|
 The operation started just after a December 18 suicide bomb attack
on a checkpoint in North Waziristan, a stronghold for al
Qaeda-linked Taliban militants on Pakistan's mountainous border with
Afghanistan.
Speculation that the army might launch a major offensive in the
frontier tribal areas has been building as the government's attempts
to engage the Pakistani Taliban in peace talks have floundered in
recent months.
Military officials said more than 30 militants, most of them ethnic
Uzbeks, had been killed in the operation.
"Security forces exercised utmost restraint to avoid any collateral
damage," the army said in a statement.
"The Pakistan military spokesman reiterated that the military action
against the terrorists in North Waziristan on December 19 was in
response to an attempt by terrorists to ambush a military convoy.
"The intelligence-based sting military operation later was
specifically targeted against foreign terrorists holed up in a
nearby compound."
Foreign militants from various places including central Asia have
long been known to be based in the region.
The army in its statement did not say anything about residents'
accusations of civilian casualties. The military's media wing could
not be immediately reached for comment.
Pakistani authorities imposed a curfew and residents said many
people had fled from their homes after days of shelling and raids by
helicopter gunships in the Mir Ali region of North Waziristan
following the suicide attack.
Resident Muhammed Tayyab said he lost three of his children and his
wife in the shelling.
"On the first day of the attack an artillery shell hit the room
where my kids and wife were sleeping," Tayyab told Reuters by
telephone. "The government has put them to sleep forever."
"WHERE IS SAFE?"
Residents put the civilian death toll at several dozen.
"From the first day of the attack until now 70 civilians have been
killed," said a tribal elder in Mir Ali who declined to be
identified for fear of state reprisals.
[to top of second column] |
"Some truck drivers and hotel and shop keepers were shot directly,
and dozens were killed by gunships, mortars, and artillery shelling
on the civilian population."
Reports from North Waziristan are hard to verify independently
because journalists and observers are not allowed to work on the
ground in the heavily militarized region.
The Pashtun lands along the Afghan border have never been brought
under the full control of any government.
Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur said insurgents would respond by
launching a full-scale counter-offensive on army positions if
attacks against civilians did not stop on Monday.
Residents said bodies were left in the open in the villages of
Mosaki and Hasukhel as terrified villagers fled the area.
"We are moving our families to keep them safe but the army's mortars
and shells are following us," said Asad Sher of Mir Ali. "Please
tell us where is safe. The army is demolishing our homes and
bazaars."
Malik Gul Salehjan, another man, said: "My children are asking me
for bread but I am not able to give them anything because there is
nothing in my house."
A North Waziristan administration official said tribal elders and
army representatives convened a jirga, or meeting, on Monday to try
to find a negotiated end to hostilities.
(Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar;
editing by Robert Birsel)
[© 2013 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2013 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
