Islamabad: Stepping up their attack on
militants, a US drone today fired missiles hitting a Taliban
hideout killing eight terrorists, including two foreigners
while the Pakistani Army killed 16 others, even as the search
for Maulana Fazlullah, the rebel commander in Swat continued.
The stepped up Drone attacks came as the Army
maintained pressure on Taliban in the Swat valley and adjacent
Dir where 159 militants surrendered to security forces.
The drone fired a missile at the hideout of the banned
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in Turikhel village in North
Waziristan Agency killing eight militants, TV news channels
reported.
Sixteen militants and a soldier were killed in fresh
clashes in restive Malakand division even as troops today
continued their search for Maulana Fazlullah, the Taliban
commander in Swat valley. The Army were closing in on wounded
Fazlullah, whose whereabouts have been disclosed by five
captured Taliban militants.
Reports said at least two of the persons killed were
foreign militants. Foreigners is the word used by Pakistani
officials to describe al-Qaeda militants.
Col Amir Khan told reporters in Pichor, the main
insurgent base in Swat that among the militants who had
surrendered included six boys recruited by the Taliban to act
as suicide bombers.
Those captured include Muslim Khan, the spokesman of
the Taliban for the Swat valley. "Fazlullah is surrounded and
cannot escape us," the Army said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, September 14, 2009, 22:43