Pakistan targets Taliban camps in Arakzai

The Pakistani Air Force struck 11 Taliban camps in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of Arakzai. The military claimed 20 Taliban fighters were killed in the strikes.

The aircraft hit Taliban camps under the command of Hakeemullah Mehsud, the new leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.

The camps are located in the Chappri Ferozekhel, Utmankhel, Said Khalil, Anjani, and Saultanzai areas. The military said the camps suffered heavy damage during the strikes, Dawn reported.

The military has conducted punitive strikes against the Arakzai Taliban over the past several months. In April, Pakistani Air Force attack aircraft and artillery targeted four Taliban bases in Ghiljo. The military claimed that 15 Taliban fighters were killed and the four bases were destroyed in the attack.

In early April, the US tried to kill Hakeemullah by means of a Predator airstrike on a camp in Arakzai. The US targeted a meeting being held by senior lieutenants of former Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. Four al Qaeda fighters were killed in that strike, including Qaqa, a deputy to an al Qaeda commander.

The Arakzai Predator strike was the first in that tribal agency; previous attacks have targeted Taliban and al Qaeda camps and safe houses in North and South Waziristan, Bajaur, Kurram, and Hangu.

Earlier today the Pakistani Air Force and Army attack helicopters struck at bases belonging to the Lashkar-e-Islam, a Taliban group based in the Tirah Valley in Khyber. The military claimed 63 Lashkar-e-Islam fighters were killed and several bases and hideouts were destroyed.

Map of the Arakzai region:


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Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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3 Comments

  • Minnor says:

    Good attack on the soft target. Hangu can be secured only after orkzai. Orakzai and khyber need ground forces other than just air strikes. With 3/4 swat refugees returned Pak military now has a free hand.

  • Irshad Ali says:

    The efforts of the Pakistani government and military are suspicious casting doubts over the authenticity and reliability of reports.
    The government invests a lot in the campaign of raising local Lashkars in many Taliban infested areas, where they have their complete control on one side. Every day stories and admiration of these activities by most Pakistanis appear in national and international media.
    Despite these in Kurram Agency there is a natural resistance for Al-Qaeda and Taliban and locals have suffered a lot of hardships in their effort to eradicate Taliban from the agency in toto, but we cannot see any government activity in the region.
    Several times the local came close to subdue the Taliban but government interfered at a crucial time blessing the Taliban and Al-Qaeda with rescue and salvage.
    Peace arbitration were made times and again and broken without any prior announcement by the Taliban damaging lives and properties and the government remained criminally silent over this issue.
    Taliban from southern agencies enter Kurram through the only highway which bears an army cantonment at Thall city close to Kurram boundaries yet they bypass the sights of the military based there.
    Questions arise, how should we consider that government’s is sincere in her anti-insurgencies drive?

  • Spooky says:

    Been away for too long.
    Any updates to the NWFP map?

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