ISLAMABAD, 3 April 2006 — Pro-Taleban militants using heavy machine guns and rockets attacked an army post in a village in Miranshah early yesterday killing one soldier and injuring several others.
The army retaliated and in the exchange of fire more people, including three children, were wounded, officials and residents said yesterday.
The militants targeted a fort in the Datta Khel area, west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan semi-autonomous tribal region infested with Al-Qaeda and Taleban fighters and their sympathizers.
Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said one soldier was killed and four wounded in the attack.
Residents said three children were wounded in a subsequent exchange of fire, but it was unclear which side had fired the rocket that hit their house.
It was also unknown whether the attackers suffered any casualties as they fled in the darkness.
In a separate rocket attack in the Shawal area of North Waziristan, militants wounded three paramilitary troopers.
In a separate incident, two militants were wounded in a clash with police in the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan in neighboring South Waziristan, another area used as a hide-out by pro-Taleban groups.
The fighting erupted yesterday after the extremists tried to disrupt a traditional fair to celebrate the start of spring. “They dubbed this annual traditional event as un-Islamic and had warned the organizers against holding it,” a senior police officer said.
Last month, President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led war on terrorism, warned foreign militants hiding in the tribal region to leave Pakistan or face annihilation.
— Additional input from agencies
