Militants blow up six shrines in Orakzai
Wednesday, 06 Jan, 2010
KOHAT: Militants exhumed the body of a spiritual leader and blew up six other shrines in the Stori Khel area of lower Orakzai Agency on Tuesday.
Locals said heavily armed militants came to the area of the Stori Khel tribe, who have raised a lashkar against them, and dug up the grave of spiritual leader Anwarul Haq. They desecrated the remains and then took it to an unknown location.
The militants also blew up six other shrines in the Khwa area of Stori Khel.
The Stori Khel tribe has been fighting the Taliban for over a month to keep them away from their area.
Militant leaders -- Tariq Afridi, chief of Darra Adamkhel and Khyber Agency Taliban, and Maulana Akhunzada Aslam Farooqui, head of Orakzai Agency Taliban -- have been asking the Shia clan of the Stori Khel tribe to expel security personnel recently deployed in the area.
KHAR: Another government-run school was blown up in the Bajaur Agency on Tuesday.
Locals said an improvised explosive device had been planted at the Government High School for boys in the Malkana area of Nawagai tehsil, 30 kilometres from agency headquarters of Khar.
Sixteen rooms of the school were destroyed and five damaged, political tehsildar Ghulam Saidullah told reporters.
He said a group of about 50 persons had entered the school and planted the explosives.
Meanwhile, security forces defused two improvised explosive devices planted by militants on a road in the Raghjaan area of Salarzai tehsil on Tuesday.
The forces also arrested 12 suspects in different areas of Bajaur during a search operation.
The search was conducted in the Omari area of Mamond tehsil, Shago area of Khar tehsil and some areas of the Nawagai tehsil.
The forces also seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including Kalashnikovs, explosives and material used in bomb making, from the arrested persons.
The forces also targeted suspected militant hideouts with artillery, but no casualty was reported.
MINGORA: Three militants were killed and a security man was injured in a clash in Swat on Tuesday.
Military sources said the clash took place when the militants tried to enter the Banjeer village from the Morabanda area.
The forces also arrested 30 suspects and recovered a huge cache of arms in the Kabal tehsil and 60 suspects in the Mingora and areas on its outskirts.
Sources said the forces had imposed undeclared curfew in Kozabandai during the house-to-house operation.
The forces seized two hand grenades, two mortar shells, four remote-controlled bombs, 500 rounds of anti-aircraft guns and thousands of cartridges from the fields in Charbagh.
The forces also imposed curfew in different areas of the Mingora city.
BATKHELA: Two suspected militants were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in the Malakand protected area on Tuesday.
Sources in the security forces said the clash took place in the jurisdiction of Qaidabad Levies checkpost near Harichand, along the border of Charsadda district.
The bodies were later handed over to the Malakand Levies personnel, who buried them in the Dargai graveyard as identified.
LANDI KOTAL: Security forces on Tuesday arrested 11 suspected militants in Bara during a search operation.Sources said the operation was carried out in Akkakhel and Kambarkhel areas. The forces cordoned off the entire area after receiving information about the presence of militants.
Military officials said the arrested men included three commanders of the Lashkar-i-Islam.
In Dogra, militants targeted a military vehicle with a time device planted on a roadside. The vehicle was slightly damaged, but the security personnel escaped unhurt.
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