Pakistan soldiers in TTP captivity at some undisclosed location

Peshawar: Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which launched a “large-scale operation” against Pakistan Army yesterday, is understood to have taken control a substantial part of Chitral district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province after killing and capturing many soldiers.

According to various sources from the region of North West Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, a large group of TTP launched a massive assault on the Army, especially its two posts, in Chitral district, catching the military by surprise.

Coincidentally, the operation was initiated by the TTP on the occasion of Pakistan’s National Defence Day.

Pakistan celebrates September 6 every year as National Defence Day, intriguingly in commemoration of the Indo-Pak war where it faced humiliating defeat by India.

After launching the operation from Bumerit area, the TTP is reported to have taken control of a number of villages of Chitral as the Pakistani military personnel were either killed or forced to flee.

The Pakistan Army rushed in additional troops to Chitral town by helicopters as the land routes were made inaccessible by the TTP.

Unconfirmed reports said a large number of dead and injured Pakistani soldiers were transported out by military trucks and even civilian vehicles.

“From Dodan, a very systematic and successful operation is going on against the occupying security agencies in various areas of Chitral by the Mujahideen of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan,” its spokesman Muhammad Khurasani said today in a statement.

He rubbished Pakistan Army’s claim that the attackers came from across the border from Afghanistan.

“Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan strongly condemns this false and baseless propaganda of the State of Pakistan,” Khurasani said.

“In order to hide their failure and defeat, the enemy (Pakistan army) is not ashamed of spreading the propaganda once again that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has used the Afghan territory,” he said.

“It should be remembered that thousands of our Mujahideen in Chitral had already established centers on the land of Chitral,” the TTP spokesman said.

He said the people of Chitral are standing by the side of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

“At this time, the brave people who are fed up with the immense and all-round atrocities of the Pakistani State are demanding a similar successful operation in other parts of the country,” Khurasani said in the statement.

“As long as the Pakistani State continues to attack our religion, property, life and dignity, and obstruct the implementation of Sharia law, till then our holy jihad will continue,” he declared.

Yesterday, hours after launching the operation, Khurasani had said 6 Pakistani soldiers had been killed in it.

Pakistan’s military spokesperson Director General Inter-Services Press Relations (ISPR) claimed only 4 soldiers had been killed.

However, according to reports emanating from the ‘war-zone’, the casualty figure is much higher and the Pakistani military, as usual, is suppressing the toll.