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From Rah-e-Rast to Rah-e-Nijat : Army ready to enter South Waziristan

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army has formally recieved marching orders against Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and preparations for the first phase of a miltary operation in South Waziristan have already been completed, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Athar Abbas said on Tuesday.

”The government has taken a principled decision to launch a military operation against Baitullah and his network,” Abbas said. Abbas told a press conference – which he addressed alongside Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira – that 13 terrorists were killed and another three were apprehended in Malakand and Dir during the last 24 hours. Abbas also said Baitullah claimed the support of a 10,000-strong militia

Abbas said Peochar valley, a stronghold for the Taliban, had been secured completely and a link up from Chaprial to Peochar had been completed.

He said the civil administration and police had become fully functional in Shangla. Kaira said the government would provide the army all the resources it needed to successfully complete the operation against the Taliban. The minister did not rule out the possibility of weapons flowing into the Tribal Areas from Afghanistan.

Abbas said there were unconfirmed reports that Uzbek militant leader Tahir Yuldashev was injured in a Pakistan Air Force strike on Sunday in the Makeen area of South Waziristan. He gave no further details. sajjad malik/app

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