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Pro-Taliban positions shelled

— Photo: AP

RESTIVE BELT: Tribal families fleeing the troubled area Mir Ali along the Afghanistan border in North Waziristan arrive at Bannu, 140 km from Peshawar, on Wednesday.

Islamabad: Pakistani security forces on Wednesday bombed hideouts of pro-Taliban militants in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan after days of heavy fighting left nearly 250 persons dead, as thousands of tribesmen buried what they claimed were innocent victims of air strikes.

Artillery strikes were carried out against militant hideouts at Hormuz and Mosaki in North Waziristan, an area described in a U.S. policy document as a “safe haven” for Al-Qaeda.

There was no official word on casualties in Wednesday’s attack, though the Army had earlier said that 200 militants had been killed so far, including 50 who died in air strikes on Tuesday.

Forty-five soldiers have also been killed in the fighting which began on Saturday.

Dozens more have been injured in the clashes that erupted after the militants attacked an army convoy on Saturday night. Local residents said hundreds of people were fleeing the area in the wake of the clashes and air strikes. Tribal elders have launched efforts to cobble together a truce but military spokesman Waheed Arshad has ruled out a ceasefire, saying the army action would continue till complete peace is restored in the area.

Reports from Mirali, which has been at the centre of the clashes, said locals persuaded the Army to briefly halt its operations so that they could bury the dead. — PTI

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