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Pakistani troops kill Islamic militants

Dozens of Islamic militants died in clashes with Pakistani troops, the army said, amid reports that government forces have launched an operation to clear out fighters who overran military positions near the Afghan border earlier this week.

Intelligence officials in South Waziristan said soldiers backed by aircraft and artillery had recaptured two small forts on Friday and were continuing their advance through the area, a stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Between 50 and 60 insurgents died when they attacked another fort at the village of Ladha with small-arms fire and rockets, a military statement said. Security forces repelled the attack using mortar and artillery fire.

Up to 30 more attackers were killed when they tried to ambush a military convoy near the village of Chakmalai, the army said. Only four troops were wounded, it said.

Although it was not possible to confirm the casualty claims, the intensifying combat highlighted the deteriorating security situation in the region. Western military commanders in Afghanistan say Waziristan is a prime staging area for rebel infiltration across the mountainous border.

Last month, Baitullah Mehsud, a local Islamist warlord, unveiled an alliance of Taliban militants operating in the lawless tribal area along the Afghan border.

That represented a new challenge to the authority of President Pervez Musharraf, who has deployed nearly 100,000 troops there since joining the US-led war on terror six years ago.

The government believes that Mehsud masterminded the Dec. 27 assassination of Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto -- a conclusion shared by the CIA, a US intelligence official said in Washington. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

In a new show of strength this week, hundreds of Mehsud's fighters mounted the attacks on the two forts in South Waziristan that exposed the Pakistan military's weak grip over the lawless border region.

An intelligence official based in the area said security forces had in response launched a sweep to clear the area of militants. He asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Despite its reports of high militant casualties in Friday's clashes, the army denied that it had launched an offensive against the rebels. "There was absolutely no offensive launched at any village in South Waziristan," Major General Athar Abbas said.

It was difficult to reconcile the conflicting claims because many telephone lines in the affected villages had ceased functioning, and the confused nature of the fighting made it too dangerous for people to venture out of their homes to check on the situation.

But those villagers who could be contacted said some people were fleeing their homes after witnessing intense artillery shelling and an aerial attack by a government jet.

Elsewhere, two Sunni extremists awaiting execution for a bloody attack on rival Shiites in 2004 escaped from a heavily guarded prison in the southwestern city of Quetta. The prison break came a day after a suspected Sunni suicide bomber attacked Shiites assembled in the northwestern city of Peshawar for prayers during the holy month of Muharram.

The strike killed 11 people and wounded 25, including a prominent Shiite cleric, ahead of this weekend's Ashoura festival, when they mourn the seventh century death of Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein.
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