Pakistan to launch fresh offensive against terrorists

Commandant of the Khyber Rifles, Hafeez said Khyber-2 military operation against Taliban and other terrorist groups hiding in different parts of the Tirah valley of this region would begin in March, Pakistan Today reported.

Hafeez pledged that security forces would now reclaim all areas at present under the control of several outlawed militant groups in Khyber Agency and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

"We will not spare anyone and will go after them no matter where they are hiding and will smash their operational structure to reduce their striking capability," he said.

He added that security forces were now determined to annihilate all anti-state elements operating on Pakistan's soil.

Referring to the escape of some leaders of Bara-based outlawed groups to Afghanistan, he said that those who were not sincere to their own motherland could not be sincere to anyone.

On June 15, 2014, the Pakistan Army launched a comprehensive operation called Zarb-e-Azb against local and foreign militants in North Waziristan, sealing the area off and requested the Afghan National Army to plug possible escape routes across the border.

Months into operation Zarb-e-Azb, the army also launched Khyber-1, an operation to clear out militant strongholds in the tribal region of Khyber.

The Pakistan government has taken a tough stand against terrorists after the Dec 16 attack by Pakistani Taliban on an army-run public school in Peshawar in which over 140 school children and staff were killed.