Pakistani forces complete major anti-terror operations: spokesman

Pakistani security forces have completed major operations against the armed groups in the country, the military said Tuesday.

The army spokesman Lt. Gen. Asim Bajwa told a news conference in Peshawar that North Waziristan has been cleared of the militants and the repatriation of all displaced persons will also be completed in November this year.

Bajwa, who attended a special operational meeting presided over by the Army Chief Gen. Raheel Sharif, said the forces are now mainly focusing on the border management with Afghanistan to curb the illegal cross-border movement.

He said nearly 20 check posts have been set up along the Afghan border and raised paramilitary the Frontier Corps.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have around 2,600 km of border, mostly porous, and the militants would earlier take advantage of the weak border control.

"Border management will only be effective if Afghanistan also plays a responsible role," Bajwa said.

Talking about the air and ground operation launched recently in a mountainous region Rajgal in Khyber tribal agency, he said the mountains have been cleared of terrorists and the Pakistani Army is in full control of the Pak-Afghan border in the region.

Rajgal was one of the main routes for the moment of the militants to cross both sides of the border in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

To a question he said the security forces unearthed and averted 14 terrorist attacks in different parts of the country over the past few months.

He also said 1,470 combing operations have been conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal regions since July 1 this year to control the menace of terrorism.

He said seven facilitators of Taliban-claimed suicide attacks on Christian Colony in Peshawar and District Courts Mardan this month have been arrested. Endit