Soldiers backed by armoured vehicles retook
control
of
Bara
town
in
the
Khyber
Agency
of
the
FATA
on
June
29,
and
prepared
to
advance
to
other
areas
in
the
district,
including
the
Tirah Valley, Daily Times reported. An unnamed official said that the Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) chief Mangal
Bagh
had
moved
to
the
remote
Tirah Valley before the launch of the military
operations,
Reuters
reported.
The
second
day
of
the
NWFP
Government’s
operations
ended
without
any
resistance,
as
the
paramilitary
Frontier
Corps
(FC)
troops
continued
their
advance
into
the
tribal
region
near
Peshawar, capital of the NWFP. In Bara, Bagh had directed his supporters
against
fighting
Government
forces.
“We’re
peaceful
and
giving
way
to
the
security
forces
we
are
not
going
to
fight,”
said
Mangal
Bagh’s
16-year-old
son
Tayeb.
The
5,000-troop
contingent
of
FC
soldiers
that
launched
the
operation
on
June
28
was
supplemented
with
a
fresh
deployment
of
400
troops
and
20
vehicles
on
June
29.
Local official Muhammad Siddiq
Khan
said
the
FC
had
also
encountered
no
resistance
as
it
moved
into
areas
outside
Bara,
AP
reported.
Muhammad
Ilyas,
a
bodyguard
of
Mangal Bagh, confirmed that the
LI
cadres
had
been
strictly
directed
against
fighting
Government
troops
by
“amir sahib”. During the operation’s second day, security forces
razed
several
buildings,
including
the
Mehboob
Markaz,
the
Tayab,
Misri and Gud Malang
centres
and
a
private
jail.
A
security
official
told
AFP that soldiers also blew up a building belonging to the Taliban-linked
group
Ansarul
Islam
(AI).
However,
FATA
Additional
Secretary
Habibullah
Khan
declined
to
comment
on
the
target
of
the
operation.
“This
operation
is
not
against
a
particular
individual
or
group,”
he
told
reporters.
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