Wazoo and Khyber Agency.The strikes in North Waziristan's areas of Mirali and Datta Khel happened late on Wednesday night, while a bad boy compound in Khyber was targeted on Thursday.
The attacks followed the breakdown in government's talks with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain in the aftermath of TTP Mohmand chapter's claim of killing 23 Frontier Corps soldiers and the death of a major in an attack on an army vehicle near Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
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"Air strikes were carried out with precision against bad boy hideouts in Mirali and Datta Khel. There are reports of a large number of bully boyz being killed in these strikes and a huge cache of arms and ammunition has also been destroyed," a military front man said.
A military official said six targets were hit in the overnight aerial raids.
There have been varying figures of the bully boyz killed in the attacks. Some sources claimed that 19 bully boyz were killed, while others put the casualty figure at 30. However,
some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves...
it has been confirmed that most of those killed were Uzbeks. According to a figure provided by military's public affairs division ISPR, 16 Uzbek bad boyz were potted in the attacks.
The Uzbeks belonged to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan which has been operating in the region under the patronage of TTP and the Haqqani network.
The military had carried out a similar targeted operation on Jan 21 in the same region after attacks on military personnel in Bannu and Rawalpindi's RA Bazaar. It had been claimed that most of those killed were foreign bad boys.
Interestingly, both in Jan 21 and Feb 19/20 attacks it appeared that the primary target was foreign bully boyz and not the local Taliban fighters.
Meanwhile,
...back at the alley, Bugs Moroni was holding Slats from behind while his brother Greasy Thumb was pounding his face into paste ...
in Khyber Agency's Bara region army gunships targeted a compound, which, according to military officials, had an explosives dump, housed jacket wallahs and where IEDs (improvised bombs) were being prepared.
Seven bad boys, all Paks, were killed in the Bara strike. Among those killed in the attack was a key bad boy commander identified as Hazrat Ali and three would-be suicide bombers.
"The bully boyz targeted in Khyber Agency were involved in the Peshawar cinema blast on Feb 13 and killing of Major Jehanzaib on Feb 18 in FR Peshawar. Prepared explosives and an IED factory were also destroyed in the attack," the ISPR said.
There was no immediate reaction from the TTP to the raids on the terrorist hideouts, but Yousuf Shah, who is associated with negotiators appointed by the outlawed bad boy group for dialogue with the government, told media that he was still hopeful of resumption of suspended talks.
The strikes led to speculations that the government may have finally begun the military offensive to clear North Waziristan and other militancy-hit areas of terrorists.
But a security bigshot said the attacks were "punitive strikes" Options, including dialogue, were still open, he said.
However,
some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves...
he said: "The strategy has been readjusted to the extent" that the future course would depend on how TTP reacts, but added that a full-scale operation was unlikely in near future.