Officials: Violence kills 12 in northwest Pakistan
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — Pakistani security forces shelled and launched airstrikes against Taliban in the country’s northwest, killing four civilians and eight suspected militants, officials said Monday.
Scores of families fled the latest fighting, adding to an exodus of hundreds of thousands of residents from the volatile tribal belt along the border with Afghanistan over the past year.
Shelling occurred overnight in the vicinity of Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal region. A Taliban compound in the same area was targeted by a deadly suspected U.S. missile strike on Sunday.
South Waziristan is a key stronghold for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, including Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud. It is a frequent target of American missile strikes, which have continued despite militants’ threats of more suicide attacks unless they stop.
Militants attacked at least four military camps and checkpoints between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m., leading security forces to use artillery in retaliation, said an intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.
“In the exchange of fire, three civilians were killed, and the clashes left three security troops wounded,” said Shahab Ali Shah, South Waziristan’s top administrative official.
He added some militants were also believed to have been wounded. The intelligence officials confirmed the three deaths and said at least 15 people in houses nearby were wounded by stray shells.
Also Monday, officials and a tribal elder said families have begun fleeing the Orakzai tribal region amid a military bombing campaign against militant hideouts.
Fighter jets and helicopter gunships pounded the hideouts Sunday night, killing at least one civilian and wounding three others, said Mohammad Yasin, a local government official. A senior military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media, said at least eight militants died.
Pakistani military offensives in the tribal belt have displaced hundreds of thousands of people over the past year.
“People are afraid,” said Azam Khan, an Orakzai tribal elder. “They are scared, because it was a consistent bombing by the jets the whole of last night. Scores of families are leaving the region. Most of them are leaving for relatives in nearby districts.”
Also early Monday, the bullet-riddled body of an Afghan man was found near the town of Mir Ali in North Waziristan tribal region, along with a note accusing him of spying for the United States, local police official Hayat Mohammad said.
Such killings of alleged spies have become fairly routine in North Waziristan, another militant stronghold where American missiles have often landed.
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Associated Press writers Rasool Dawar in Miran Shah and Husnain Khan in Parachinar contributed to this report.
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