7 dead as Pakistan hits militant hideouts

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (UPDATED) – Seven people including a policeman and paramilitary soldier were killed in two separate incidents when Pakistani security forces hit militant hideouts in the restive northwest Saturday morning, December 20, 2014, officials said. 

In the first incident, police and paramilitary soldiers raided suspected  hideouts in the Mechani neighbourhood of Shabqadar, a town around 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Peshawar.

“A soldier of the Frontier Corps and a policeman embraced martyrdom in an exchange of fire with militants in Mechani neighborhood of Shabqadar Saturday morning,” local police official Wilayat Khan told Agence France Presse.

He said two militants belonging to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the militant organization that carried out Tuesday’s massacre at a military-run school in Peshaware – the deadliest ever attack in Pakistan – were also killed.

Rasheed Khan, another senior official confirmed the incident. He said the militants opened fire when the police and paramilitary troops raided their hideouts.

Spokesman of the Jamatul Ahrar faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Ehsanullah Ehsan, claimed responsibility for the attack.

“We will continue to target security forces and the police in the future too,” he told Agence France-Presse in a telephone call from an undisclosed location.

In another incident, five members of the TTP including a local commander were killed.

“Five members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were killed in a raid on their hideout in Gujjar Gadi neighbourhood of Matni, around 16 miles south of Peshawar,” a senior security official told Agence France-Presse.

The incident was confirmed by other local intelligence sources. 

The army has been waging a major offensive against longstanding Taliban and other militant strongholds in the restive tribal areas on the Afghan border for the last six months.

But a series of fresh strikes after Tuesday’s Peshawar attack, which left 149 people dead – most of them children, suggest the military is stepping up its campaign.

As the Peshawar tragedy unfolded, army chief General Raheel Sharif said the attack had renewed the forces’ determination to push for the militants’ “final elimination.” – Rappler.com