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Key tunnel recaptured from militants, says Pakistan Army

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army on Sunday said it had taken control of a key tunnel on a highway in the North-West Frontier Province that had fallen into militant hands, but the fighting has raised fears that pro-Taliban forces are opening new fronts in their war against the security forces.

The Pakistan military said it was in control of the Kohat tunnel on the Karachi-Peshawar Indus Highway, and the heights around it, after fierce battles raged in the area through the day. But the highway remained closed until late on Sunday.

The tunnel is located in Darra Adam Khel, known world-wide for its knockdown weapons bazaar. The Darra is just 45 km from the provincial capital Peshawar.

On Saturday, the tunnel fell into the hands of militants who took on security forces with mortars and rockets from bunkers in the heights around it. Frontier Corps troops used artillery and helicopter gunships to dislodge the militants from the hills and take back the tunnel.

The Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement that 24 militants were killed in the operation while many others fled leaving behind large quantities of arms and ammunition.

Trouble in the area broke out on Thursday night when militants hijacked four ammunition-laden military trucks heading towards South Waziristan where troops are engaged in operations against Beithullah Mehsud.

According to the Daily Times, the trucks contained enough ammunition to last the Taliban “two years”. On Friday, the Army made negotiations through a local jirga to get back the trucks from the militants setting them a deadline, but had to launch operations when this failed to produce results.

The military said it had killed 25 militants on Saturday and more than 30 in the fighting on Friday, losing two soldiers. The three-day battle led to a large exodus of civilians from the area, aside from disrupting traffic on the Peshawar-Karachi route.

The fighting in the Darra, which is considered a “settled area” of the NWFP, has raised concerns that the militants are opening new fronts in their war against the Pakistan military, at a time when it is engaged in operations in several places including South Waziristan and Swat.

Military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said he could not say for sure if the militants who fought the security forces in the Darra were linked to Beithullah Mehsud in South Waziristan, who President Pervez Musharraf holds responsible for most of the problems in the north-west tribal areas, and also for the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism in other parts of Pakistan.

But The News carried a statement made on Saturday by Maulvi Omar, a spokesman for Mehsud’s Tehreek-i-Taliban, linking the two. He said a jirga comprising religious leader and tribal elders held talks with the militant commanders in the Darra asking them to return the ammunition trucks and release 15 soldiers who they were holding hostage.

The Taliban have gradually strengthened their hold in the Darra, as they have in several other parts of the North-West Frontier Province.

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