Prisoners paraded after bases destroyed

Published on Tuesday 1 September 2009 22:07

GOVERNMENT forces destroyed four militant bases and killed 40 insurgents yesterday in a new offensive near Pakistan's Khyber Pass, the main route for supplies to Nato troops in Afghanistan, authorities said.

The offensive follows a suicide blast in the region last week that killed 19 police officers.

Tariq Hayat, the top administrator in Khyber, told reporters 40 militants were killed and 43 arrested. The four destroyed bases belonged to the militant group Lashkar-e-Islam, he said. The military paraded the detainees – blindfolded with their own shirts and hands tied – at Hayat's press briefing in Peshawar. A truck loaded with bodies of militants was seen outside the briefing, where captured weapons were displayed.

Hayat gave no indication of whether a sustained operation was planned in the area, through which trucks carrying fuel and other goods to Nato troops in Afghanistan travel each day. The convoys are often targeted.

Pakistan is under intense pressure to crack down on militants close to the Afghan border, a lawless region where al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding. The Taleban there also help mount attacks against western troops across the frontier.