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Military operation in Pakistan's Khyber Agency completes: spokesperson

Xinhua, July 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

Military operation in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of Khyber Agency has been completed with army effectively flushing out militants and blocking their crossing points on borders with Afghanistan, an army spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Major General Asim Bajwa, the spokesperson of Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of Pakistani army, said that after completing the Khyber Agency operation the army is now eyeing on the completion of the major armed offensive "Operation Zarb-e-Azb" in the tribal area of North Waziristan.

The spokesperson did not give any causality figure of the militants or the forces at the end of the operation, however, the military kept on updating about the killing of insurgents in various aerial and ground offensives since the beginning of the operation in October 2014.

According to local media tally, over 500 militants were killed and more than 400 surrendered in the operation which was launched in two phases -- operation Khyber 1 and operation Khyber 2 in the volatile areas of the agency including Tirah Valley and Bara town.

Dawn News reported that the military also lost more than 50 men, including officers, in the operation, while another 100 or so were wounded.

The army has now taken control of 95 percent of the area which was earlier believed to a stronghold of militants from Lashkar-i- Islam (LeT) and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Before the operation, the militants of LeT, TTP and other outlawed organizations were using the agency as a major hideout from where they conducted attacks after losing their bases in North Waziristan Agency, following the commencement of the Operation Zarb-e-Azb.

Talking about Operation Zarb-e-Azb, the spokesperson said that the army is launching operation against militants in Shawal and Datta Khel areas of North Waziristan.

He said that in the beginning of the operation in the two areas, the army faced a strong resilience from the Taliban militants but now the military is making progress smoothly. Endi