One terrorist was killed and over 100 miscreants including Chechens, Arabs and Afghans have been rounded up by the paramilitary forces and army troops in a joint anti-terrorist operation in South Waziristan on Saturday.
This was stated by Peshawar Corps Commander, Lieutenant General Safdar Hussain while briefing the visiting teams of electronic and print media to the operation area continuing in Kalushah and Shan Warzak area.
Safdar said those miscreants rounded up by the Pakistani forces, included Chechen and Uzbek nationals, besides those locals who have been providing shelter to foreign terrorists.
However, he said, the exact identity of the arrested would only be ascertained after the interrogation is completed.
A fierce battle is continuing in the engagement area where the exact magnitude of losses inflicted upon the hiding terrorists has yet to be ascertained, he said.
"Exact number of casualties or injuries caused to terrorists could only be ascertained once the operation is over," he told.
The Corps Commander said the level of resistance posed by the opposite side confirms presence of some "high-value target".
Answering a question about the presence of Dr Al-Zawahiri or any other top-ranking al Qaeda figure in the area, he said, nothing can be denied, it could be anybody's guess.
However, the level of resistance being posed to the troops speaks about the presence of some important personality in the area.
He said army troops and FC have been carrying out search operation in the area, besides intensive patrolling in the parts of the agency.
"A collaborative anti-terrorist operation is continuing on both sides of Pak-Afghan international border.
Pakistani troops are carrying out operation indigenously on its own soil while the coalition forces have been undertaking a similar operation across the border in Afghanistan," he said.
Reiterating the country's commitment to continue fight against terrorism, he said the operation will continue till cleansing of the area from the terrorists.
The Corps Commander said that a small sub-tribe of the area called Yargul Khail has been involved in providing shelter to the foreign terrorists who could be up to 500 in number and hiding in small villages of the agency.
He said that the chances can not be ruled out of any individual's escaping from the 60 square kilometre cordon of army and paramilitary troops around villages of Kalushah and Shan Warzak.
However, he said, escape from the cordon area would prove to be harder for any one, if he attempted to do so.
"We are doing our best but no cordon can be absolutely waterproof," the Corps Commander said.
He said troops eavesdropping on radio conversations between fighters picked up several languages like Chechen, Uzbek and Arabic.
"We have intercepted conversations mostly in Uzbek and Chechen and bits of Arabic," he said.
During a similar interception, he said, it was learnt about causing injuries to some important person during the March 17-18 cross fire that took place between motorists and the security personnel in the area.
The injured could be Naik Muhammad, who is also a high-value target and known bandit in the area, he guessed.
He said five vehicles belonging to the terrorists have also been damaged during the operation on Saturday. However, further details in this regard have yet to be ascertained, he added.
Answering another question, he said, terrorists have been using mortars, rockets, anti-aircraft guns, besides small arms and grenades.
"One of our gun-ship was targeted by the terrorists with anti-aircraft gun, but caused no damage to it," he said.
He said that army troops have been responding to the terrorist fire in conscious manner to avoid inflicting colossal damage.
He said civilians had already been shifted to safer places from the area prior to the launching of operation in the area.
A suspected senior al Qaeda member whom the army thought it had surrounded in a remote border region is probably a Chechen or Uzbek leader, Lieutenant-General Safder Hussain said.
"He is most probably a Chechen or Uzbek because all the intercepts we have been receiving have been in the Chechen or Uzbek language," he told reporters, referring to intercepted radio messages.
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