Pakistani troops kill 15 Taliban
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
PESHAWAR, Feb 1 (Reuters): Pakistani forces backed by helicopter gunships have killed 15 Taliban in clashes that erupted after militants attacked a military post and convoy in the northwest of the country, an official said Monday.
Security forces have in recent days intensified operations against al Qaeda-linked militants in Bajaur, an ethnic Pashtun tribal region on the Afghan border, as part of its efforts to defeat Pakistani Taliban militants fighting the state.
The latest fighting broke out Sunday afternoon in the militant stronghold of Wara Mamoon and lasted until midnight, local government official Bajaur Abdul Malik told Reuters. Malik said 15 militants and one soldier were killed and 10 militants were wounded.
Pakistan's Taliban denied a report on Sunday that their leader Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone aircraft strike.
Pakistan's military said earlier it was investigating reports that Hakimullah died from wounds sustained in a drone attack on January 17 and had been buried in the Orakzai tribal region in the northwest of the country.
On Saturday, a suicide car-bomber killed 14 people in an attack near a security checkpost in Bajaur's main town of Khar.
Bajaur is opposite the eastern Afghan province of Kunar and has long been an infiltration route for militants entering Afghanistan to fight US-led forces there.
Security forces have in recent days intensified operations against al Qaeda-linked militants in Bajaur, an ethnic Pashtun tribal region on the Afghan border, as part of its efforts to defeat Pakistani Taliban militants fighting the state.
The latest fighting broke out Sunday afternoon in the militant stronghold of Wara Mamoon and lasted until midnight, local government official Bajaur Abdul Malik told Reuters. Malik said 15 militants and one soldier were killed and 10 militants were wounded.
Pakistan's Taliban denied a report on Sunday that their leader Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone aircraft strike.
Pakistan's military said earlier it was investigating reports that Hakimullah died from wounds sustained in a drone attack on January 17 and had been buried in the Orakzai tribal region in the northwest of the country.
On Saturday, a suicide car-bomber killed 14 people in an attack near a security checkpost in Bajaur's main town of Khar.
Bajaur is opposite the eastern Afghan province of Kunar and has long been an infiltration route for militants entering Afghanistan to fight US-led forces there.