 BARA: Soldiers backed by armoured vehicles retook control of Bara town in the Khyber Agency on Sunday, and prepared to advance to other areas in the district, including the Tirah Valley.
| Looks like someone loaned the Frontier Corps a backbone ... |
| It is pretty much out of character, isn't it? It couldn't possibly be that it's all for show? |
An official said that Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) chief Mangal Bagh had fled run away moved to the remote Tirah Valley before the launch of the governmentÂ’s offensive, Reuters reported.
| Not that anybody called him and suggested he get out of Dodge until the 'operation' was over so that no one, including him and the caller, would get hurt... |
| I think it was the opposite: Mangal directed the show and conveniently absented himself stage left ... |
The second day of the NWFP governmentÂ’s operation against militancy ended without any resistance, as the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) troops continued their advance into the tribal region near Peshawar.
| In Bara, the situation was completely calm, as Bagh had directed his supporters against fighting government forces. |
| Right. They saw the Mighty Pak Frontier Corps coming and they beat feet. |
In Bara, the situation was completely calm, as Bagh had directed his supporters against fighting government forces. “We’re peaceful farmers and giving way to the security forces; we are not going to fight,” said Mangal Bagh’s 16-year-old son Tayeb while standing near the debris of his razed house. He told Daily Times that around 200 security personnel had demolished his family’s home with bombs.
| Wonder if he lost his cricket card collection ... |
Local official Muhammad Siddiq Khan said the FC had also encountered no resistance as it moved into areas outside Bara, AP reported. An AFP photographer said that troops had setup sandbag checkpoints after retaking control of Bara.
| Question is, how long will they stay, and what will they do when the Talibs and LI begin to snipe at them ... |
| They won't be there long enough to get sniped at, unless there are Shias among them. |
| In that case get ready for an earth-shattering kaboom ... |
Muhammad Ilyas, a bodyguard of Mangal Bagh, confirmed that the LI forces had been strictly directed against fighting government troops by “amir sahib”.
During the operationÂ’s second day, security forces razed several buildings, including the Mehboob Markaz, the Tayab, Misri and Gud Malang centres and a private jail. A security official told AFP that soldiers also blew up a building belonging to the Taliban-linked group Ansarul Islam (AI).
However, FATA Additional Secretary Habibullah Khan declined to comment on the target of the operation. “This operation is not against a particular individual or group,” he told reporters when asked if the operation was targeting Mangal Bagh and the LI. He said that no one would be allowed to run a parallel government.
The 5,000-troop contingent of FC soldiers that launched the operation on Saturday was supplemented with a fresh deployment of 400 troops and 20 vehicles on Sunday.| There are sixty thousand regular Pak army troops garrisoned in Peshawar. They haven't moved an inch. |
| If India attacks Peshawar, though, they're ready. |
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