47 people including senior cleric killed in Army shelling in Orakzai

September 16th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - : Close aides of former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf are too embarrassed and are shying away from responding to the former general's claims that he had taken the November 3, 2007 actions only after consulting various top officials, including the then Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and the current Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani. Musharraf's erstwhile close associates find the topic as 'too dirty' to speak about and have been avoiding any queries regarding that by simply saying 'no comments'.

September 8th, 2009 PESHAWAR - Six extremists were killed in the shelling by Pakistani gunship helicopters in various areas of Orakzai Agency. According to the sources, gunship helicopters pounded extremists' hideouts in Atmankhel, Satorikhel and Firozkhel areas of Orakzai Agency.

September 5th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani security forces Saturday killed at least 55 militants in two districts of the country's troubled northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said. Paramilitary Frontier Corps troops aided by helicopter gunships destroyed the headquarters of the pro-Taliban fighters in Khyber tribal district and destroyed seven vehicles, a statement said.

September 5th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani security forces Saturday killed more than 60 militants in two districts of the country's troubled northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said. Paramilitary Frontier Corps troops aided by helicopter gunships destroyed the headquarters of the pro-Taliban fighters in the Khyber tribal district and destroyed seven vehicles, according to a statement.

July 4th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Twenty-six Pakistani soldiers were killed when a helicopter in which they were travelling crashed in the Orakzai tribal agency close to the Afghan border, a media report said Saturday. The MI-17 helicopter crashed Friday due to a technical problem, the Online news agency said citing army officials.

July 4th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Friday's helicopter crash in which 26 security personel were killed in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas' (FATA) Orakzai Agency, is being seen as a serious blow to the Pakistan Army ahead of the its planned all out offensive against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan. The ISPR may have denied any foul play in the M-17 crash saying a technical snag had triggered the crash, but sources said that extremists hiding in the terrains targeted the military chopper with sophisticated artillery.

June 20th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Army has reportedly killed 15 more Taliban insurgents, and injured seven others in its operation in the Charmang area of Bajaur Agency. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), intensifying its operation in the region, the security forces killed four more militants in Buner District.

June 15th, 2009 PESHAWAR - The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan's (TTP) Orakzai Agency chapter has claimed responsibility for the series of suicide attacks that have rocked the country in the recent past. Taking responsibility for the attacks, including the devastating strike on Peshawar's Pearl Continental Hotel, the Orakzai TTP chief Maulana Saeed Khan said foreigners were the prime target.

June 15th, 2009 PESHAWAR - The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan's (TTP) Orakzai Agency chapter has claimed responsibility for the series of suicide attacks that have rocked the country in the recent past. Taking responsibility for the attacks, including the devastating strike on Peshawar's Pearl Continental Hotel, the Orakzai TTP chief Maulana Saeed Khan said foreigners were the prime target.

June 13th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Army has reportedly killed 60 more Taliban insurgents in the past 24 hours, during its whirlwind offensive in Malakand and other different regions of the Swat Valley. "39 terrorists were killed in various areas of Malakand.

June 12th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A prominent cleric who supported military offensives in Pakistan's northwestern Swat valley and seven other people were killed Friday in two separate mosque bombings in the country, media reports said. Sarfraz Ahmad Naeemi was in his office adjacent to a mosque in the eastern city of Lahore when a teenage suicide bomber entered the building and blew himself up.

May 29th, 2009 LONDON - More than 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed, mostly in army shelling, in the final three weeks of the just-ended civil war in Sri Lanka, a British newspaper reported Friday, contesting official figures. The Times said in a five-page report illustrated with aerial photographs that the casualties were three times the figure given out by the Sri Lankan government.

April 1st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A suspected US missile strike killed 12 Taliban militants Wednesday in Pakistan's restive tribal region, while suspected terrorists ambushed a police patrol, killing five police personnel in the northwest, officials said. Two missiles believed to have been fired by a US drone hit a compound in Khadezai village of the Orakzai Agency, one of seven semi-autonomous tribal districts known to serve as sanctuaries for Al Qaeda and Taliban rebels.

April 1st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A suspected US missile strike killed 12 Taliban militants Wednesday in Pakistan's tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said. Two missiles believed to have been fired by a US drone hit a compound in Khadezai village of the Orakzai Agency, one of seven semi-autonomous tribal districts known to serve as sanctuaries for Al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels.

February 15th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - At least 30 people were killed Monday when missiles fired from a US drone (pilotless aircraft) hit a training camp of Taliban militants in Pakistan's northwestern Orakzai tribal agency, a media report said. Four missiles hit the camp where Pakistani and Afghan Taliban militants receive training, the News Network International (NNI) news agency said.