Military operation may be launched in Kurram Agency

[Naveed Yaseen]

Troops deployed in remote areas
PESHAWAR: The government for the first time has deployed troops in remote mountainous places of Kurram Agency, scene of bloody sectarian clashes in the past, for a possible military operation against the militants.

Also, hundreds of families were seen Thursday fleeing their homes in the troubled remote villages after the deployment of security forces.

Military spokesman and Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Athar Abbas has ruled out any operation in the agency but said the deployment might be part of reinforcement of the forces.

Tribal sources told The News from Parachinar, the headquarters of Kurram Agency, that security forces entered the mountainous villages for the first time and took positions in Warmagai, Brekat and Dagai of Central Kurram.

The troops reportedly entered Kurram from Tora Warai area in the adjoining Hangu district.

There were reports that militants had shifted in large numbers to the mountainous areas of Kurram Agency from the neighbouring Orakzai Agency where the helicopters and jet fighters recently pounded their positions and inflicted losses on the Taliban.

Frightened villagers left their homes in Warmagai, Brekat and Dagai villages and were seen travelling towards Sadda subdivision and other places in Lower Kurram.

In the past two years, Kurram Agency has seen violent clashes between the followers of the two sects in which hundreds of people lost their lives.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=22420