Army helicopter gunships attacked two trucks and as many cars carrying militants fleeing the bombing of a military convoy in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 10 fighters, an official said.
The operation was carried out in the North Waziristan tribal region after a bomb explosion near the convoy left five soldiers wounded, army spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said.
Between 10 and 12 militants were killed in the strafing, Arshad said, adding that the toll could rise.
Violence has escalated in the region and militants have launched attacks almost every day since renouncing a peace accord with the government last month.
In South Waziristan, another tribal area bordering North Waziristan, about half a dozen armed men, wearing masks abducted 16 paramilitary soldiers after they left a base to go home on leave, an intelligence official said.
The soldiers were in a van which the kidnappers commandeered at a roadblock near the town of Tank and took to off an unknown destination, the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make media comments.
In the North Waziristan attacks, Arshad said helicopters chased the militants -- who were carrying rocket launchers and small arms -- as they fled after carrying out the bombing into a petrol station, then in their vehicles.
Al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked Arab, Central Asia and Afghan militants operate in the two tribal regions which border Afghanistan.
Pakistan, a key US ally in the war against terrorists, has deployed around 90,000 troops to its border regions with Afghanistan to hunt down militants.
Pakistan has faced increasing pressure from US and Afghan officials to do more to eliminate militants from its territory.
Meanwhile in Islamabad, police were hunting late on Thursday for a man they suspected may have been a suicide bomber after a taxi driver alerted them.
The man, who appeared to be in his 20s and sported a small beard, told the driver of a taxi he had hired that "I and you are going to be martyrs," said Zafar Iqbal, Islamabad city police chief.
Scared, the taxi driver stopped by a downtown police station, ran in to inform officers about his suspicious passenger but found that the man had fled along with the cab, Iqbal said.
The taxi was later found abandoned at a large square near the Parliament building and dozens of police began a search for the man in the neighborhood, Iqbal said.
Security has been stepped up in Islamabad since two suicide bombings struck the capital last month in which a total of 29 people were killed.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was