Pakistan pounds insurgent hideouts, targeting Uygur separatists
Uygur separatists said to be targets in Pakistani offensive against insurgent strongholds close to the Afghan border after China's President Xi Jinping presses Islamabad
Four suspected militants were killed on Friday as Pakistan’s armed forces hit insurgent targets during a third day of action in a restive tribal area close to the Afghan border.
The military used mortars and helicopter gunships to pound suspected Taliban hideouts in North Waziristan, one of seven tribal districts where militants including Uygur separatists are suspected to have strongholds.
Friday’s operation comes after two days of fighting in the area which began on Wednesday with air strikes and ground clashes that left at least 71 suspected militants and four security personnel dead.
Officials said foreign fighters hiding out in the tribal areas were the main target of this week’s military operations.
“Security forces fired mortar shells from Miranshah fort on the adjacent areas of Machis camp, Kharwani and Sukhail Wazir on Friday morning, followed by pounding suspected militant hideouts with gunship helicopters,” an intelligence official based in Miranshah told reporters.
Miranshah is the main town of North Waziristan and Machis camp a neighbourhood on its outskirts that was once a camp for Afghan refugees but is now thought to be used by militants.