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PAKISTAN
Pakistan jets target militant hide-outs, 60 killed



Wednesday, 01 Sep, 2010 | 06:47 PM PST |
 
 
PESHAWAR: Pakistan army jets and helicopters targeted militant hide-outs
near the Afghan border, killing 60 people identified as insurgents or their
family members, including children, security officials and a witness said
Wednesday.

The deadliest strikes hit an area where army fire had killed 60 civilians
earlier this year.

Accounts of civilian casualties in army airstrikes make it harder for the
military to win the support of local tribesman in the border region,
something crucial to flushing out Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who have
found sanctuary there.

The attacks occurred Tuesday and Wednesday in different parts of the region.

There was no independent confirmation of the casualty figures because the
area is too dangerous for outsiders to visit.

The raids Tuesday took place in several villages in Teerah Valley in the
Khyber region and killed 45 people, the officials said. One official said
some vehicles rigged with explosives had also been destroyed. He could not
say how many.

He described the dead as insurgents, but said it was possible that people
living with them could also have been killed. Separately, an intelligence
officer said some women and children had been killed in the attacks.

Jihad Gul, who lives near one of the villages, said he had seen the bodies
of at least 20 women and children.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said reports of civilian casualties
were unconfirmed.

The security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to speak to the media.

An air attack Wednesday in the adjoining district of Orakzai killed 15
suspected militants and wounded 10 others, according to local government
official Jamil Khan and a brief army statement.

In April, the Teerah Valley was hit by army airstrikes that killed about 60
civilians. The army, which initially described the victims as insurgents,
ended up paying compensation to the victims¹ families and its chief issued a
rare public apology.

Pakistan¹s army has been fighting militants in different parts of the
northwest for more than two years.

Militants who fled major operations in the South Waziristan and Orakzai
tribal regions are believed to have set up new bases in Khyber, about 60
miles (100 kilometers) northwest of the main city in the region, Peshawar. ­
AP

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