By NNN-PTI
Islamabad : At least 25 pro-Taliban militants were killed Sunday as security forces backed by helicopter gunships and artillery took control of a strategic tunnel in northwestern Pakistan that had been occupied by the extremists.
Militants Saturday occupied the Japanese-built Kohat tunnel near Darra Adam Khel town after security forces launched a major operation in the area to trace four trucks carrying ammunition that had been hijacked by the rebels.
Traffic between the key city of Kohat and Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province, had been blocked after the militants captured the tunnel. Scores of vehicles had been stranded on both sides of the tunnel.
“Twenty-four militants have been killed,” military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said. Two security personnel were injured in today’s clashes.
Security forces had cleared the area around the tunnel of militants “after fierce fighting” and the rebels were present only on “a couple of heights”.
Abbas said: “The tunnel is now under the control of the security forces.” Troops used artillery, helicopter gunships and heavy machine guns to evict militants holed up in bunkers on hills overlooking the tunnel.
On Wednesday, militants in Darra Adam Khel hijacked four trucks carrying supplies and ammunition for security forces in South Waziristan. Troops launched an operation to recover the trucks after a jirga or tribal council failed to resolve the issue through negotiations with the militants.