Dozens killed in Pakistan clashes
Pakistani troops battled pro-Taleban militants near the Afghan border
for a second day on Sunday in clashes which have killed more than 50 people.
Pakistani officials said 46 militants and five soldiers died after
fighting erupted on Saturday, although some reports put the death toll
at over 70.
Hundreds of people are said to have fled the scene in North Waziristan.
Correspondents says it is the fiercest fighting since the army went into
the area in 2003 to drive militants out.
Plumes of smoke
Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed resident of Miran Shah, North
Waziristan's main town, as saying fighting continued through the night,
with both sides using heavy weapons.
Clashes reportedly petered out in the early hours of Sunday but later on
helicopter gunships pounded mountains to the east of Miran Shah, sending
plumes of smoke into the sky, Reuters said.
The violence began on Saturday morning when a group of more than 100
tribal militants attacked a military post in the town of Mir Ali.
Security forces fought back, killing more than 20 militants.
Soon the clashes spread to Miran Shah, where several hundred militants
tried to storm the main headquarters of the paramilitary troops.
The army sent helicopter gunships after tribesmen traded mortar and
gunfire with security forces.
Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters fled into North Waziristan after the
US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Tens of thousands of Pakistani soldiers are deployed there.
Residents of the area told local reporters that the place near the
paramilitary headquarters was littered with bodies, but the BBC's Zaffar
Abbas in Islamabad said in the absence of any direct contact from the
remote town it was difficult to corroborate such reports.
According to security sources, intercepted radio communications between
the militants suggested 46 of their number were killed.
Families flee
North Waziristan has lately turned into the main hub of pro-Taleban
activities. After reports of the presence of a large number of foreign
militants, security forces decided to launch an operation to flush them
out, our correspondent says.
These are the fiercest clashes since the Pakistani army went into the
lawless tribal region more than three years ago, he adds.
Reports from the area say hundreds of families have started to flee the
escalating fighting.
Saturday's violence came as US President George W Bush made a day-long
visit to Islamabad, about 300km (190 miles) to the north-east.
He declared solidarity with Pakistan in the fight against militants, and
called for more work in the war on terror.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4774762.stm
Published: 2006/03/05 08:01:49 GMT
© BBC MMVI
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