Pakistani Military Conducts 3 Day Operation in Mohmand, 40 Taliban Killed

Pakistani troops backed by jets and helicopter gunships have killed 40 militants in a restive tribal area bordering Afghanistan in the past three days. – File Photo


It appears that the Pakistani military is reserving their operations against the Taliban now for when they simply cannot take any more of the daily Taliban attacks and so, in the Mohmand area butting up against the Afghan border, the Pakistanis let loose for three days and in the end the kill of Taliban jihadis totaled 40.

From the story at DAWN, we see that 17 Taliban hideouts were taken out - it doesn't state exactly HOW those hideouts were destroyed...if it was by fighter jet, attack helicopter, artillery or by ground forces but 40 Taliban dead in three days is pretty impressive.

Now, if we could only see the Pakistanis just load up and continue this for a helluva lot more than just three days. It's almost like the Pakistani government thinks they can still coexist with the Taliban in the northwest - even though time after time it has been proven that it just will never happen.

Forty militants killed in Mohmand operation


ISLAMABAD: Pakistani troops backed by jets and helicopter gunships have killed 40 militants in a restive tribal area bordering Afghanistan in the past three days, a military commander said Thursday.

Brigadier Aftab Ahmad told AFP by telephone that his forces had destroyed 17 militant hideouts in the Baizai region under his command in the lawless tribal area of Mohmand.

“Militants were regularly attacking our posts on the Afghanistan border at Shonkari and Mithai and also targeting goods vehicles going to Afghanistan,” he said.

Ghalanai is the main town in Mohmand, where Pakistan has recently stepped up raids on militant hideouts, as it faces American pressure to conduct a separate offensive against the Al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network in North Waziristan.

“An operation was launched three days ago with the support of army aviation aircraft, helicopters and fighter jets. We killed at least 40 militants,” Ahmad said.

Maqsood Hussain, a government official in Baizai, confirmed the raids and casualties, but it was not immediately clear how the Pakistani officials reached the body count of 40.

Mohmand is one of seven districts in Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt, where Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants have carved out strongholds used to plot attacks on Pakistani, Afghan and Western targets.