by Muhammad Tahir
ISLAMABAD, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani forces have launched a new major operation to "eliminate the menace of terrorism from the country" that will mainly focus on Punjab.
The military announced on Wednesday the start of the countrywide operation codenamed "Radd-ul-Fasaad," or reject discord in English, after a series of terrorist attacks that killed over 100 people in last week.
The upsurge in the terrorist attacks in the first two months of this year broke months of a lull in violent incidents, which was seen as a threat to the achievements of the major counterinsurgency operation "Zarb-e-Azb," which launched in 2014 was aimed at clearing North Waziristan tribal region, the last major stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban and their foreign militants.
The security forces had killed over 3,000 militants in North Waziristan but many had either fled to Afghanistan and or moved to urban areas and are hiding with the help of their local facilitators, sympathizers and financiers.
Security officials had earlier indicated that the fleeing militants may have found some tribal areas in southern parts of Punjab province that are located at the edge of Sindh and Balochistan provinces.
Read the full story at Xinhua