal injuries.
SFs also used artillery fire in
the Dandi Darpakhel area when a check-post was attacked.
Militants distributed pamphlets
at Mir Ali in North Waziristan warning local tribes not to side
with government forces killing innocent men, women and children
in the region. "Like in Afghanistan, we have established
suicide squads for attacks on troops and their allies in Pakistan,"
a group calling itself the Mujahideen of Waziristan said in the
statement.
|
|
September 3
|
A tribal woman was killed and
two others sustained injuries in Qutabkhel village after SFs used
artillery fire to target hideouts of suspected Taliban militants
who targeted the Chashma check-post in North Waziristan.
Three persons, including a professor
and an accountant of the Cadet College, were abducted in the Assadkhel
area of North Waziristan.
A Frontier Corps soldier,
Ikhtair Hussain, died when militants opened fire on a check-post
at Chagmali in the Servakai subdivision of South Waziristan.
|
|
September 4
|
A tribal elder, Khanan, who was
injured in a bomb blast at Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan,
on September 2, succumbed to his injuries in a hospital today.
|
|
September 5
|
Taliban militants have released
six paramilitary soldiers held captive in South Waziristan, officials
and tribal elders said. Tribal elder Akhtar Gul Mehsud informed
the media that the militants had handed over six soldiers to a
tribal jirga (council).
|
|
September 6
|
Six persons, including four suspected
foreigners, were killed when a Cobra gunship attacked a car in
the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan. A statement by the Inter-Services
Public Relations said the car was occupied by suspected foreigners
and it was tracked down and attacked with a missile fired by a
helicopter. Two tribesmen present in the area at the time of the
attack were also killed.
Two FC personnel were injured
when Taliban militants fire rockets targeting the Jalar check-post
in Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan. The attack is
an apparent reaction to the killing of four suspected foreign
militants by the security forces earlier in the day.
Suspected militants fired six
rockets at an unspecified number of military targets in Miranshah
but government officials said no damage was caused.
|
|
September 8
|
Ten militants were killed and
seven SF personnel injured after the militants attacked a military
convoy in the Pusht Ziarat area, about 95 kilometres southwest
of Miranshah in North Waziristan. An unnamed SF official said
the military convoy was coming to the Mana army camp from Shawal
when the militants attacked it in Pusht Ziarat – an area between
North and South Waziristan.
|
|
September 10
|
Seven people, including five militants
- three of them senior commanders, were killed while three others
sustained injuries in an encounter between militants and the SFs
in the Makeen area of South Waziristan.
Two local tribesmen, including
a woman, were killed in Makeen when a stray rocket hit their house.
There were unconfirmed reports that both were close relatives
of militant commander Baitullah Mehsud.
Several missiles were reportedly
fired on SFs based at Razmak in North Waziristan and Ladha and
Tiarza in South Waziristan.
Four rockets also fell inside
the building of the Cadet College Razmak. However, no loss of
life or injuries was reported.
Two civilians were killed in crossfire between suspected
militants and SFs at Ishengai village in the Makeen area of South
Waziristan. |
|
September 12
|
40 militants were killed in an
attack by Army gunship helicopters in the Shawal area of North
Waziristan. Military spokesperson, Major General Waheed Arshad,
stated that Pakistan Army gunship helicopters and artillery were
used in the operation against the militants, who had established
their hideouts in the Shawal area and involved in attacks on military
convoys.
As the militants refused to meet
a tribal Jirga (council) negotiating the release of abducted
soldiers, hundreds of families started leaving Makin town in South
Waziristan for safer places in the Tank district of NWFP for fear
of military action. Eyewitnesses in Makin said hundreds of families
on September 12 started leaving the town for Tank and Dera Ismail
Khan in NWFP owing to fears of military action.
A spokesman for the Baitullah
Mehsud group holding over 200 soldiers in South Waziristan as
hostage warned the government against military operations. "We
will start killing them in batches of three soldiers if the military
operations do not stop," spokesman Zulfiqar Mehsud said.
|
|
September 13
|
Taliban militants attacked a military
base near the Afghan border, leading to an encounter with the
security forces in which at least 50 militants and two soldiers
were killed. Eight soldiers were wounded in the clashes. Military
spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad said security forces
repelled repeated militant attacks, adding that Army helicopters
and ground fire destroyed four militant positions. He dismissed
a claim by militants that they had killed over 100 soldiers in
the region in the past two days as "totally false" and "baseless".
|
|
September 14
|
Six soldiers were missing after
September 13 clashes with the Taliban in North Waziristan, military
spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said. He said, "We have
lost contact with a paramilitary post and six soldiers are either
missing or dead."
11 abducted Frontier Corps personnel
returned to their bases after they were freed unconditionally
in North Waziristan. Pro-Taliban militants had abducted the soldiers
from a security check-post on the Bannu-Miranshah road on September
12. The Bannu Nursing College vice-principal Dr Abdur Rahim Khattak
was also released by the militants.
|
|
September 16
|
At least 18 soldiers were killed
when tribal militants attacked a security check-post at Pashte
Ziarat in the Shawal area of North Waziristan. Troops in retaliation
killed 18 militants.
Four unidentified tribal militants
were killed in clashes in North Waziristan.
Unidentified assailants killed
a tribesman in Mir Ali suspecting him to be spying on the Taliban
on behalf of the United States. "Two masked gunmen appeared from
a car and sprayed Waliullah with bullets and announced that he
had been an American spy," the eyewitnesses said.
The Pakistan army agreed to a
cease-fire with militants holding some 260 soldiers hostage, Associated
Press quoted officials as saying. Tribal officials negotiated
the cease-fire, said Arbab Arif Khan, the government official
responsible for security in the tribal area.
|
|
September 18
|
Four soldiers were injured when
militants fired rockets at their camp in Datta Khel village of
North Waziristan.
Local Taliban abducted two Frontier
Corps personnel in the Razmak subdivision of North Waziristan
as they were strolling outside the army fort of the Razmak subdivision,
around 70-kilometers south of Miranshah. Taliban spokesman in
North Waziristan Ahmedullah Ahmedi claimed responsibility for
the abduction.
Three tribesmen were released
after a week in captivity of local Taliban for allegedly providing
facilities to security forces. They were released after negotiations
with a Jirga (council) headed by Member of the National
Assembly, Merajud Din.
|
|
September 18
|
Four soldiers were injured when militants fired
rockets at their camp in Datta Khel village of North Waziristan.
Local Taliban abducted two Frontier Corps personnel
in the Razmak subdivision of North Waziristan as they were strolling
outside the army fort of the Razmak subdivision, around 70-kilometers
south of Miranshah. Taliban spokesman in North Waziristan Ahmedullah
Ahmedi claimed responsibility for the soldiers’ abduction.
Three tribesmen were released after a week in
captivity of local Taliban for allegedly providing facilities
to security forces. They were released after negotiations with
a Jirga (council) headed by Member of National Assembly
Merajud Din.
|
|
September 19
|
One civilian was inured when security forces
and militants clashed near Jaler Post and Banda Post in North
Waziristan.
Talks remained inconclusive between tribal elders
and militants for the release of more than 250 soldiers, said
a member of the Jirga. The talks were held in the Maulvi
Khan Sarai area of South Waziristan.
|
|
September 20
|
Eight soldiers were injured when suspected pro-Taliban
militants fired rockets at Khajuri check-post in North Waziristan.
Troops retaliated with artillery fire, but there were no reports
about militant casualties.
|
|
September 21
|
Three militants were killed and two others, including
a woman, injured when two groups of Taliban clashed in South Waziristan.
Pro-Taliban militants released 25 soldiers of
nearly 250 soldiers they have been holding captive since August
2007 after the army agreed to pull out of two posts in the northwest.
|
|
September 22
|
Two militants were killed as SFs retaliated when
militants fired six rockets at Zara Mila post near Mirali town
of North Waziristan.
|
|
September 22-23
|
Militants killed one tribesman for supplying
food to the SFs in the Degan area of North Waziristan. Militants
abducted Nek Daar from Degan area on September 22 and warned him
against supplying food to the troops in the area but he ignored
the threat. His beheaded body along with a note, reading "anybody
found violating the militants’ decisions would face the same treatment",
was found on September 23.
|
|
September 23
|
A tribesman, Gul Naib, was shot dead in the Degan
area of North Waziristan for supplying food to the SFs in the
region after they scrapped a peace deal with the government.
One militant was injured in SFs retaliatory fire
when militants attacked the Amin post near Miramshah in North
Waziristan.
|
|
September 24
|
Militants blew up the house of a pro-government
tribal elder, Malik Khan Asghar Khan, in the Zafar town area of
Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan.
Two paramilitary soldiers were injured in a bomb
blast near Chashma bridge in North Waziristan.
|
|
September 25
|
Five security force personnel
were injured in an attack by the Taliban on the Thall check-post
in North Waziristan.
Suspected militants fired eight
rockets on a security check-post on Mir Ali Road. The attackers
managed to escape and no loss of life was reported.
|
|
September 26
|
Suspected Taliban militants killed
an Afghan national and a settled district resident for being "US
spies" in North Waziristan. Wazir Badshah hailed from Hangu district
in the NWFP and the Afghan was a resident of Khost province in
Afghanistan, who went missing some four months ago. A letter found
near the two bodies close to a military check-post east of Miranshah,
headquarters of North Waziristan, accused the two executed men
with "spying for the United States."
A military convoy coming from
Bannu in NWFP and going to Miranshah escaped two IED explosions
near the Mir Ali town.
|
|
September 27
|
Two tribesmen were killed and
five others wounded in a gun-battle in the Mirali area of North
Waziristan. Militants reportedly fired rockets and missiles targeting
a paramilitary camp in Mirali. Troops retaliated with artillery
and mortar shells which hit residential compounds in Esokhel and
Mosaki villages, killing the two tribesmen and injuring five others.
About 15 houses were partially damaged.
|
|
September 28
|
A soldier was killed and 12 others
sustained injuries in an explosion that targeted a military convoy
in the Tank district of North Waziristan. A police official in
Tank city said the military convoy was on its way to Tank from
Manzai when the explosion occurred near the Goldenabad area. The
army cordoned off the area and launched search operations for
the suspected militants who are constantly targeting military
convoys on the Tank-Wana highways. However, no arrests were made.
A military camp in Mir Ali was
attacked with heavy weapons by pro-Taliban militants and when
the army retaliated an artillery shell killed one person and wounded
three others in Musaki village.
One soldier was injured when militants
fired at least 15 rockets targeting the Khajori check-post.
An unmanned surveillance plane
crashed in the Land Momedkhel area of North Waziristan. Some locals
said the plane had intruded into the tribal area from Afghanistan
and it might have developed a fault.
|
|
September 29
|
The son of a tribal elder was
killed and another of his sons and he himself were injured when
SF personnel opened fire on his car. One soldier was injured when
the tribal elder’s fired back. Chief of the Gigakhel tribe, Malik
Rafiquddin, who is also a member of the peace committee, and his
sons Sheheryar and Rizwan were going from Tank to their village
Murtaza when troops signaled them to stop at the Warana check-post.
Rafiquddin ignored the signal and the SF consequently opened fire.
Sheheryar died on the spot while the others were injured. After
the incident, the tribal chief and his son were arrested.
In the Datakhel area, two soldiers
were killed and three others wounded when a checkpoint was attacked.
In Mir Ali area militants fired
around 30 rockets at an army camp injuring nine soldiers. Army
sources, however, said that only "two or three" soldiers
were injured.
Six civilians were injured when
a public transport vehicle was fired upon by soldiers in the Pattikhel
area, 10 kilometres west of Miranshah after it did not stop to
allow a military convoy to pass through. Military spokesman Maj-Gen
Waheed Arshad said he had no information of the incident.
Three soldiers were injured when
a paramilitary checkpoint was attacked near Miranshah.
|
|
September 30
|
A military convoy going to Razmak
from Bannu was hit by a roadside bomb near Mirali Bazaar. Four
soldiers were wounded in the attack.
Two soldiers were wounded in an
attack on a checkpoint in the Shawal area.
Two soldiers were wounded when
the paramilitary headquarters was targeted with rockets and missiles
in Miranshah.
Two SF personnel were injured
when a military convoy was hit with a remote-control bomb near
Chashma Bridge on the Mirali-Miranshah road.
|
|
October 1
|
One paramilitary solider was killed
and three others wounded when militants fired rockets on the Ghazlamai
check-post in the Datakhel area of North Waziristan. Two militants
were killed when the security forces retaliated.
Clashes also occurred at various
other check-posts and the headquarters of a paramilitary base
in Miranshah came under a rocket attack. Local people said the
clashes started at about 1am and continued for more than two hours.
Missiles and rockets were used by both sides. They said 10 houses
were partially damaged when artillery shells hit residential compounds
in a Miranshah village. One woman was killed and another woman
and three children were injured.
An unnamed official said militants
targeted check-posts in the Sargardan, Amin and Gora Qabristan
area of Miranshah.
|
|
October 3
|
14 civilians were killed and five
others sustained injuries when their bus hit a landmine in the
Bulandkhel area of North Waziristan. The bus, going from Thall
to Shewa, struck the landmine near the Tauda Cheena Bridge at
about 5.30 pm (PST). The blast targeting the bus occurred hours
after pro-Taliban militants raided a security check-post near
Mirali in a pre-dawn attack, killing two soldiers and injuring
four more. "Ten miscreants were killed in the resulting clash,"
military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad said.
A soldier was injured in an attack
by militants on the Datakhel Fort in North Waziristan.
Militant commander Baitullah Mehsud
has threatened to start killing the dozens of soldiers who were
abducted from South Waziristan on August 30. Zulfiqar Mehsud,
a spokesman for Baitullah Mehsud, stated that three soldiers would
be killed each day if security forces continued their operations
in certain parts of Tank district, and added that attacks against
security force personnel in South Waziristan would be intensified.
The militants had captured at least 280 soldiers, including a
colonel and nine officers, after intercepting a military convoy
in the Momi Karam area of Luddah subdivision in South Waziristan.
So far, the militants have released 31 soldiers after are reportedly
holding negotiations with tribal elders.
|
|
October 4
|
Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud
executed three soldiers from a group of more than 250 taken hostage
last month in South Waziristan and vowed to carry out more executions
if the government continued the "Mehsud tribes’ humiliation".
The bodies of the three soldiers were found on the Wana-Jandola
road in Jandola near the border with South Waziristan. Unofficial
reports said that a letter left with the soldiers’ bodies said:
"We will gift three bodies everyday." The militants
had captured at least 280 soldiers, including a colonel and nine
officers, after intercepting a military convoy in the Momi Karam
area of Luddah subdivision in South Waziristan on August 30.
Militants fired several rockets
at a checkpoint in Speen Wam, injuring three soldiers.
|
|
October 5
|
Militants attacked a military
convoy at Chashma, 5-km east of Miranshah, with remote-controlled
bombs, injuring two soldiers. The same military convoy was attacked
again at Kurram Kot, 18-km east of Miranshah. When the convoy
reached Pathahi Adda near Mir Ali, soldiers opened fire at a petrol
pump and blew up an oil drum. In the Mir Ali bazaar, troops reportedly
shot dead Noor Saleh, son of Stoori Khan.
Militants fired 14 missiles at
a military base in Miranshah wounding four soldiers. They also
fired missiles at the Ghulam check post, 15-km north of Miranshah.
However, no causalities were reported.
Militants attacked Frontier Corps
personnel near the Match Factory from a house with bombs. The
attack left two soldiers injured. The security forces reportedly
blew up the house in retaliation.
|
|
October 6
|
One soldier was killed and 18
others injured when an army convoy was ambushed in North Waziristan.
The ambush on the military convoy was carried out at Babari Adda,
10-kilometres west of Miranshah, with the attack "bearing
the hallmark of al Qaeda", an unnamed tribal elder said.
He also said the security forces returned fire and killed one
civilian who was looking out of his window to see what was happening.
Taliban militants claimed to have
kidnapped 28 FC personnel. Local Taliban spokesman Ahmedullah
Ahmed said, "We have kidnapped 28 Frontier Corps (FC) soldiers
from different checkposts in Speenwam near Mir Ali during the
last 36 hours." He did not say whether the kidnapped soldiers
had put up any resistance before being kidnapped, as earlier reports
have alleged that soldiers have surrendered without resistance.
Military spokesman Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad, however, termed the
Taliban spokesman’s claim as wrong and said no FC personnel had
been captured.
|
|
October 7
|
SFs assisted by heavy artillery
and helicopter gun-ships killed 65 militants but lost 20 soldiers
in two encounters in North Waziristan on October 7. Fierce clashes
occurred between the SFs and militants at Mirali and Miranshah,
headquarters of North Waziristan. The fighting began on October
6-night when militants ambushed an army convoy in Mir Ali, 24
kilometres east of Miranshah, on the Miranshah-Bannu road. The
SFs launched an operation against the militants, said military
spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad. Ten army soldiers were
killed and 10 wounded in the incident. Later at around 6:00 PM
(PST), militants attacked another army convoy in the same area
near Sokhail. Major General Arshad disclosed that the SFs killed
18 militants and injured 15 in the subsequent fighting. Ten soldiers
were killed and 12 injured. Pakistani fighter jets also reportedly
bombed the area. The military operation was continuing and helicopters
were hovering over the area.
A spokesman for the militants,
Ahmadullah Ahmadi, said that they were fully prepared to face
the onslaught and denied the military’s claim of 30 militants
being killed in the clashes. The spokesman had warned on October
6 that they would step up attacks on the troops and government
installations if SFs were not pulled out from check-posts.
Three civilians were also killed
when an artillery shell fired by the SFs hit their house in the
Sokhail village of North Waziristan.
The military said they had arrested
two militants in North Waziristan.
|
|
October 8
|
Pakistani helicopter gunships
and troops have killed 130 militants during clashes near the Afghan
border, while 45 soldiers have also died, the army sources said.
The clashes broke out after militants set off IEDs (improvised
explosive devices) and conducted ambushes on the security forces
on October 7, military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad
said. He added, "The forces retaliated and killed 130 militants
in air strikes and ground attacks. Forty-five security personnel
were also martyred." Arshad also said that contact had been established
with a group of around 50 soldiers reported missing earlier and
only 10 or 12 had not been accounted for, but it was not clear
if any of those had been killed. Most of the fighting has been
near Mir Ali. Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports said that four civilians,
including three women, were also killed during the clashes. Around
30 houses were destroyed or badly damaged as troops and militants
exchanged heavy weapons fire, they said.
|
|
October 9
|
At least 50 people were killed
and 200 others injured after fighter jets bombed a village market
near Mirali town in North Waziristan. Two planes made six sorties
around 3pm (PST) and dropped 12 bombs on Ipi village, three kilometers
east of Mirali. Military spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad
said the bombing had targeted militant hideouts in the Ipi, Khedherkhel
and Khushali Torikhel villages of Mirali sub-division, adding
that he had no confirmation of the number of fatalities. He, however,
put the number of militants killed in three days of fighting at
150 and the army’s casualties at 45.
Two soldiers were killed in a
bomb blast in Mamoon Panga in North Waziristan.
Two soldiers are reported to have
died and four wounded in an attack on Gharlamai check-post west
of Miranshah.
|
|
October 10
|
The PAF warplanes continued attacking
localities of Mir Ali subdivision in North Waziristan, killing
15 more persons. Officials of the political administration and
tribal sources said that the PAF planes targeted Haiderkhel, Ipi,
Hasukhel, Musaki, Mullagan, Hurmaz, Zeeraki, Khushali and other
villages of the area, mostly peopled by non-combatants. They said
eight persons were killed in Haiderkhel, four in Hurmaz and three
in Hasukhel villages. However, military spokesperson Major-General
Waheed Arshad claimed that no air strike was launched against
the militants since October 9-afternoon.
Seven persons who were seriously
injured in the October 9 bombings and artillery fire succumbed
to their injuries on October 10. The attacks were launched from
military camps in Miranshah and Mir Ali in which 100 rockets were
fired from the army base.
A driver was wounded when armed
men fired on a vehicle carrying women staff of an NGO in the Pulrah
area where the self-proclaimed Amir (chief) of Lashkar
Ababil, Maulana Mujid Muideen, had recently issued a decree calling
for attacks on women workers and vehicles of non-governmental
organisations. Source said that the women working for the Tarraqi
Foundation were going back to Mansehra from Lasain Nawab, when
three masked men intercepted their vehicle and opened fire.
Militants fired two missiles on
the military camp in Miranshah. However, no casualties were reported.
|
|
October 11
|
Troops retaliated when militants
fired rockets at the army’s Amin picket No 1 in Miranshah, headquarters
of the North Waziristan. There were no reports of casualties.
An improvised explosive device
was detected and defused by troops on the Miranshah-Bannu road
at Pattasi Adda near Mir Ali.
The military spokesperson Major
General Waheed Arshad said that the Jirga (council) which met
military authorities told them that the 200 militants killed in
‘Operation al-Mizan’, included 50 foreigners, 25 of them Uzbeks
and the rest from Tajikistan, Afghanistan and of Arab descent.
A small jirga of tribal elders
is negotiating a cease-fire with government officials in North
Waziristan after fierce clashes between security forces and militants
in which 250 people have been killed. The NWFP Governor Ali Jan
Orakzai told reporters in Peshawar that a jirga was negotiating
a ceasefire, adding, "Once the ceasefire is agreed upon then a
larger jirga will discuss permanent peace." Meanwhile, Major General
Waheed Arshad reiterated that the army reserved the right to retaliate
if military installations were attacked, and added, "We will retaliate
if we come under fire."
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|
October 13
|
Pro-Taliban militants released
30 of the over 200 SF personnel they had abducted over a month
ago in South Waziristan.
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October 14
|
Security force personnel killed
two pro-Taliban militants, including an Uzbek, after they fired
on a paramilitary checkpoint near the Mir Ali town in North Waziristan.
"One Uzbek and one local militant were killed in retaliation while
two wounded militants escaped," army spokesman Major-General Waheed
Arshad disclosed.
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October 20
|
Militants blew up a girl’s High
School in Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan. However,
no casualties were reported. Sources said that pro-Taliban militants
were behind the blast at the school – the only high school in
the area.
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October 21
|
Militants fired rockets at the
Mera Din check-post in North Waziristan. Troops retaliated, but
no casualties were reported.
|
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October 22
|
Paramilitary soldier Naik Waris
Khan was killed when militants attacked the Tall check-post, 20
kilometres south of Miranshah on the Miranshah-Razmak road in
North Waziristan.
A soldier was killed when a remote-controlled
bomb hit a military convoy near Eidak village, 18 kilometres east
of Miranshah on the Miranshah-Bannu highway. The same convoy had
earlier escaped a similar attack in Bannu. The security forces
retaliated, but no militant was killed.
A rift has reportedly developed
between the locals and Uzbeks in North Waziristan as "the
locals believe foreign fighters are responsible for the recent
killings of villagers". The locals are planning to call a
jirga to announce a deadline for the foreigners to leave
the area. "The locals say they will use arms to flush the
foreigners out of the area if they fail to meet the deadline,"
the sources said.
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October 24
|
Two soldiers were killed and an equal number of
them were wounded in a roadside bomb blast near their convoy as
it was travelling to Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan.
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October 30
|
Four soldiers were injured in
a roadside explosion in the Mirali sub-division of North Waziristan.
Sources said that a military convoy was going from Miranshah to
Mirali when one of the vehicles hit a roadside bomb in the Nowrek
village.
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October 31
|
Four civilians were killed when
militants and security forces exchanged gunfire in the Miranshah
city. Two shells hit a local hotel, killing Faqir Zaman, Masood
Rehman, Hareef Shah and Walayat Khan and damaging the hotel. At
least four others were injured.
The militants reportedly blew
up a security post in front of the Government High School for
Boys and fired three missiles at an army camp in Miranshah. However,
no loss of life was reported.
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November 2
|
A militant hideout, once owned
by the late Taliban commander, Mullah Dadullah, was destroyed
in North Waziristan, killing nine unidentified people. Two foreign
militants were among the dead. Residents and local sources said
that the drones flew over the site in the village of Danday Darpakhel
before two missiles hit the site. Local sources said that 12 militants
were also injured in the blast. The house was used as a training
camp and explosives store by militants loyal to Baitullah Mehsud,
the leader of local Taliban.
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November 4
|
Pro-Taliban commander Baitullah
Mehsud released over 200 soldiers who had been taken hostage in
South Waziristan on August 30. Military spokesman Major General
Waheed Arshad said, "The 211 soldiers the militants have
released reached Wana." He also confirmed that the government
had released 25 militants including a relative of slain Taliban
commander Abdullah Mehsud, Sohail Zeb, in exchange for the soldiers’
release. Officials said the soldiers and militants had been exchanged
through jirga (tribal council) members at Tiarza tehsil
(revenue division), 25 kilometres northeast of Wana.
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November 5
|
A soldier is killed and another
injured as bombs planted on roadsides hit a military vehicle in
Kharqamar village near Miranshah of North Waziristan. The vehicle
is part of a military convoy moving towards Datta Khel village.
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November 12
|
Seven militants were killed and
four others injured in artillery shelling by the security forces
on their hideouts in the Ghulam Khan area of North Waziristan
following an attack on a convoy of the paramilitary Frontier Corps
in which one soldier was killed and 10 others injured. Military
spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad admitted that six to
seven militants were killed and eight others injured in the shelling
on militants’ hideouts in Ghulam Khan. He said three of the dead
militants were foreigners seemingly Uzbeks while the remaining
were local.
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November 15
|
A paramilitary soldier was killed
and another wounded in a bomb blast in the Shawal area near the
Afghan border.
In the Bakakhel area, a military
vehicle hit a roadside bomb killing one soldier and inuring two
others. The vehicle was part of a convoy going from Datakhel to
Bannu via Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan.
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November 17
|
The widow of tribal journalist
Hayatullah Khan was killed in a bomb blast at her home in the
Hurmuz village of North Waziristan, while her children were unhurt.
"A bomb went off close to a boundary wall of her room killing
her instantly," said Ehsanullah Khan, brother of late Hayatullah
Khan. Ehsanullah told BBC that the people who had killed Hayatullah
were "responsible for the Saturday incident."
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November 19
|
In the Chashma Pul area, a 14-year
old boy was killed and two others wounded when security forces
opened fire on a passenger coach on suspicion of carrying militants
from the nearby Sarbanki Fort being collectively manned by Frontier
Corps and the army.
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November 20
|
A missile attack on the Pakistan
Army Fort at Kajori in the Mirali subdivision of North Waziristan
killed a civilian and injured three others, including two soldiers.
An army convoy opened fire at
shops near old Bannu-Miranshah bus stand when they noticed them
closing on their arrival from Razmak. The shopkeepers had reportedly
closed their shops out of fear of attack on the security forces
when they came to know of their arrival. No casualty was, however,
reported.
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November 23
|
At least three soldiers were wounded
in separate incidents in North Waziristan. An official said militants
attacked an army convoy with two remote-controlled bombs in Mir
Ali, injuring a soldier and destroying two vehicles. The convoy
was going to Razmak when it came under attack at Tall check-post,
20 kilometres south of Miranshah. Security forces reportedly fired
six artillery shells in retaliation from the army camp, but no
casualties were reported. Another army convoy at Mana army camp
in the Shawaal area also came under attack, leading to injuries
to two soldiers.
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November 25
|
Four persons were killed and six
others wounded when security forces (SFs) bombed a village after
coming under rocket attack from Taliban militants in the Mirali
sub-division of North Waziristan. Residents said that the militants
had fired at least 26 rockets on the Khajuri checkpoint and a
paramilitary camp in Mirali, causing injuries to a soldier. The
SFs retaliated and bombed some houses in the Mirali village, killing
two men, a woman and a child.
Taliban militants seized and burned
thousands of kilogrammes of food destined for pregnant women from
a hospital in South Waziristan. The food, mainly lentils and cooking
oil, had been supplied by the aid charity Save the Children
to feed pregnant women suffering from malnutrition. A Taliban
activist said they were destroyed because "foreign NGOs want to
harm our future generations."
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November 29
|
A roadside bomb that targeted
a military convoy killed five soldiers in North Waziristan. Military
spokesperson Major General Waheed Arshad informed that "It was
an IED (improvised explosive device) that killed five troops and
wounded four on a road between Miranshah and Mir Ali."
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| November 30 |
Security forces
killed a militant and arrested another after returning fire from
militants on their check post in North Waziristan. Security officials
said the militants attacked Banda post, four kilometres south of
Miranshah, injuring a paramilitary soldier. "Security forces
returned fire, killing a militant and arrested another, while also
destroying their two vehicles," said officials. |
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December 1
|
At least six
people, including four women and a child, were killed and more than
15 people were injured when stray shells landed on their homes in
Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan. The shells hit the
homes during an exchange of fire between militants and security
forces after the militants attacked the Banda check-post. |
|
December 3
|
A civilian was killed in an exchange of fire and
artillery shells between security forces and militants near Miranshah
in North Waziristan.
The security forces opened fire on a suspected
vehicle on the Miranshah-Bannu road, injuring one person.
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December 4
|
An Afghan national was killed and two soldiers
and two civilians were wounded in separate attacks on houses and
a security camp in the Mirali sub-division of North Waziristan.
Officials said that militants attacked a paramilitary forces’
camp in Mirali with more than 20 rockets, injuring two soldiers.
In retaliatory action by the security forces through shelling,
an Afghan national was killed when a shell hit his house. A woman
and her son sustained injuries in the shelling.
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|
December 7
|
The military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad
confirmed that eight militants have been killed and four arrested
after a clash in Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan.
He said that the militants attacked a convoy of security forces
in Miranshah and the troops killed eight of them and arrested
four in retaliation. He added that security forces recovered rocket
launchers, Kalashnikov rifles and explosives from the arrested
militants.
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December 12
|
Fifteen soldiers were killed and 38 others injured
in an attack and in roadside explosions in different areas of
North Waziristan. However, the military said in a statement that
six soldiers had been killed and 25 injured in the ambush. It
informed that militants had suffered 15 casualties in a counter-attack.
Major General Arshad Waheed said security forces backed by gunship
helicopters spotted the fleeing militants and opened fire, killing
15 of them in "immediate retaliation", AP reported. Local
people said they had seen the bodies of 15 soldiers and disputed
the military’s claim that 15 militants had been killed.
|
| December 14 |
Taliban militants
from tribal areas and some districts of the NWFP decided to set
up a centralised organisation for a joint war against the US and
NATO forces in Afghanistan and appointed Baitullah Mehsud as their
Central Amir (chief), a spokesman for the militant commander
told Dawn. The militants have named their movement as Tehrik
Taliban-i-Pakistan and said the aim of the movement was to enforce
Sharia (Islamic law) in their respective areas. The decision
was taken at a meeting of 40 Taliban leaders, held in an undisclosed
place in South Waziristan. "The sole objective of the Shura meeting
was to unite the Taliban against NATO forces in Afghanistan and
to wage a ‘defensive jihad’ against Pakistani forces here,"
Baitullah’s spokesman Maulana Omar said. |
|
December 16
|
Three paramilitary troops were
injured when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Miranshah, headquarters
of North Waziristan. Witnesses said that the truck carrying food
was passing near a private clinic when the bomb exploded.
|
| December 17 |
Militants in North Waziristan
announced a unilateral cease-fire on the eve of Haj and
Eidul Azha (Festival of Sacrifice), saying they would not
attack troops till January 1, 2008. An unnamed militant commander
told The News that the cease-fire decision was taken in
a meeting of senior militant commanders held with tribal militants’
central leader, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, in the chair. He said Hafiz
Gul Bahadur directed his fellow militants to stop attacks on security
forces in North Waziristan till January 1, 2008. The militant
commander also said that militants would have no objection over
movement of security forces in the region during the cease-fire.
He added that Bahadur directed his fighters to avoid abducting
soldiers during the truce and let them travel wherever they wanted
to go. However, military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad
said though he did not know about any such cease-fire announced
by the militants, the army would continue its hunt on militants.
"We have a clear cut stand. Army would retaliate if they were
attacked," he stated.
Two hours after the truce announcement,
suspected militants fired 12 missiles on military camp in Miranshah
and attacked the Banda Post manned by the paramilitary Frontier
Corps soldiers with rockets. Security forces retaliated with firing
artillery and rocket shells towards the direction from where missiles
were fired on the camp and Banda Post.
Two children were killed and six
members of a family sustained injuries in an exchange of fire
between security forces (SFs) and militants near Miranshah on
December 17-night. Local people said troops bombed Palangzai and
Banda villages near Miranshah, damaging several houses, after
11 rockets had been fired at the Banda checkpoint despite a cease-fire
announced by the militants to mark Eid-ul-Azha. The two children
were killed in an attack on the house of an Afghan national in
Palangzai.
One soldier was injured when militants
fired 12 mortar rounds and two rockets at a checkpoint in Miranshah,
the military said in a statement. At another location in the city,
two soldiers were reportedly wounded when militants fired 25 mortar
rounds and seven rockets.
|
|
December 26
|
Unidentified gunmen abducted two Frontier Corps
personnel in North Waziristan while they were heading towards
the Razmak army camp.
Taliban militants released seven security force
personnel abducted about three weeks ago in Bajaur, AFP quoted
officials as saying. The militants had abducted the seven soldiers
from two security posts in early December and then blew up the
posts located around Khar, the main town of the Bajaur Agency.
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