Operation Zarb-e-Azb | Updates, News & Discussions.

[FalconsForPeace]

Air Strikes in Northwest Pakistan Kill 23 Militants: Officials


BANNU: Air strikes killed at least 23 suspected militants in Pakistan's northwestern Shawal Valley today, intelligence officials said, more than a month after security forces moved in on Pakistani Taliban strongholds in the region.

The deeply forested ravines are a key smuggling route between Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan, and are dotted with Taliban bases used as launch pads for attacks on Pakistani forces.

Two intelligence officials, who declined to be identified, as they are not authorised to speak on the record, said the latest air strikes killed the militants in the Zoinari area of North Waziristan.

"We got information that local and foreign fighters were hiding in this area," said one of the officials. "Strikes were launched and 10 militants were killed. Three hideouts were also completely destroyed."

The hard-line Islamist Taliban's Pakistani wing used to control all of North Waziristan, a mountainous region that includes the Shawal Valley and runs along the Afghan border. But the Pakistani military has recaptured most of it, in an operation launched last June.

NATO forces had long urged Pakistan for such an offensive, saying Taliban safe havens in Pakistan were being used to attack NATO and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.

Since last month, the military has stepped up operations in Shawal Valley, where the Taliban still operates freely.

The area is a stronghold of Khan "Sajna" Said, a leader of a Taliban faction whose name was added to a sanctions list of "specially designated global terrorists" by US authorities last year.

Most phone lines to the area have been cut and military roadblocks curtail civilian movement.

The Pakistani Taliban mainly fight against the government in Islamabad and are separate from, but allied with, the Afghan Taliban that ruled Afghanistan in the late 1990s before being expelled in a US-led intervention.

Both groups send fighters against Afghanistan's Western-backed government. Afghan officials have said the Pakistani army offensive has driven large numbers of fighters over the border, complicating the war in Afghanistan's east and north.

Air Strikes in Northwest Pakistan Kill 23 Militants: Officials

 

[PDF]

Shawal valley is much much tougher terrain compared to Tirah

Nope...Tirah Valley was the most difficult place to conquer and shawal valley is easier to conquer comparing to Tirah...

 

[Devil Soul]

Operation Zarb-e-Azb: Army gearing up for final push in Shawal Valley
By AFP
Published: June 29, 2015

PHOTO: APP

ISLAMABAD: The army is preparing for a final push in the coming weeks in the country’s fight against militants.

A year on from the launch of a major offensive to eradicate strongholds of Taliban and other militants in North Waziristan tribal area, the military says the job is 90 percent done.

It is now positioning troops around the Shawal Valley, a key location close to the Afghan border that is home to some of the last redoubts of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), according to locals and security sources.

The army says it has killed more than 2,700 militants since the launch of the offensive — dubbed Zarb-e-Azb — last June, and destroyed more than 800 of their hideouts.

A senior military official directly linked to the offensive said the army was gearing up for the final push and using air strikes before moving in ground troops.

“We are turning hard targets into soft through aerial bombing because forces expect a resistance in Shawal,” he told AFP.

The troop movements were confirmed by locals, though some tribal elders warned militants were slipping across the porous mountainous border into Afghanistan.

“Up to two dozen militants are leaving the area every day and around 200 militants recently moved into part of Afghan territory,” elder Ajab Khan told AFP.

He warned the remaining areas where TTP fighters are holed up will be difficult fighting terrain — mountainous and thickly forested.
But security analysts caution that military gains will serve little purpose unless and until the lawless, semi-autonomous tribal areas see administrative reform and economic development.

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) are among the poorest in Pakistan, and are governed under a draconian legal system introduced by British colonial rulers more than a century ago.

“The longevity of the ‘final push’ would largely depend on the constitutional status of the region,” said Imtiaz Gul, executive director at Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS).

“Until the Fata region is mainstreamed and brought under the law of the land, keeping it clear of militants and criminals would be difficult.”

Hundreds of thousands of civilians were forced to leave North Waziristan by the offensive. Retired Lieutenant General Talat Masood said reintegrating them was key to success.

“These military gains will only be a part of the exercise. Complete success depends on the rehabilitation of the displaced people and development in the tribal region,” he told AFP.

Zarb-e-Azb does seem to have had a positive impact on militant attacks, which have been down overall, with some shocking exceptions, such as the December massacre by Taliban gunmen of more than 130 children at a school in Peshawar.

But doubts have been raised about the transparency of the operation and the identities of those killed.

I A Rehman of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said there was no way to know for sure who the army had killed.

“We don’t know the truth about the casualties — what is the actual number of casualties, how many of them are terrorists and how many of them innocents?” he told AFP.

“They should make this action transparent. People should have access in the areas of operation.”

Concerns have also been raised about the resumption of executions and introduction of military courts, which have sat in secret, under a government National Action Plan (NAP) to defeat terror, launched in the wake of the Peshawar massacre.

The European Union, the United Nations and various international rights groups have been alarmed by the pace of executions — around 160 since they began again in December after a six-year hiatus.

Rehman said HRCP did not accept the legitimacy of the military courts, which handed out their first rulings in April, sentencing six militants to death and another to life in jail.

The news was announced in a Twitter post by the chief military spokesperson Major General Asim Bajwa, with no details given on the nature of the crimes, when or where the trials were held, the evidence presented or even the identity of those convicted.

The Supreme Court is currently hearing challenges to the constitutionality of the military tribunals.

Moreover there are doubts the NAP will do much to deal with the radicalisation of young people by hardline seminaries that underlies much of Pakistan’s terror problems.

“They have resumed hangings through the National Action Plan but the seminaries are still working and there is no check on them,” Rehman said.

 

[senses]

Will our forces move into shawal valley after ramzan ?

 

[A.M.]

Will our forces move into shawal valley after ramzan ?

They are around the edges now and softening up the targets via air strikes.

 

[senses]

They are around the edges now and softening up the targets via air strikes.

AFAIK, they've been sitting on the edges since 2-3 years or more. IMO, army will face some tough resistance in shawal if some hardcore talibs didn't run to afghanistan yet.

 

[fatman17]

Pakistan's anti-terror fight enters new phase despite rights fears

AFP

Khurram Shahzad Mon, Jun 29

Islamabad (AFP) - Pakistan's army is preparing for a final push in the coming weeks in its fight against militants, but there are concerns that rights are being rolled back in the name of defeating terror.

A year on from the launch of a major offensive to eradicate strongholds of Taliban and other militants in North Waziristan tribal area, the military says the job is 90 percent done.

It is now positioning troops around the Shawal Valley, a key location close to the Afghan border that is home to some of the last redoubts of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), according to locals and security sources.

The army says it has killed more than 2,700 militants since the launch of the offensive -- dubbed Zarb-e-Azb -- last June, and destroyed more than 800 of their hideouts.

A senior military official directly linked to the offensive said the army was gearing up for the final push and using air strikes before moving in ground troops.

"We are turning hard targets into soft through aerial bombing because forces expect a resistance in Shawal," he told AFP.

The troop movements were confirmed by locals, though some tribal elders warned militants were slipping across the porous mountainous border into Afghanistan.

"Up to two dozen militants are leaving the area every day and around 200 militants recently moved into part of Afghan territory," elder Ajab Khan told AFP.

He warned the remaining areas where TTP fighters are holed up will be difficult fighting terrain -- mountainous and thickly forested.


- Reform, development needed -


But security analysts caution that military gains will serve little purpose unless and until the lawless, semi-autonomous tribal areas see administrative reform and economic development.

The Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) are among the poorest in Pakistan, and are governed under a draconian legal system introduced by British colonial rulers more than a century ago.

"The longevity of the 'final push' would largely depend on the constitutional status of the region," said Imtiaz Gul, executive director at Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS).

"Until the FATA region is mainstreamed and brought under the law of the land, keeping it clear of militants and criminals would be difficult."

Hundreds of thousands of civilians were forced to leave North Waziristan by the offensive. Retired Lieutenant General Talat Masood said reintegrating them was key to success.

"These military gains will only be a part of the exercise. Complete success depends on the rehabilitation of the displaced people and development in the tribal region," he told AFP.

Zarb-e-Azb does seem to have had a positive impact on militant attacks, which have been down overall, with some shocking exceptions, such as the December massacre by Taliban gunmen of more than 130 children at a school in Peshawar.


- Doubts, concerns -


But doubts have been raised about the transparency of the operation and the identities of those killed.

There have been repeated reports of civilian deaths, but the military tightly controls access to the conflict zone, preventing independent assessment.

I. A. Rehman of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said there was no way to know for sure who the army had killed.

"We don't know the truth about the casualties -- what is the actual number of casualties, how many of them are terrorists and how many of them innocents?" he told AFP.

"They should make this action transparent. People should have access in the areas of operation."

Concerns have also been raised about the resumption of executions and introduction of military courts, which have sat in secret, under a government National Action Plan (NAP) to defeat terror, launched in the wake of the Peshawar massacre.

The European Union, the United Nations and various international rights groups have been alarmed by the pace of executions -- around 160 since they began again in December after a six-year hiatus.

Rehman said HRCP did not accept the legitimacy of the military courts, which handed out their first rulings in April, sentencing six militants to death and another to life in jail.

The news was announced in a Twitter post by the chief military spokesman Major General Asim Bajwa, with no details given on the nature of the crimes, when or where the trials were held, the evidence presented or even the identity of those convicted.

The Supreme Court is currently hearing challenges to the constitutionality of the military tribunals.

Moreover there are doubts the NAP will do much to deal with the radicalisation of young people by hardline seminaries that underlies much of Pakistan's terror problems.

"They have resumed hangings through the National Action Plan but the seminaries are still working and there is no check on them," Rehman said.

 

[fatman17]

Victory in Khyber

BY EDITORIAL

And what needs to be done

The good news is that the army has cleansed the Khyber Agency of terrorists and announced the completion of the ongoing military operation in the Agency. The bad news is that the leadership of the terrorists including the notorious Mangalbagh has taken refuge across the border in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. The TTP and Jamaat-al-Ahrar have also reportedly shifted to the Afghan province across the border. There were reports last week of fighters loyal to IS having seized substantial territory in Nangarhar. Mangalbagh has supposedly joined the group.

The army has achieved the victory at a substantial cost in terms of the loss of officers and men, particularly in the strategic Tirah Valley. Elimination of the terrorists from Khyber was considered crucial for the security of Peshawar as terrorist attacks inside the capital city of KP were orchestrated by the networks operating from the adjacent Agency. After the terrorists defeat in Khyber Agency, the number of attacks on Peshawar has come down substantially.

Two things are needed to ensure that the terrorists do not succeed in staging a comeback. First is the establishment of civil administration and law enforcement apparatus in the area to take care of security once the military pulls back. The tribal leadership in Khyber Agency was taken out by the TTP to create an administrative vacuum, and enabling the terrorists to move in.

The second and equally important, if not more so, is to take urgent measures to improve ties with Afghanistan which have recently suffered a setback. Terrorism in Pakistan and Afghanistan cannot be eliminated without complete understanding between the neighbours. Unless this happens, terrorists under pressure in Pakistan will seek asylum in Afghanistan and vice versa. The failure to bring the Afghan Taliban to the negotiating table despite promises has regenerated old suspicions in Kabul. Unless these are removed relations would revert to what they were under Karzai. This would adversely impact regional security and imperil the various development projects in the area.

 

[fatman17]

Adressing troops of the dangerous Shawal ops

 

[fatman17]

Terminated with extreme prejudice

 

[Vortex]

Well done!

 

[fatman17]

Drone strikes data

 

[Roger Alpha]

Salute you Sir!

Bravo!

 

[Irfan Baloch]

@Irfan Baloch
are U by any chance alluding to the murder of Phul Shah in Ur above post ???
If it is that as I strongly suspect U are then I might have some news for You.

sorry I missed your post for a long time ago please explain

 

[Winchester]

Any news about the push into Shawal Valley ???