Top Taliban leader Asmatullah Shaheen Bhittani, who briefly headed the Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan after the death of
Hakimullah Mehsud last November, 33 Uzbek nationals and three Germans, were among those killed in the night- long air strikes in North Waziristan Agency since Monday.
Military sources said that most of the 40 terrorists killed in North Waziristan strikes on the night of January 20 and 21 were foreign fighters which include 33 Uzbeks, 3 Germans and important terrorist commanders, Wali Mohammed, Bhittani, Noor Badshah and Maulvi Farhad Uzbek.
After the attack in Bannu Cantonment on Sunday which killed 20 Frontier Corps men and the blast near the General Headquarters of the army in Rawalpindi on Monday which claimed at least 13 lives, suspected militant hideouts were targeted by air strikes in North Waziristan Agency.
The air strikes were carried out after confirmed intelligence reports about the militants’ whereabouts, sources said. The militants were linked to the bomb blasts in Peshawar on the church and Qissa Khawani bazaar apart from the Bannu attack on Sunday. Scores of militants were injured in these air strikes.
The government was quick to deny this was an operation and news reports quoted Rana Tanveer, Minister for Defense Production, as saying that the political and military leadership were unanimous on the strategy on Taliban.
