Peshawar—As if the NATO forces operating inside troubled Afghanistan, were not enough to violate the territorial integrity of Pakistan off and on , Armed militants from neighbouring Afghanistan in yet another cross border aggression Thursday killed at least five people including women in Bajaur Agency and wounded many others. The militants also held hostage a number of elders of the local peace committee.
Resorting to a naked aggression, third time with in short span of two months, as the reports reaching here from Khar the headquarters of Bajaur agency say, hundreds of armed militants from Afghanistan stormed a village in Bajaur agency Thursday wee hours when villagers were offering Fajr prayers.
The armed militants as the locals say, killed at least five villagers that also include two ladies and while many others sustained injuries.
“Scores of armed militants crossed the border from Afghanistan on Thursday and stormed a village in Pakistan’s tribal belt killing five civilians while wounded many others officials said”. A local official said, “some 250-300 militant’s targeted civilians in Maro Zangal area of Tehsil Mamoond in Bajaur Agency as least five civilians, including two women were killed.
It was also reported that the Afghan militants held hostage a number of members of local Amen Lashker before the security forces reached the area and encountered the miscreants. The officials said heavy contingents of the security forces were dispatched to the Maro Zangal, a remote village bordering Kunar province of Afghanistan some 65 kilometers north west of Khar Bajaur agency, where scores of Afghan terrorists were present and were engaged by the men in uniform.
“We have sent army and paramilitary troops to the area the moment we got reports that militants are still present there,” a security official said. No exact details about the losses on part of the aggressors could be ascertained though reports said the Pakistani security forces mowed down many attackers. Sources say the local villagers engaged the terrorists till the time the reinforcement from the security forces arrived.
It was the third such attack reportedly carried out by hundreds of fighters into northwest Pakistan this month. As many as 28 security personnel and three civilians were martyred when hundreds of militants from Afghanistan, it may be recalled, had ambushed a security forces check post a few weeks back. As the bloody encounter between the troops and the Afghan terrorists continued for more than 24 hours, the security forces had also gunned down over sixty militants. The Pakistani authorities after that incident had lodged strong protest with the Afghanistan government and the Afghan president Hamid Karzai during his recent sojourn to Islamabad had assured the Pakistani administration he would look into the matter.