اردو
  • Zarb E Azb: Army claims 70% of Mirali cleared

    Featured
    Clearance of Mirali in North Wazirastan Agency is in progress. Photo by ISPR Clearance of Mirali in North Wazirastan Agency is in progress.

    Pakistani military on Sunday claimed that 70 per cent of Mirali town along with its neighboring villages, the second largest stronghold of militants, has been cleared by the security forces.

    “Operation Zarb-e-Azb continues to achieve its objectives and is progressing well in North Waziristan,” a spokesman for Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

    This information, however, could not be independently verified. Two huge ammunition factories with ammunition stock were recovered as house to house search continues in the area, said the spokesman. He said that 30 barrels filled with explosives and chemicals used for making IEDs were also recovered from two large underground tunnels during clearance of Mirali.

    “A massive IED, weighing 5,000 kilos was recovered from Boya, and was diffused by the expert Counter IED team of Army Engineers. Later when detonated, it shook the entire agency and the explosion was heard as far as settled area,” said the ISPR spokesman.

    He claimed that a total of 570 terrorists have been killed since the start of Zarb-e-Azb operation. 98 terrorist hideouts and 30 IED factories, three ammunition making factories and a number of suicide bomber training centres were destroyed during Operation.

    Huge cache of arms, communication equipment, propaganda literature have also been recovered, said the statement, adding that 34 security forces personnel have embraced martyrdom during the operation in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) alone.