MIRANSHAH/ISLAMABAD, 1 August 2007 — Pakistani troops backed by helicopter gunships killed 18 pro-Taleban militants in intense fighting in a troubled tribal zone bordering Afghanistan yesterday, the army said.
Separately security officials told AFP the rebels abducted four soldiers in the rugged North Waziristan region, where the United States alleges that Al-Qaeda has created a safe haven to plan attacks against Western targets.
North Waziristan has seen a spike in violence since pro-Taleban rebels in the area scrapped a peace deal with the government on July 15, five days after the army stormed a radical mosque in the capital, leaving scores dead.
Fighting raged for six hours after an army patrol came under attack after signaling three vehicles to stop at the Banda checkpoint in the conflict-torn region, said chief military spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad.
“Around 40 miscreants started firing at security forces and took positions in nearby hills, and security forces retaliated. Helicopter support was called in, there was a heavy exchange of fire,” said Arshad.
“Eighteen miscreants are dead and we have their bodies with us. Two were injured and they have been arrested,” he said, adding that two soldiers were also wounded.
Meanwhile, the four soldiers were abducted at gunpoint while on the way from the garrison town of Bannu to the militant hotbed of Mir Ali in North Waziristan, a senior security official said on condition of anonymity. “Efforts are under way to recover them,” he said.
Earlier a roadside bomb wounded six paramilitary troops, two seriously, as they delivered food to colleagues on the perimeter of the neighboring tribal district of South Waziristan, security officials said.
Also yesterday, suspected militants before dawn fired eight rockets at three military checkpoints in Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region.
The rockets missed their targets and only damaged a room at a school hostel in Miranshah, said a security official who sought anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.
Rebels have stepped up attacks against security forces in North Waziristan in the past two weeks after scrapping the September 2006 peace deal with the government.
The latest attacks came a day after a roadside bomb killed three paramilitary troops near a checkpoint two kilometers north of Miranshah, the army said. Seven suspects were detained for planting another bomb on a troop convoy route but no one was hurt in that attack, it said.
Seven people, including three soldiers, were killed in violence in North Waziristan on Monday.
Pakistan has been battling Taleban and Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents in its rugged tribal belt since hundreds of the rebels fled Afghanistan after the fall of the hard-line Taleban regime in late 2001.
