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AFP: Pakistan forces kill 17 militants
Pakistan forces kill 17 militants
(AFP) 12 hours ago
PESHAWAR, Pakistan Pakistani forces have killed 17 militants in operations across the northwest, as Peshawar city was once again struck by a bomb blast injuring four people Thursday, officials said.
Pakistan's military launched multiple offensives against Islamist insurgents this year, but the Taliban have retaliated with a fierce wave of attacks killing hundreds of people in the past two months alone.
In the third blast in as many days, a remotely-detonated bomb hit a police checkpoint near a graveyard on the outskirts of northwest capital Peshawar.
"Three policemen and a passer-by were wounded in this remote-controlled bomb blast," Karim Khan, senior police official in Peshawar, told AFP.
On Wednesday two naval policemen were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a navy compound in Islamabad, while a day earlier a provincial lawmaker died in a similar attack in the one-time tourist haven of Swat valley.
Pakistani troops poured into Swat and neighbouring districts in April to drive out Taliban militants who were advancing towards Islamabad, and sporadic clashes continue, despite the military's claims of success in the valley.
Late Wednesday in Seigram village, about 25 kilometres (15 miles) northwest of Swat's main city Mingora, security forces seeking a local insurgent commander stormed a Taliban hideout.
"An exchange of fire took place resulting in the deaths of 10 miscreants and injuries to one soldier," the army-run Swat media centre said in a statement, adding that the militant commander was among those killed.
Two other militants were killed in a shoot-out with security forces in Swat's Matta town on Thursday morning, the centre added.
Swat slipped out of government control in July 2007 after radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah mounted a violent campaign in which his followers beheaded opponents, burnt schools and fought to enforce Islamic sharia law.
Pakistan's military is now engaged in a fierce offensive in the northwest tribal belt along the Afghan border, where the core Taliban leadership and Al-Qaeda-linked militants are holed up in the rugged mountain terrain.
In Bajaur tribal district early Thursday, militants attacked security checkpoints on the outskirts of the main town of Khar.
"It was an organised attack. Troops effectively repulsed it, and five militants were killed in the retaliatory fire," said Fazal Rabbi, deputy commander of the local tribal police force.
Pakistan sent 30,000 troops backed by helicopter gunships and fighter jets into South Waziristan on October 17, and offensives are also underway in the other tribal regions that string the Afghan border.
Security has drastically deteriorated in Pakistan since Islamabad joined the US-led "war on terror" and hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants fled into the tribal belt after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.
More than 2,570 people have been killed in suicide blasts and attacks in Pakistan since July 2007.
Pakistan forces kill 17 militants
(AFP) 12 hours ago
PESHAWAR, Pakistan Pakistani forces have killed 17 militants in operations across the northwest, as Peshawar city was once again struck by a bomb blast injuring four people Thursday, officials said.
Pakistan's military launched multiple offensives against Islamist insurgents this year, but the Taliban have retaliated with a fierce wave of attacks killing hundreds of people in the past two months alone.
In the third blast in as many days, a remotely-detonated bomb hit a police checkpoint near a graveyard on the outskirts of northwest capital Peshawar.
"Three policemen and a passer-by were wounded in this remote-controlled bomb blast," Karim Khan, senior police official in Peshawar, told AFP.
On Wednesday two naval policemen were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a navy compound in Islamabad, while a day earlier a provincial lawmaker died in a similar attack in the one-time tourist haven of Swat valley.
Pakistani troops poured into Swat and neighbouring districts in April to drive out Taliban militants who were advancing towards Islamabad, and sporadic clashes continue, despite the military's claims of success in the valley.
Late Wednesday in Seigram village, about 25 kilometres (15 miles) northwest of Swat's main city Mingora, security forces seeking a local insurgent commander stormed a Taliban hideout.
"An exchange of fire took place resulting in the deaths of 10 miscreants and injuries to one soldier," the army-run Swat media centre said in a statement, adding that the militant commander was among those killed.
Two other militants were killed in a shoot-out with security forces in Swat's Matta town on Thursday morning, the centre added.
Swat slipped out of government control in July 2007 after radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah mounted a violent campaign in which his followers beheaded opponents, burnt schools and fought to enforce Islamic sharia law.
Pakistan's military is now engaged in a fierce offensive in the northwest tribal belt along the Afghan border, where the core Taliban leadership and Al-Qaeda-linked militants are holed up in the rugged mountain terrain.
In Bajaur tribal district early Thursday, militants attacked security checkpoints on the outskirts of the main town of Khar.
"It was an organised attack. Troops effectively repulsed it, and five militants were killed in the retaliatory fire," said Fazal Rabbi, deputy commander of the local tribal police force.
Pakistan sent 30,000 troops backed by helicopter gunships and fighter jets into South Waziristan on October 17, and offensives are also underway in the other tribal regions that string the Afghan border.
Security has drastically deteriorated in Pakistan since Islamabad joined the US-led "war on terror" and hundreds of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants fled into the tribal belt after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.
More than 2,570 people have been killed in suicide blasts and attacks in Pakistan since July 2007.
