Al-Qaeda and Taleban militants have found safe haven in parts of the border region since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan, attacking both American troops in Afghanistan and targets inside Pakistan. The results of Pakistani and NATO military operations along the border have been patchy.
The search operation on Friday took place in the Mamund area of the Bajour tribal region.
It came a day after more than 200 militants launched a cross-border attack into Pakistan on a village in the same area, killing five people in the second such raid in two weeks.
Government official Tariq Khan said Friday’s search came after fresh intelligence reports on militants coming from Afghanistan to the area to target tribal militiamen and troops stationed there.
“We are deploying additional security forces in our villages and towns located near the Afghan border to protect our areas,” he said, adding that tribal elders were asked to remain vigilant and alert authorities of any militant movement.
The information could not be verified independently because access to the area is restricted.
The recent militant raids underscored concerns that the insurgents were using Afghan territory as a launching pad to target Pakistani troops and civilians across the border.
Pakistan has already complained that NATO forces in Afghanistan were not doing enough to check the militants’ movements.
Washington also has long said the Pakistani military needs to do more to stop fighters from streaming into Afghanistan.
Islamabad has been battling insurgents in Bajur for years, but the militants still are able to mount occasional attacks.
Also Friday, about 300 Pakistani tribesmen briefly blocked NATO supplies and other traffic at a crossing along the border with Afghanistan to protest an alleged shooting incident, officials said.
The four-hour-long blockade at the Chaman crossing — located in the southwest province of Balochistan — followed a clash a day earlier on the Afghan side of the border between guards and Pakistani and Afghan tribesmen who were being searched. Residents said Afghan guards opened fire and wounded eight people.
A Pakistani border guard spokesman, Saeed Ahmed, said their officers held talks with tribal elders and convinced them to end the blockade because the protest was affecting trade and travel for thousands of people.
He said his regional commander had assured the local elders that he would soon convey the tribesmen’s grievances to his Afghan counterpart so that any such incident could be avoided in the future. Many supplies for US and NATO troops fighting in Afghanistan travel through Pakistan and cross the border at Chaman. Tribesmen who live in the area often have relatives and business contacts on both sides of the border.
Meanwhile, a rocket fired during the fighting on Friday in Pakistan’s tribal region landed in eastern Afghanistan, killing four children in an area where militants launch attacks on US-led forces, officials said.
The rocket landed in Sirkanay district of Kunar province, an area where more than 100 rockets have landed in the last few days from across the border, provincial police chief Gen. Ewaz Mohammad said.
