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CIVILIAN CASUALTIES REPORTED IN NORTH WAZIRISTAN
AT LEAST 40, REPORTEDLY INCLUDING CIVILIANS, DEAD AS MILITARY BOMBARDMENT OF SUSPECTED MILITANT HIDEOUTS CONTINUES FOR THIRD DAY.
Troops pounded suspected militant hideouts in North Waziristan for a third day on Friday, as the death toll rose to 40 and local residents claimed the operation had left several civilians dead.
Clashes between security forces and militants have been rocking North Waziristan, on the Afghan border, since Wednesday evening when a suicide bombing killed five soldiers at a checkpoint in the town of Mir Ali. A few hours later, militants attacked security forces as they returned after rescuing soldiers wounded in the bombing, prompting the military to respond with mortars, artillery and helicopter gunships in a search operation to catch the insurgents.
The death toll from the clashes rose to at least 40 on Friday as four more bodies were recovered from the debris of two hotels that came under heavy fire after fleeing militants used them to take refuge.
The military says all of those killed in the operation were Taliban militants, but locals said many of those who died in the hotels were drivers forced to stay there by a curfew imposed on Tuesday.
Nazir Khan Wazir, a parliamentarian from the area, said most of those killed and wounded were not militants. “
Most of those killed and wounded were innocent civilians. People are facing a terrible time. They are trapped in their houses,” he said. “
Dozens of houses have been damaged by shelling. Residents are also facing food shortages.” Wazir also appealed to the government to stop the bombardment so locals could bury their dead and take the wounded to hospital.
A senior security official said the search operation was still going on in Mir Ali and surrounding areas.
Maulvi Gul Abbas, a cleric in Mir Ali, said that residents were not able to sleep because of the continuous firing. “Dozens of houses have been damaged. All those killed inside the houses were local residents,” Abbas said.
Civilian Casualties Reported in North Waziristan ‹ Newsweek Pakistan
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Residents Say Scores Of Civilians Killed In Pakistan's North Waziristan
PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Residents of Mir Ali, the key town in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area, say at least 40 people died in army shelling there on December 19.
Locals told RFE/RL by phone on December 20 that the
shelling, now stopped, destroyed most shops in the bazaar and prevented people from taking wounded to the hospital.
The residents' reports of civilian deaths come as the Pakistani military said its military operation in the region killed 33 people, all militants.
The army said fighting began late on December 18, when a convoy was attacked en route to a checkpoint, then expanded to target a militant hideout in Mir Ali.
Some 300 people, mostly students from North Waziristan, protested in the northwestern city of Peshawar on December 20 against the military operation and what they said was the targeting of civilians.
Residents Say Scores Of Civilians Killed In Pakistan's North Waziristan
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Pakistani army launches offensive in North Waziristan
ISLAMABAD: Residents of North Waziristan accused troops on Monday of killing dozens of civilians during a military operation against militants.
The operation started just after a December 18 suicide bomb attack on a checkpoint in North Waziristan.
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 Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) 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 military spokesperson 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.
The 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.
“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.
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 mortars and shells are following us,” said Asad Sher of Mir Ali. “Please tell us where is safe. The troops are 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.
Pakistani army launches offensive in North Waziristan – The Express Tribune
