Pakistan pushes ahead with military operation in northwest
Agencies
Published: July 20, 2008, 11:46

Kohat: Pakistani security forces pushed ahead with an operation in the restive northwest, killing at least 15 Taliban members and capturing 60, the military said on Sunday.

The operation backed by helicopter gunships was launched on Wednesday around Hangu town after militants killed 17 soldiers and abducted 49 paramilitary soldiers and government officials just over a week ago.

A military spokesman said: "The operation is still on. We have successfully cleared the valley and now our troops are fighting militants on the mountains."

Five soldiers were injured in the operation, he added.

The military was using heavy artillery to hit the militants in the area surrounding Hangu.

Authorities have imposed a curfew in and around Hangu.

http://www.gulfnews.com/world/Pakistan/10230418.html

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Pakistan Airforce: The largest distributor of Indian airforce parts in Asia



Pathankot Strike
8 F-86Fs of No 19 Squadron led by Squadron Leader Sajjad Haider struck Pathankot airfield. With carefully positioned dives and selecting each individual aircraft in their protected pens for their strafing attacks, the strike elements completed a textbook operation against Pathankot. Wing Commander M G Tawab, flying one of the two Sabres as tied escorts overhead, counted 14 wrecks burning on the airfield. Among the aircraft destroyed on the ground were nearly all of the IAFs Soviet-supplied Mig-21s till then received, none of which were seen again during the War.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFHlzP69n9c

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'Militants die' in Pakistan clash

Pakistan's army says it has killed 10 pro-Taleban militants in a military operation near the Afghan border.

Five soldiers have been wounded in the drive to clear insurgents from the north-western district of Hangu, spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said.

The operation began after talks to secure the release of some 20 hostages seized by the militants collapsed.

Pakistan is under increasing pressure from the US and Nato to crack down on militants based near the Afghan border.

Shelling

There has been tension in the Hangu area since the arrest of several militants some weeks ago.

On Saturday the militants killed 15 tribal border police in an ambush in Zargari district.

Maj Gen Abbas said troops backed by helicopter gunships had driven militants from the town of Zargari and were now conducting "mopping up" operations.

He said many militants had fled to the nearby tribal district of Orakzai.

Residents say artillery shelling and attacks by helicopter gunships began on Wednesday.

On Thursday, a spokesman of the Orakzai Taleban, Maulvi Haider, told the BBC Urdu service that if the operation was not stopped, they would start beheading the hostages they hold.

The Taleban claim to hold more than 50 hostages. The government has confirmed some officials are being held, but has not said how many.

The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says it is thought the Taleban seized at least 20 hostages.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7513785.stm

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Pakistan Airforce: The largest distributor of Indian airforce parts in Asia



Pathankot Strike
8 F-86Fs of No 19 Squadron led by Squadron Leader Sajjad Haider struck Pathankot airfield. With carefully positioned dives and selecting each individual aircraft in their protected pens for their strafing attacks, the strike elements completed a textbook operation against Pathankot. Wing Commander M G Tawab, flying one of the two Sabres as tied escorts overhead, counted 14 wrecks burning on the airfield. Among the aircraft destroyed on the ground were nearly all of the IAFs Soviet-supplied Mig-21s till then received, none of which were seen again during the War.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFHlzP69n9c

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Troops kill 15 militants and capture 6O around Hangu town
Agencies
Published: July 21, 2008, 00:05


Kohat: Pakistani security forces backed by helicopter gunships have killed 15 Taliban militants and captured 60 in an operation that began mid-week in a troubled northwestern town, the military said on Sunday.

The operation was launched on Wednesday around Hangu town after militants killed 17 soldiers and abducted 49 paramilitary soldiers and government officials just over a week ago.

"The operation is still on. We have successfully cleared the valley and now our troops are fighting militants on the mountains," spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said, adding five soldiers had also been wounded in the fighting.

Heavy artillery


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He said the operation's goal was to flush out militants from Hangu district, 40 kilometres west of the garrison town of Kohat, but not to extend it into the neighbouring Orakzai tribal region, where most insurgents were believed to have fled.

Residents said that the military was using heavy artillery and mortars to hit militants' positions in the Tora Warai area, about 25 kilometres west of Hangu town.

Militants hurled a grenade inside a military cinema in Kohat city on Saturday night, wounding four people, including a nine-year-old boy.

A general deterioration in the security situation across the northwest in recent weeks has coincided with calls by Western allies with troops in neighbouring Afghanistan for Pakistan to put the militants under greater military pressure, while also engaging less recalcitrant groups in dialogue.

Authorities have imposed a curfew in and around Hangu.

Violence subsided in Pakistan's northwest after a new coalition formed following February elections began talks.

But Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, who is also wanted over former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination, suspended talks last month and the security situation has deteriorated once more.

Pipeline blast

In southwestern Balochistan, paramilitary troops battled nationalist rebels after a gas pipeline was blown up in a rocket attack, killing eight militants, a senior security official said yesterday.



http://www.gulfnews.com/world/Pakistan/10230532.html

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