Skip to main content

Pakistani Airstrikes Kill at Least 12 Militants in Northwest


04 July 2009

Pakistani helicopter gunships and fighter jets pounded militant hide-outs in the country's northwest Saturday, killing at least 12 militants.

Security officials say the airstrikes targeted three suspected militant positions in Orakzai region, where a military transport helicopter crashed the day before, killing at least 26 military personnel.

Pakistani officials say the helicopter crashed Friday outside the city of Peshawar due to a technical failure. But the Taliban claims it shot down the aircraft.





Elsewhere in the northwest, clashes between a pro-government tribal militia and militants killed at least 12 people late Friday in the remote Mohmand region, along the Afghan border.

Pakistan's military has been fighting Taliban militants throughout the country's northwest for more than two months. Security officials also are on high alert following the launch this week of a major U.S. offensive against Taliban militants in neighboring Afghanistan.


Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

ASEAN pushes for resumption of N. Korea nuke talks

ASEAN and friends: Foreign Ministers from left, Vietnam's Pham Gia Khiem, South Korea's Kim Sung-hwan, Japan's Takeaki Matsumoto, Indonesia's Marty Natalegawa, and China's Yang Jiechi, hold hands during a group photo at the opening session of ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Thursday. (AP/Dita Alangkara) Associated Press, Nusa Dua | Thu, 07/21/2011 2:19 PM Foreign ministers from 10 Southeast Asian nations are calling for a speedy resumption of talks aimed at convincing North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program. China, the US, Japan, South Korea and Russia had been negotiating since 2003 to persuade Pyongyang to dismantle the program in exchange for aid and other concessions. The North pulled out of the talks about two years ago after being censured for launching a long-range rocket. It has indicated a willingness in recent months to return to the table. The 10-member Association of Southeast As...

Army: Gunmen kill Indonesia soldier in Papua

 Associated Press, Jayapura | Thu, 07/21/2011 6:47 PM An army officer says unidentified gunmen have ambushed Indonesia soldiers and killed one of them in the easternmost province of Papua. The chief army officer in Papua says soldiers are still searching for the gunmen. Maj. Gen. Erfi Triassunu said the ambush Thursday morning happened outside a village in the hilly district of Puncak Jaya. Triassunu said the victim was a first private killed by a shot to his head. No information was available on the other soldiers. The attack occurred one day after a military tribunal indicted three low-ranking soldiers for killing a civilian in Puncak Jaya last year. Papua is a former Dutch colony incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-sponsored ballot. A small, poorly armed separatist movement has battled for independence ever since.