TaimiKhan
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Mohmand, Orakzai fighting kills 37 militants
PESHAWAR: Pakistan said ground fighting and an air strike killed 37 militants in its tribal belt on the Afghan border Thursday after dozens of Taliban stormed a paramilitary check post.
The military claims to be making fresh gains against Taliban and Al-Qaeda strongholds, under US pressure to do more to stop militants infiltrating Afghanistan and attacking Western troops.
In a pre-dawn attack, more than 100 armed Taliban stormed a check post of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, killing one soldier and wounding four others in the town of Chamarkand in Mohmand tribal district, an official said.
Troops equipped with mortars and long-range cannons retaliated, killing 30 militants, local administration official Maqsood Ahmed told AFP.
A military statement confirmed the clash and the 30 casualties. Death tolls are impossible to confirm independently as the area is rife with violence and out of bounds to most reporters and aid workers.
Chamarkand lies about two kilometres from the Afghan province of Kunar, which like much of Afghanistan has seen increasing attacks by Taliban militants trying to topple the Kabul government and force out foreign troops.
Mohmand neighbours Bajaur district, where the military on Tuesday said it had captured a labyrinth of Taliban and Al-Qaeda caves dug into mountains near the Afghan border in an offensive that killed 75 militants.
Fighter jets on Thursday pounded a suspected Taliban base in Orakzai district, elsewhere in the tribal belt.
The air strike targeted Dabori, a mountainous town in Orakzai, local administration official Fazle Qadir told AFP. Two hideouts were destroyed and seven militants were killed.
A senior military official confirmed the strike and the death toll.
On Wednesday, Pakistan's paramilitary forces said troops killed 38 militants during a week-long operation against the Taliban under the codename Spring Cleaning in the northwest Taliban stronghold of Pastawana.
Troops destroyed Taliban bases and training centres set up in caves carved into the mountains and wrestled control of the stronghold near Kohat city back from the insurgents, officials said.
Pakistan has in the last year significantly increased operations against militants in its northwest and tribal belt.
The rugged tribal terrain became a stronghold for hundreds of extremists who fled neighbouring Afghanistan after the US-led invasion in late 2001.
In spring last year, Pakistan's armed forces launched a determined offensive to rid the northwest Swat region of Taliban militants who had waged a two-year insurgency and were inching closer to Islamabad.
Washington says the militants use Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt to plot and stage attacks in Afghanistan, where more than 120,000 Nato and US troops are helping Afghan forces battle the Taliban militia.
PESHAWAR: Pakistan said ground fighting and an air strike killed 37 militants in its tribal belt on the Afghan border Thursday after dozens of Taliban stormed a paramilitary check post.
The military claims to be making fresh gains against Taliban and Al-Qaeda strongholds, under US pressure to do more to stop militants infiltrating Afghanistan and attacking Western troops.
In a pre-dawn attack, more than 100 armed Taliban stormed a check post of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, killing one soldier and wounding four others in the town of Chamarkand in Mohmand tribal district, an official said.
Troops equipped with mortars and long-range cannons retaliated, killing 30 militants, local administration official Maqsood Ahmed told AFP.
A military statement confirmed the clash and the 30 casualties. Death tolls are impossible to confirm independently as the area is rife with violence and out of bounds to most reporters and aid workers.
Chamarkand lies about two kilometres from the Afghan province of Kunar, which like much of Afghanistan has seen increasing attacks by Taliban militants trying to topple the Kabul government and force out foreign troops.
Mohmand neighbours Bajaur district, where the military on Tuesday said it had captured a labyrinth of Taliban and Al-Qaeda caves dug into mountains near the Afghan border in an offensive that killed 75 militants.
Fighter jets on Thursday pounded a suspected Taliban base in Orakzai district, elsewhere in the tribal belt.
The air strike targeted Dabori, a mountainous town in Orakzai, local administration official Fazle Qadir told AFP. Two hideouts were destroyed and seven militants were killed.
A senior military official confirmed the strike and the death toll.
On Wednesday, Pakistan's paramilitary forces said troops killed 38 militants during a week-long operation against the Taliban under the codename Spring Cleaning in the northwest Taliban stronghold of Pastawana.
Troops destroyed Taliban bases and training centres set up in caves carved into the mountains and wrestled control of the stronghold near Kohat city back from the insurgents, officials said.
Pakistan has in the last year significantly increased operations against militants in its northwest and tribal belt.
The rugged tribal terrain became a stronghold for hundreds of extremists who fled neighbouring Afghanistan after the US-led invasion in late 2001.
In spring last year, Pakistan's armed forces launched a determined offensive to rid the northwest Swat region of Taliban militants who had waged a two-year insurgency and were inching closer to Islamabad.
Washington says the militants use Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt to plot and stage attacks in Afghanistan, where more than 120,000 Nato and US troops are helping Afghan forces battle the Taliban militia.
