Unrest is spreading along border with Afghanistan, with troops separately engaged in a major operation in the tribal stronghold of an al Qaeda-linked militant. In the latest flare-up, troops launched a "search and cordon" operation in Dara Adam Khel - the site of a major tribal weapons bazaar - to find four trucks containing munitions and supplies, the army said.
"Reportedly, 25-30 miscreants have been killed. Two Frontier Corps personnel embraced shahadat (martyrdom) and 10 others were injured," an army statement added. Chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said skirmishes were continuing in the region including near a landmark Japanese-built tunnel leading from Peshawar to Kohat.
Residents said all markets were closed and gunship helicopters were pounding militant bunkers in the hills around the arms bazaar and the tunnel. The main road was also closed, they said. Security officials said Dara Adam Khel had recently become a stronghold of the banned extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which has links to al Qaeda.
Separately, troops on Friday continued to comb mountains in the tribal region of South Waziristan around the hideout of warlord Baitullah Mehsud, officials said. "A house-to-house search operation is underway in the areas where the security forces have consolidated their positions," military spokesman Abbas told AFP. More than 200 militants and 30 soldiers are said to have died during three weeks of fighting in South Waziristan.
But a security source said the government was not naming Mehsud as the primary target of the current operation because "going public with this information can instigate militant groups to launch attacks in the mainland." Meanwhile in Bajaur a tribal elder was killed by a roadside bomb and a retired security official was shot dead on Friday, officials said.
PPI ADDS: Thousands of people have migrated to Kohat before security forces launched massive operation against the local Taliban in Akhorwal area of Dara Adam Khel on Friday morning.
Militants, who are resisting from the hill tops of Bazid Khel area. The local population of Akhorwal has started vacating the area to avoid any possible attack on the residential area of Akhorwal tribe to target the residences of militant leadership.
The security forces, which stayed at Degree College in Akhorwal hit the militant bunkers before marching ahead while the gunship helicopters fired rockets on the militants' targets who are resisting from hilltops of Akorwal Tribe area, the strong hold of local Taliban.
According reports the local militant leader Tariq has vacated the area and shifted to un-known destination whereas another militant leader Akram has also shifted his family from Geedar Kalai, Bazeed Khel from where 80 percent people migrated to the settled areas of Kohat and Peshawar before the security forces started operation.
According to the residences of Akhorwal tribe area, all roads towards Dara Adam Khel have been blocked while Indus Highway has also been closed for all kind of traffic and those coming from Kohat side are not allowed to move ahead from Kohat Tunnel similarly barricades been erected at Zangali Check post not allowing the traffic from Peshawar side. According to reports Taliban has also blown up a bridge near Kohat Tunnel to disturb the fresh supply to security forces.