Pak gunship helicopters kill 6 extremists in Orakzai Agency

September 8th, 2009 PESHAWAR - At least four children were killed and three others injured in a militant attack in Orakzai Agency on Tuesday morning. Sources said militants opened indiscriminate fire at school going kids in Kalaya, capital of Orakzai, killing four children on the spot while injuring many others.

September 8th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Four school children and 24 Islamic militants were killed Tuesday in ongoing violence in Pakistan's lawless tribal region, where government forces are fighting Taliban and Al Qaeda rebels. A gunman with suspected Taliban links opened fire on a group of students in the Utman Khel area of tribal Orakzai district earlier in the day, killing at least four of them.

August 12th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Taliban in Orakzai Agency has announced a unilateral ceasefire, saying they would not attack security forces in the month of Ramzan. Taliban's Orakzai spokesperson spoke to journalists over the phone and said the decision to halt the offensive was taken by the Taliban leadership.

August 11th, 2009 WANA - At least 12 extremists were killed in US surveillance plane attack in South Waziristan Agency. According to sources, US drone fired missiles at a training camp of extremists established at a house of Zangikhel in Kani Karam area of SWA.

July 4th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Twelve militants were killed Saturday after security forces bombed their hideouts in northwest Pakistan, TV reports said. Combat helicopters and fighter jets of the security forces have destroyed three militants' hideouts in the Orakzai tribal agency near the Afghan border, reports said.

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.

May 26th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Seven US gunship helicopters reportedly broke into Pakistan airspace over the Khyber Agency. According to The Nation, the armed US choppers kept hovering over Landi Kotal for several minutes before flying back to Afghanistan.

May 18th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan has said the government will have to give an answer as to what prompted it to initiate a military operation in the Swat Valley when it could have tried restoring peace in the region through dialogue. Talking to media persons here, the cricketer-turned-politician said his party would quiz the government during the all-party conference as to why it considered the Swat operation inevitable.

May 8th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Security forces on Friday claimed that they had killed 24 more militants in Lower Dir and Swat. According to the sources, security personnel targeted terrorist positions in Maidan tehsil of the region killing at least 24 militants.

May 1st, 2009 LAHORE - The Taliban has expelled at least 50 Sikh families from the Orakzai Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) after they failed to pay 'Jazia'. The Taliban had demanded 12 million rupees as protection money from the Sikhs, who have living in the region from hundred of years, but they could arrange only 6.7 million rupees.

May 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Ministry of External Affairs has conveyed its concern to Islamabad about the treatment and safety of minorities in Pakistan, after reports of Sikhs being expelled and forced to pay 'Jaziya' by the Taliban. "On seeing reports about Sikh families in Pakistan being driven out of their homes and being subject to Jaziya and other such impositions, the Government of India has taken up the question of treatment of minorities in Pakistan with the Government of Pakistan," a spokesperson of the ministry said.

April 30th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Taliban has demolished at least11 houses belonging to the Sikh community in the Orakzai Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) after they refused to pay 'Jazia'. According to the Dawn, Taliban's Orakzai Agency chief Hakeemullah Mehsud ordered the demolition of the houses after the Sikhs failed to meet a deadline fixed for delivering the protection money.

April 29th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Taliban has forcibly captured three houses and ten shops belonging to people of the Sikh community in the Orakzai Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) after they failed to fulfill their demands of huge protection money. According to the sources, armed Taliban gunmen forced all the 24 family members of one Kalyan Singh out of their houses and shops.