By DPA
Islamabad : At least six civilians were killed and 12 injured as several artillery shells fired by security forces landed in a residential area in Pakistan’s restive tribal belt bordering Afghanistan even as 50 rebels were captured by the Frontier Corp (FC) Sunday.
Two rounds of artillery hit two houses in a village near Miranshah, the main city in North Waziristan, which is considered a hotbed of Al Qaeda and Taliban militants who fled there from Afghanistan following the US-led invasion in 2001.
Six people including a three-year-old child and three women died in the incident, a local government official said.
The troops were retaliating after pro-Taliban militants first attacked a security check post with rockets, added the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Four more shells landed in a nearby village partially damaging three houses injuring 12 civilians and two critically.
In recent months, tribal rebels have conducted several raids on around 100,000 soldiers deployed by Islamabad to prevent militants from launching cross-border attacks into Afghanistan on US-led international forces.
Pakistan’s military said Sunday that at least 50 armed Islamic militants had been captured in an ongoing offensive in the restive Swat valley during the last 10 days, and that the area could be reopened in time for the winter ski season.
The captured included foreign fighters from Afghanistan and Uzbekistan in a new offensive to regain control of the region, which was once a popular tourist area, but was overrun by pro-Taliban militants, said chief Army spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad.
“It’s going well,” he said, adding, “Presently we’re consolidating. There was a need for some artillery fire on some rebel positions west of Matta (town).”
The government last month sent additional troops to the valley, only four hours drive from Islamabad, to rein in around 5,000 armed followers of radical Muslim cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who is fighting to impose strict Islamic law. Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters are believed to be assisting them.
Fazlullah’s armed followers had captured dozens of villages and at least three main towns in Swat, including a police station in Matta, renaming it the “Taliban Police Station.”