Pakistani security forces and suspected Islamic militants battled for a second day yesterday near the Afghan border, leaving four soldiers and 16 fighters dead, an army spokesman said.
Another 19 militants -- some of them surrendering and laying down their weapons -- were captured in the fighting in the North Waziristan tribal region, spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said.
Eight militants were killed overnight after troops retaliated to a rocket attack by the fighters on a military base, and the eight others died in the ensuing fighting with security forces yesterday, he said.
The fighting -- that follows a spree of bloody clashes between pro-Taliban tribesmen and Pakistani troops in recent weeks -- erupted after a rocket attack late on Tuesday on a military base in Mana, a village about 50km west of the main town of Miranshah, that left at least two soldiers dead. Two more troops were killed in fighting yesterday.
Helicopter gunships backed ground troops in yesterday's fighting that had ended by late afternoon, Sultan said.
"There is an exchange of fire going on" in Shawal, a rugged, forested area about 15km from the Afghan border, he said.
Sultan said fierce fighting was going on to drive out militants holed up in at least fortress-like compounds.
He refused to identify the militants who surrendered or give their nationalities, adding that troops have the bodies of eight of those who were killed in the clashes yesterday.
Military officials have said Arab, Central Asian and Afghan fighters are present in the region, but local tribesmen are showing increasing resistance to the government in the lawless region. Last month, the army reported that scores of foreign and local militants were killed in fighting with security forces.
"Helicopter gunships have been flying in and out of Miranshah toward Shawal since morning," a resident of Miranshah said.
Shawal, an upland valley with forests and meadows, is about 50km west of Miranshah.
Militants also fired seven rockets at a military post at Tata Khel, a village located on the edge of Miranshah, that injured two soldiers late on Tuesday, a security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.
Pakistan, a key US ally in the war on terror, has deployed about 80,000 troops in its tribal regions near Afghanistan in an effort to flush out al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.
The latest clashes came as Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz visited the US and US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher made his first visit to Pakistan.
Asked to comment on a perception that Pakistan often launches crackdowns against militants when a senior US official is visiting here or a Pakistani leader travels to the US, Sultan said: "Did we ask them to attack [the troops] last night?"
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in