By IANS
Islamabad : Pakistan has launched a massive crackdown on pro-Taliban militants in South Waziristan Agency (SWA) with as at least 50 militants being killed in the area populated by the followers of Al Qaeda ally Baitullah Mehsud.
Troopers Saturday arrested dozens of suspected militants and seized their vehicles, while a police constable was killed when the militants attacked police lines in Tank, The News reported Sunday.
The security forces started firing artillery shells from Manzai Fort at the suspected locations of Baitullah Mehsud-led militants.
The 80-member tribal jirga (assembly of elders) refused to negotiate between the government and the militants after the security forces used force against the rebels.
The jirga refused to travel to Ladha subdivision and meet militant commanders to seek the release of four soldiers; the members complained that on the one hand the government said it wanted to resolve the issue through negotiations, but on the other it had started the use of force.
Tribal as well as official sources told the newspaper from the troubled region that security forces had erected barricades on the Wana-Jandola road near Manzai where they stopped vehicles to search for the Mehsud tribesmen.
Residents said dozens of Mehsud tribesmen were made to disembark from vehicles and taken into custody. The sources said the forces seized dozens of vehicles owned by the militants.
Officials of the political administration said Mehsud tribesmen had been warned to stop the militants from using their territory against the government. But officials complained they failed to do the needful.
Meanwhile, Arshad said an estimated 50 militants had been killed in the area populated by the Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan during the army action over since Wednesday.
He said the military targeted militant hideouts in Ladha and other places in the area with artillery guns and other weapons and the operation was continuing. He said the troops began the operation on Jan 9 and it would continue in the coming days.