Militants launch fresh attacks

PAKISTAN: Suspected Islamic militants launched fresh attacks on Pakistani troops in a northwestern tribal region Tuesday, a day after clashes in the area left at least 20 insurgents and two soldiers dead, an intelligence official said.

Before dawn, assailants fired rockets at two roadside security posts in North Waziristan, a volatile area bordering Afghanistan, the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make media comments.

Troops deployed at the security posts returned fire, triggering gunfights, but no casualties were reported on either side, he said.

Militants also detonated dynamite at a municipal office late Monday in Miran Shah, the main city in North Waziristan, damaging three rooms but causing no injuries, he said.

The fresh attacks and subsequent clashes followed reports from Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, the army’s top spokesman, that 20 to 25 rebel fighters had been killed in fighting in the region on Monday.

Two Pakistani soldiers also died and seven were wounded in Monday’s shootouts, Arshad said.

Violence has flared across Pakistan since a deadly military raid on a radical mosque in the capital Islamabad earlier this month.

Suicide bombings and shootings have left at least 289 people dead, mostly in the volatile northwest. Over the weekend, fighting between security forces and suspected Islamic militants left 19 militants dead across North Waziristan, Arshad said.

The Islamic militants and government signed a peace pact in September last year aimed at stopping militants from crossing into neighboring Afghanistan, leading to a period of relative calm.

Miran Shah,Tuesday, AP