Army’s gains against militants acknowledged in key US report
Significant numbers of militants eliminated, safe havens removed, document says
Describing Pakistan as an important counterterrorism partner, a US report on terrorism acknowledged that continuous military operations in Khyber and North Waziristan eliminated significant number of militants and removed safe havens for terrorist groups.
“Pakistan remained an important counterterrorism partner in 2016, continued military offensive in North Waziristan further degraded the group’s (Al Qaida) freedom to operate,” according to the Country Reports on Terrorism released by the US State Department released on Wednesday. It also acknowledged that pressure on Al Qaida’s traditional safe havens has constrained the ability of militants to communicate effectively with affiliate groups outside South Asia.
As a result of continued military operations, terrorist-related violence in Pakistan declined for the second straight year in 2016.
13 militants killed
Meanwhile, At least 13 militants were killed in the ongoing military operation in northwestern Khyber Agency tribal area along the Afghan border launched several days ago, the military’s public relations wing said yesterday.
According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) one soldier “embraced martyrdom” in an exchange of fire with militants in the Rajgal valley, described as the toughest terrain in the mountainous tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
The ‘Khyber-4 Operation’ is aimed at stopping intrusion into the valley of Daesh militants from the Afghan side of the border. Advancing from multiple directions, troops including special services group, have cleared 90 square kilometres of the area and now squeezing terrorists, the ISPR statement said.
“The number of terrorismrelated civilian deaths in 2016 was approximately 600, far lower than the peak years of 2012 and 2013, when terrorist acts killed more than 3,000 civilians each year,” the report said citing statistics from the South Asia Terrorism Portal, which records and tracks terrorism-related incidents in the region.