44 Taliban militants killed in Paktika blitz

KABUL-designated district chief, in southeastern Paktika province, an official said on Saturday.

The Taliban district chief for Gomal, Huzifa, and 43 others were in killed the air-raids that took place for the past three days in the Gomal district, the governor’s spokesman, Nabiullah Peerkhel, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

A vehicle, six laptops, 21 RPG, 20 heavy machineguns, 13 landmines and 21 hand-grenades and some ammunition were by ground forces following the blitz, he said.

While confirming the operations by the ANA, provincial deputy police chief Dadullah said dozens of Taliban fighters suffered casualties in the operations in Shahbaz village.

However, a resident of the area, Bakh Mohammad, said the airstrikes were carried out by American forces.

Pakistani Taliban fighters were among the dead insurgents whose bodies had been taken away by their surviving comrades, he said.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, denied any airstrike or death of their fighters in the Gomal district.

Earlier, a Pakistani newspaper reported that at least 15 Pakistani militants had been killed in a US airstrike in the Gomal district.

The Express Tribute quoted local officials as saying on Friday that the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters were killed during the drone raid and that the dead belonged to the Gandapur faction of the outlawed group.

It quoted an unnamed intelligence official as saying the insurgents’ bodies would be sent soon to their native areas in Dera Ismail Khan. The drone strike was conducted near South Waziristan Agency on Wednesday.

An ongoing military offensive in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt has forced many militants to sneak into Afghanistan’s border areas.  

myn/ma/ mud

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