Chitral under attack

CHITRAL, Aug 27, 2011: Around 400 Taliban from Afghanistan’s Nooristan province infiltrated into Chitral and eliminated three checkposts in Arandu and Mirkhani areas, killing about 16 Chitral Scouts and 10 border policemen early Saturday.

Besides, over a dozen security personnel were also kidnapped by the fleeing Taliban militants.

The Chitral Scouts sources said 12 personnel of the force were martyred while the district coordination officer of Chitral put the figure at 15. Officials said nine of the attackers were also killed by the Chitral Scouts.

The militants targeted the checkposts in Kahuti after destroying the Kahuti bridge and targetted the Mirkhani, Parashut, Langorbut and Gudibar posts of the Scouts. In all, four bridges over the Chitral river were destroyed by the Taliban attackers. Some reports said that the bridges were blown up by the security forces themseves to stop the militants from fleeing back to Afghanistan.

The sources in Chitral Scouts said that they had called reinforcement and planned to launch an operation against the Afghan criminals and thugs who were still present in the hilly areas. As a result, traffic from and to Chitral town remained suspended and people living in the targetted and nearby areas are confined to their houses.

They said the situation in the area was very tense and exact figure about the dead and injured could not be ascertained. According to latest reports, the Scouts were carrying out operation using helicopters to flush out the remaining militants in the areas.

The identities of the martyred Scouts and border police personnel could not be ascertained.