26 Taliban, 2 soldiers killed in Orakzai

The Daily News, Pakistan, Friday, April 23, 2010

* Security forces occupy important heights around Kambar Masi village
* 4 Taliban killed as they attack security checkpost in Swat

PESHAWAR/KALAYA/ PARACHINAR:

Pakistani security forces on Thursday killed 26 Pakistani Taliban fighters, while two soldiers also died in clashes in Orakzai Agency, officials said.

Troops used heavy artillery to target alleged Pakistani Taliban fighters bases in two villages in the agency. “At least 22 (Taliban fighters) were killed in clashes with security forces which targeted hideouts of terrorists in Mishti Mela village of Orakzai,” a Frontier Corps statement said.

“Two soldiers also embraced shahadat (martyrdom) and two others sustained injuries... the security forces also smoothly advanced and occupied important heights around Kambar Masi village,” it added.

Earlier on Thursday, a group of Taliban fighters attacked a security checkpost in Kabal town in Swat. “The security forces retaliated and killed four (Pakistani Taliban fighters),” said Major Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, a spokesman for the Swat media centre.

Meanwhile, AFP quoted government official Jahanzeb Khan as saying a solider and 31 suspected Taliban were killed in Orakzai. Also, two intelligence officials said an attack on security forces occurred in a nearby district and involved Taliban groups hiding on both sides of a road. They said the area is controlled by Sadiq Noor, one of the few Taliban commanders known to operate in the region.

Separately, Reuters reported that 20 Taliban fighters were killed in the clash in Orakzai. It quoted Muhammad Nauman, a government official in Orakzai’s main Kalaya town, as saying that the latest fighting broke out when the Taliban attacked a patrol in a village near the border with Khyber Agency.

“It was a fierce clash that lasted for about three hours and the militant attack was repulsed,” he said. agencies

Seven Pakistani soldiers killed in Taliban ambush

Seven Pakistani soldiers have been killed and 16 wounded after Pakistani Taliban fighters armed with guns and rocket launchers ambushed their convoy in the northwest tribal belt, officials said Friday.

Dozens of Pakistani Taliban fighters on Thursday attacked the troops in North Waziristan, part of the tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Two officers were among the dead in the attack in Dattakhel, a particularly restive area about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the main town Miranshah, a military statement said.

"It was a pre-planned attack. Dozens of (Pakistani Taliban fighters) first fired several rockets and then used other weapons and guns," an intelligence official based in Miranshah said, adding that four military vehicles were destroyed.

A military statement said the convoy on a routine mission from Miranshah to Dattakhel when they were ambushed.

Under US pressure, Pakistan has in the past year significantly increased operations against the Pakistani Taliban fighters in its tribal belt.

The rugged tribal terrain became a stronghold for hundreds of Taliban fighters who fled neighbouring Afghanistan after the US-led invasion in late 2001.

North Waziristan neighbours South Waziristan, where Pakistan has been focusing its most ambitious military offensive yet against homegrown Taliban fighters. It sent about 30,000 troops into the region last October.

However the military has so far appeared unwilling to launch a similar all-out assault into North Waziristan, and officials say that many Pakistani Taliban fighters have fled the South Waziristan operation into the neighbouring district.