LADHA: Four militants, a key Taliban ‘commander’ among them, were killed and six others injured in a blast in Rustam bazaar of South Waziristan on Friday. Maulvi Abbas, the Taliban commander, his son and two guards were killed when an IED (improvised explosive device) said to have been planted in his office by his rivals, went off. Six people were injured and were taken to agency headquarters’ hospital in Wana and a private clinic. Dr Akbar Khan told Dawn at the hospital that one of the injured had been referred DHQ hospital in Dera Ismail Khan in serious condition. Maulvi Abbas was one of four Taliban commanders who supported Uzbek and other foreign militants when Maulvi Nazir group and local Ahmedzai Wazir tribe launched an operation in 2007 and asked foreign militants to leave South Waziristan, blaming them for creating law and order problems in the region. Dawn, The News, The Nation, Daily Times.
NORTH WAZIRISTAN: At least four suspected militants were killed in a US drone strike targeting a house in Mir Ali area of North Waziristan Agency on Friday afternoon. The US drone reportedly hit a suspected militant facility located in the Hisukhel area of Mir Ali, the headquarters of North Waziristan Agency. Sources said the drone fired two missiles destroying the house and killing four militants inside. However, identities of the dead and their affiliation to any militant group were unclear. The Nation, Daily Times.
PESHAWAR: The Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan on Thursday claimed to have shot down a US drone near the Afghan border, but local tribesmen insisted the unmanned spy aircraft crashed apparently due to technical fault and militants then seized its wreckage. Tribal sources said the US drone crashed at around 9:00pm Thursday night and its wreckage fell in Kaja Panga village in Birmal subdivision of the volatile South Waziristan region close to the area bordering Afghanistan’s Paktika province. According to villagers in Kaja Panga, around two dozen armed militants belonging to Commander Shamsullah’s group arrived in the area and started search for the wreckage. The News, The Nation, Daily Times.
GHALLANAI: The volunteers of a tribal Lashkar on Friday demolished the house of a watchman of a cellular company’s tower, which was destroyed by militants a few days back in Mohmand Agency, tribal sources said. The sources said that the elders of Kadikhel, Hamzakhel, Wali Baig and Kamali Halimzai held a Jirga in Bara Kadai in Halimzai Tehsil and ordered demolition of the watchman’s house.The tribal Lashkar demolished the house of Sabir Shah in Kasai village and also collected fine from the family. Unknown persons had destroyed the tower of a cellular company in Mian Mandi on December 11. The News.
LANDI KOTAL/ CHARSADDA: A driver and his son were critically injured in a militant attack on a Nato container in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency on Friday. Local officials said two masked men riding a motorcycle opened fire on the container soon after it entered Khyber Agency from Peshawar near Wazir Dhand market. They said driver Adam Shah and his son, Manzoor Shah, were taken to a local hospital in critical condition. The officials said levies and khasadar personnel chased attackers but failed to arrest them as they disappeared in the narrow streets of a residential town.
Meanwhile, a woman was killed when a mortar shell fell on a house in a remote area of Bara tehsil on Friday. Local officials said wife of Zil Akbar became a victim of the rivalry between two groups, which used mortar shells against each other in Zaodin area. They said the shell also damaged a portion of the house.
In Charsadda, terrorists on Friday blew up the building of Government Girls’ College, Maluk Korona. However, police foiled their bid to destroy another girls school in Dosara town by getting a 7kg explosive device destroyed by the bomb disposal squad. Dawn, The News.
LANDI KOTAL: The political administration of Khyber Agency has sought suggestions from political parties and potential candidates to devise a viable plan for holding forthcoming general election in Bara tehsil, as the administration is in a state of confusion over the matter owing to prevailing law and order situation in the region. In this connection, leaders of various political parties held a meeting with Mohammad Nasir, assistant political agent of Bara at Khyber House on Friday. Sources privy to the meeting told Dawn that the APA made it clear that the administration was not in a position to give them a firm assurance about holding of ‘safe’ elections in Bara due to the ongoing military operation and relentless militant activities. Dawn.
NAWAF KHAN, SHARAFAT ALI CHAUDHARY
