Ground battles flare in Pakistan
Pakistani troops launched a ground offensive against the Taliban in their last strongholds near the Afghan border.
|||Pakistan - Pakistani troops pushed deeper into militant-held areas in the North Waziristan region on Friday, launching a ground offensive against the Pakistani Taliban and other Islamist fighters in their last strongholds near the Afghan border.
Since May, the military has stepped up operations in the deeply forested ravines of the Shawal valley, which straddles the regions of North and South Waziristan along the frontier with Afghanistan, and is dotted with militant bases.
Pakistani troops began pushing deeper into Shawal after days of aerial bombing that the army said killed dozens of militants.
“Ground operation in Shawal, North Waziristan begins,” the army's chief spokesman, Major General Asim Sali Bajwa, announced on Twitter late Thursday night.
Residents remaining in Shawal said many were desperately looking for a way to flee. “In the last days, there has been heavy bombardment in the area. I'm worried for my children,” said Shamal Khan, speaking by telephone from the remote area.
This week's thrust by the armed forces is described as a final clearing of the militants' last hideouts in the valley.
The Pakistani military recaptured most of North Waziristan in an offensive started in June 2014. Before the operation began, the army ordered most civilians to leave. Those in the Shawal valley were permitted to stay.
Another resident, Mir Alam, said local officials didn't tell them to go before this week's bombardment. “Now we are in a hurry to get out, but I have hundreds of goats and more than a dozen family members here,” he said.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Muhammed Kurassani denied government claims of dozens of militants killed in the past week. “We have no losses there because the government does not know where we are,” he said.
Retired Pakistani brigadier general Shaukat Qadir said he doubted this week's offensive would be the final blow in Pakistan's fight against jihadist militants.
“Every phase will be final, but it's not been ended,” Qadir told Reuters, noting that the ideology and recruitment ability of the Taliban and other jihadists remained along with the ability to launch militant attacks.
The Pakistani Taliban mainly fight the Pakistani state with the ultimate goal of establishing their strict interpretation of Islamic sharia as the law of the land.
They are separate from, but allied to, the Afghan Taliban, which is in the throes of a leadership crisis following confirmation of the death of longtime leader Mullah Omar.
Reuters