Pakistan army chief Raheel Sharif vows to eliminate militants in tribal region

Pakistan's army chief on Thursday vowed that the military will eliminate killers of innocent people and children in the country's militant-infested tribal region.General Raheel Sharif visited the Shawal region of North Waziristan where the army has launched a major offensive to clear militants from the thickly forested and mountainous region bordering Afghanistan. Shawal is considered as the last stronghold of al-Qaeda -linked militants as major areas of North Waziristan have been cleared in the operation launched last June.Addressing troops Sharif said militants who kill innocent people would be eliminated. "We would not allow anyone to kill our people and children in this country. We will expose all faces who helped them at any stage or in any way," he said.He said that all heights had been cleared and the main features of the hilly region had been occupied while the valley of Shawal is also being sanitised. Sharif said the army is "reducing isolated terrorists to their size and will sever their link with their abettors anywhere".  He claimed that clearing North Waziristan's most difficult region of Shawal showed that Pakistan's army "has no parallel" in success rate in the war against terrorism.