Army Chief General Raheel Sharif arrived on Thursday in Shawal, North Waziristan to review progress in the ongoing Operation Zarb-e-Azb against militants in the region, Radio Pakistan reported.
General Raheel will also meet troops taking part in the ongoing operation during his visit.
Pakistan Army last week launched a ground offensive in North Waziristan Agency’s (NWA) mountainous Shawal Valley, regarded as the last haven of fleeing homegrown militants and their foreign cohorts.
Read: Ground offensive begins: Army troops roll into Shawal Valley
Since May, the military has stepped up operations in the deeply forested ravines of the Shawal Valley – which straddles North and South Waziristan agencies along the border with Afghanistan – and softened militant targets in the valley through continued airstrikes.
The deeply forested ravines of Shawal Valley and Datta Khel are popular smuggling routes between Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan, and are dotted with militant bases used as launch pads for attacks on Pakistani forces.
The area is a stronghold of Khan Sajna Said, the leader of a Taliban faction whose name the United States put on a sanctions list of ‘specially designated global terrorists” last year.
Read: Airstrikes destroy militants’ training camp, ammunition dump in Shawal: ISPR
Banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan used to control all of mountainous NWA, which includes the Shawal Valley and Datta Khel, and runs along the Afghan border. But Pakistan Army recaptured most of the region in a major armed operation, codenamed Zarb-e-Azb, which was launched in June 2014.
North Waziristan used to be the Pakistani Taliban’s last key stronghold until the start of the operation. Officials claim that nearly 3,000 militants have been killed since the launch of the offensive. Authorities have now vowed to intensify operations both in the border regions and across the country.
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