Pakistan: Military operation against main bastion for al-Qaeda in Sagi and Dawezai areas, almost 22.000 people fled
About 22,000 Pakistani villagers have fled a military operation in a tribal region near the Afghan border, with Islamist militants and soldiers killed and wounded in the fighting, officials said yesterday.
The offensive, involving aerial bombing, artillery and ground troops, began on 27 January in Mohmand district, said Roshan Khan Mehsud, a regional government representative.
He said that nearly 100 insurgents had been killed so far, and there had been “some casualties” on the army side. The army bans reporters from the conflict zone and few aid groups operate in the hazardous terrain.
Pakistan’s military have mounted several operations in the country’s remote tribal regions bordering Afghanistan over the past three years, sending up to two million terrified residents fleeing their homes.