A sanitising operation in Kurram district of the province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa targeted hideouts of miscreants in the area on Monday. However, no deaths have been reported so far.

According to local sources, the hideouts were targeted through gunship helicopters in Pastwani, Manddara, Sangrobba and Jarrni areas.

The operation will also involve collecting weapons from armed men as agreed under the peace agreement brokered through the Grand Jirga earlier this month. The administration also plans to proceed with its strategy of demolishing bunkers to ensure the parties in the conflict do not take up positions once again.

Tribal elders in the area reportedly requested the government to delay the operation as the displaced families would face difficulties due to the severely cold weather. However, the government insisted that the state of affairs in the district could not afford a delay in the operation.

Meanwhile, a curfew remains in force in the area of Bagan since Sunday. Several residents of the area have been evacuated to keep them out of harm’s way as the operation proceeds.

At least 91 people belonging to 14 families were relocated from Bagan to Thall in Hangu district. However, the camps supposed to accommodate them were not set up as the district administration continued to finalise a site.

Officials said that relief goods for the displaced people have been sent to Hangu in 23 trucks. The goods include at least 500 tents and other essential items including food.

Kurram has been cut off from the rest of the country for 112 days due to an armed sectarian conflict. After lengthy negotiations, a jirga finally managed to get the sides to accept a peace deal in January that involved laying down weapons and handing over those people who were disrupting the implementation of the peace agreement to authorities.

However, the fragile peace has been shattered twice in the space of a few days. First, Kurram’s district commissioner and five others were injured in a firing incident on January 5. Later on January 16, an aid convoy carrying essential goods for the people of Kurram was ambushed by over 200 people leading to the deaths of two security personnel and at least eight others. At least 19 of the 35 trucks were looted and burned.

The government then decided to conduct an operation in four village councils of Kurram, deeming the action ‘unavoidable’ to establish and maintain peace.