3 Pakistani Soldiers, 33 Taliban Fighters Killed in Clashes, July 21, 2010

3 Pakistani Soldiers, 33 Taliban Fighters Killed in Clashes

July 21, 2010

Pakistan clash kills three soldiers, 33 Taliban: officials

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) –

Taliban fighter (who are referred to by AFPs' editors as "militants" and "insurgents") killed three Pakistani soldiers on Wednesday in an ambush on a military convoy, sparking a gunbattle which left 33 insurgents dead, security officials said.

The clash took place Orakzai district, part of the semi-autonomous tribal belt in northwest Pakistan where the military has been waging an anti-Taliban offensive since late March.

"Around 50 Taliban fighters attacked a convoy to block the movement of troops in the area," a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Three soldiers were killed in the Taliban attack, he said, adding that troops retaliated and killed 33 militants.

"We have recovered 17 bodies from the site of the encounter," another official said.

A spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps confirmed the clash but gave no details, beyond saying that troops had "occupied important heights" near the towns of Ghiljo and Sambagha "after encountering stiff resistance".

Independent confirmation of the casualty figures was not possible because the area is a closed military zone inaccessible to aid workers and journalists.

Pakistani forces opened a new front in Orakzai late March in an attempt to flush out Taliban who escaped a major assault last year on South Waziristan, a headquarters for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leadership.

The TTP is a major force behind a bombing campaign that has killed more than 3,500 people across Pakistan in three years. The group attracted global attention when it was blamed by the US for a failed bomb plot in New York on May 1.

Washington says Pakistan's tribal belt, which lies outside direct government control, is an Al-Qaeda headquarters and a stronghold of militants plotting attacks on US-led troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. (This sentence is usually written as a justification of war, used by AFP and other pro-NATO news agencies and media).

Pakistan last month declared an end to major combat operations in the region. A military spokesman in Peshawar later said lower Orakzai was under government control, while troops were engaged in the more volatile central and upper Orakzai areas.

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