ISLAMABAD, 21 May 2006 — Pro-Taleban militants killed two Pakistani troopers in a grenade attack on a paramilitary compound in North Waziristan, but one of their own men was also killed, a government official said yesterday.
Two more people were killed in violence elsewhere.
A military campaign to clear foreign militants from tribal lands near the Afghan border and subdue their Taleban allies is focused on North Waziristan.
Fighting there has intensified over the past few months.
Fida Mohammad, a senior administration official in the region, said three militants threw grenades at the Frontier Constabulary compound in Mir Ali town, 25 km east of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan.
Two members of the force and one of the attackers were killed, he said.
“Two attackers managed to escape but one died in the attack as he slipped when he started running away after throwing the grenade,” Mohammad said.
No one had claimed responsibility for the attack, and the identity of the slain attacker could not yet be established, the official said.
Following the attack on the compound, helicopter gunships circled over Mir Ali and fired rockets, residents said. It was unclear to residents who they were firing at, or if there were casualties.
In another incident, suspected militants in North Waziristan killed two pro-government tribal chiefs yesterday.
Reports said an influential tribal leader, Malik Taj, was abducted and killed by the militants, opposing Pakistani troops operation in the region.
His bullet-riddled body was found about 20 km east of Mianshah.
Malik Taj had earlier met with NWFP Gov. Khalilur Rehaman and promised to cooperate with the government in throwing out militants from the area. He had assured the governor to call “loya jirga” to root out militancy from the region.
Militants killed another tribal leader, Malik Tooti Gull, in an ambush in Mir Ali market while he was on his way to Bannu town.
Many Al-Qaeda militants and their Taleban allies took refuge among Pakistan’s conservative Pashtun tribes on the border after being driven out of Afghanistan by US-backed forces following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Pakistan, a key ally of the United States in its war on terror in Afghanistan, has deployed about 80,000 troops in the North and South Waziristan regions to flush out remnants of the Taleban and Al-Qaeda. The region has been the scene of scores of military operations against foreign militants and their local supporters, who often target security forces.
Since January, gun battles between rebels and security forces, rocket attacks and roadside bombings have killed 52 soldiers, six policemen and 325 militants, according to an Associated Press tally based on reports from the tribal regions.
