Security personnel among 42 dead in Khyber clash

ISLAMABAD (PAN border, officials said on Friday.

The fierce firefight erupted on Thursday evening during an operation in the Malak Dinkhel area of Bara sub-division, Frontier Corps (FC) official Maj. Fayyaz told Pajhwok Afghan News. One local resident was also killed and a woman injured, he said.  

Eight FC personnel were wounded in the engagement, the Inter-Services Public Relations said in a press note. “Militants attacked Frontier Corps soldiers when they were carrying out a search operation in the Shalobar area.”

Journalist Farooq Afridi said several houses in Bar Qambarkhel, Malak Dinkhel and Sipah areas also came under fire, killing of one civilian and injuring eight others. Security forces asked residents of Malak Dinkhel, Kotahi Nala, Mandi Kas, Sipah and several other areas to leave their homes before noon.

The forces should have carried out operations earlier, believed one tribal elder, who complained the action had come too late to give them time for vacating their houses. The tribesmen had nowhere to go, Malik Anwar Afridi said.  

Also on Thursday, tribal elder Malik Noor Muhammad and his son were killed in a rocket strike in the Manzari Cheena area of Momand Agency. A government-run school was blown in the same locality by the Taliban.

According to the ISPR, bodies of two FC personnel were taken away by the insurgents. The dead security officials, including Capt Abdul Qadir, belonged to Mehsud Scouts.

mas/mud  

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