A Pakistani army officer is seen inside a tunnel used by Taliban militants
A close aide of militant commander Fazlullah has been killed during Swat operation, Pakistan local media reported Sunday.
The security sources said Ehsan alias Abu Jandal who was the close aide of Fazlullah has been killed as the security forces spread the action to Qambar area of Swat.
The security forces faced tough resistance from the extremists for some days in Qambar. However, the security forces bombarded the area, killing Abu Jandal.
Meanwhile, At least nine suspected Taliban fighters have been killed in air attacks in Pakistan’s northwest, police and security officials added.
Pakistan’s armed forces are laying the groundwork for a full-scale offensive against CIA,India-backed Baitullah Mehsud, who heads the Pakistani Taliban in South Waziristan.
“Six or seven militants were killed and four were injured when jet fighters bombed Taliban hideouts in different parts of Datta Khel” in North Waziristan, Aziz Khan, a tribal police official, said.
The air attacks on Sunday morning hit the Bagan, Mohammad Khel and Syed Abad areas, about 20km west of Miranshah, the main district town in the semi-autonomous mountain region bordering Afghanistan.
An intelligence official in Miranshah confirmed the bombing and said they were still gathering information on casualties.
Residents of the targeted areas said they saw six dead bodies, but added that civilians were also hurt.
“We were in our houses when war planes bombed the area,” one local resident said from Miranshah’s main hospital, where he had taken his child for treatment after the boy was injured by shrapnel.
