Military blitz on militants

ORAKZAI AGENCY - Warplanes and helicopter gunships attacked Taliban militants on Saturday in Orakzai Agency where a military helicopter crashed on Friday killing 26 soldiers on board. At least 10 militants were killed when jet fighters and attack helicopters bombed their hideouts here at Chapper Farozekhel area on Saturday. The air war machine also pounded the hideouts of the militants at Dawaba and Tall areas of district Hangu. It is worth mentioning that due to severe bombardment, the dwellers were migrating to safer places. Reuters/AFP add: Helicopter gunships attacked Taliban militants on Saturday in Orakzai where a military helicopter crashed on Friday killing 26 soldiers on board, a government official said. The helicopter crashed because of a technical fault on the mountainous border of the Orakzai and Khyber tribal regions, the military said. On Saturday, helicopters shelled suspected hideouts in Orakzai, said Wajid Ali, spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps. Several militants were killed in the shelling, a military spokesman said. The helicopters targeted and destroyed three militant bases, he added.They (gunships) struck a militant bunker on a peak. We went there after the attack and found 10 bodies lying there, Khaista Rehman, a government official based in Kallay, the main town in the Orakzai region, told Reuters. All of the bodies from the crashed helicopter had been recovered, the military said. Orakzai is believed to have been infiltrated by militants loyal to the Taliban. We shot down the helicopter, a spokesman for Taliban insurgents based in the nearby Darra Adam Khel region told AFP by telephone on Saturday. The spokesman, identifying himself as Muhammad, said the helicopter had been targeted in retaliation for the military operation in South Waziristan, a stronghold of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. A military spokesman reiterated Saturday that the crash was caused by a 'technical fault'. Taliban militants frequently make false claims, he said. All 26 people on board died and the wreckage of the helicopter has been removed, he said, adding an inquiry had been ordered.

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