Airstrike destroys IED factory and training camp, killing 25 in Datta Khel sub-district, North Waziristan; U.S. drone strike hits three compounds and vehicle in North Waziristan; Pakistani military lifts curfew on North Waziristan to allow civilians to leave; government approves Rs 500 million to spend on North Waziristan offensive and IDPs; Musharraf’s court date is set for June 23.
North Waziristan Offensive
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The Pakistani military has pre-positioned troops around towns suspected of hosting major militant hideouts, including Mir Ali, and Miram Shah, in North Waziristan Agency. Even though an army-imposed curfew has been relaxed in Mir Ali and Razmak sub-districts in order to facilitate civilian evacuations, the Pakistani military has maintained tight security. Three militants and a solider were killed in a firefight that occurred when militants attempted to flee the Miram Shah cordon.[1]
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Early on June 18, a U.S. drone strike hit three compounds and a vehicle Dande Darpa Khel, outside Miram Shah, North Waziristan. Six militants were killed, including four Uzbeks and two members of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Punjab. This attack is the third drone strike in the past month. Two previous strikes killed a combined total of 16 suspected militants in North Waziristan.[2]
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Pakistani airstrikes destroyed an IED factory and training camp, killing 25 foreign and local militants near Hassukhel in Datta Khel sub-district, North Waziristan in the early morning of June 17.[3]
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The Pakistani military claimed on June 17 to have killed more than 187 militants since the launch of Operation Zarb-e-Arb in North Waziristan.[4]
Internally Displaced Persons
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30,000 people fled North Waziristan after authorities lifted a curfew in the region on June 18. The curfew was relaxed in advance of a projected intensification of the military campaign. Director General of the FATA Disaster Management Authority, Arshad Khan said that 92,000 people had fled the region since the operation began. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said that the government had registered over 70,000 IDPs to-date. A spokesman for the governor of Khost Province, Afghanistan, said that 3,000 families fleeing North Waziristan had been registered as refugees in Afghanistan. [5]
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On June 17, the Pakistani government and parliament approved Rs500 million for allotment towards the North Waziristan offensive and the care of IDPs.[6]
Domestic
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On June 18, the date of June 23 was officially set for the supreme court’s hearing of the government’s appeal against the Sindh High Court’s ruling to take Pervez Musharraf’s name off the country’s no-fly list.[7]
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On June 18, a head constable of the Karachi police department was gunned down by unknown attackers while on court duty on Mohammad Ali Jinnah Road.[8]
International Relations
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Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and Afghan ambassador to Pakistan Janan Mosazai met to discuss the North Waziristan offensive and improvements to Pakistan-Afghanistan boarder security.[9]
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British High Commissioner to Pakistan Philip Barton pledged Britain’s “full cooperation” in Pakistan’s counter-terror and counter-extremism efforts in a meeting with Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid.[10]