PAF jets destroy rebel bases in Orakzai

The Pakistani Air Force (PAF) informed the media that a total of ten militants have so far been killed in the Orakzai Agency, one of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan in air strikes.

Most of the attacks occurred on this Sunday, and targeted four of the rebel installations in the region. The PAF offensive is believed to be conducted in retaliation to the suicide car bomb attack last week, which killed close to a dozen pro-government militiamen in the village of Spin Dal.

Officials from the Pakistani Frontier Corps (FC) were quoted as claiming that the rebel bases in the Dabori, Zakhtan, and Ghiljo regions were targeted during the air strikes. Local journalists were unable to verify the details of the offensive and the exact death toll, as the region remained closed to the civilian personnel. The rebel hideouts were apparently located only a few kilometers to the east of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Last week, the insurgents belonging to the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had launched an attack on a military training facility used by the local militia, killing a total of 10 people including a number of civilians. The TTP has been fighting the Pakistani Armed Forces ever since 2001, when Pakistan decided to join the US-led war on terror. The Northwestern portion of Pakistan, comprising of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and the FATA, has remained severely affected by the TTP insurgency, resulting in the deaths of several thousand people.

In a related development, several insurgents were killed in the Tirah Valley, located between the Kurram and the Khyber agencies in an offensive by the security forces yesterday. Two of the rebel bases, located near the villages of Mamozai and Bota Khel were attacked by the army and completely destroyed. The officials said that a total of seven militants were killed during the attack. Army helicopters also bombed the region shortly after the ground offensive, resulting in injuries to a number of militants.