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| General Sharif (Image: Wiki Commons) |
By Usman Ansari
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan on Wednesday launched a push on the remaining pockets of Pakistani Taliban (TTP) fighters holed up in the remote Shawal Valley bordering Afghanistan. Though the advance had long been expected, the timing was surprising.
News of the assault came from the military’s Inter Services Public Relations media branch as the head of the army, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen. Raheel Sharif, flew to the Shawal Valley to meet troops stationed in forward areas before ordering the operation to commence.
Addressing the troops, Sharif said: “The sacrifices of the soldiers will not go to waste and we will achieve our ultimate objective of a terror free Pakistan.”
As well as calling for the terrorists to be flushed out of their hiding places in the heavily forested valley with numerous ravines, which facilitated infiltration from Afghanistan, Sharif called on their abettors across the county to be hunted down.
Read the full story at DefenseNews