Pakistanis Hit Militants on Afghan Border

By BASHIRULLAH KHAN

MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan – Pakistani security forces backed by helicopter gunships struck a militant training camp Wednesday in a tribal region near the Afghan border, killing or wounding at least 25 militants, an official said.

The militants were attacked after conducting a raid inside Afghanistan and re-entering Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region, where the training camp was located. Army troops and three helicopter gunships attacked them, said Syed Zaheerul Islam, the top government administrator of the region.

The strike also triggered explosions in an arms dump at the training camp, about three miles from the Afghan border.

Islam said between 25 and 30 militants were killed or wounded.

“They were foreigners. They had set up tents in mountains in the area,” Islam said.

The mountain top hideout was spotted about a week ago and put under surveillance, said an intelligence official on condition of anonymity because of the secretive nature of his job. He said Afghan and Uzbek militants and their local supporters were detected at the site.

More than two dozen militants were at the scene at the time of the attack, he said. “We do not think there are any survivors.”

Pakistan – a key U.S. ally in the war against terror – has deployed thousands of troops to North Waziristan to carry out operations against hundreds of Arab, Afghan and Central Asian militants, some allegedly linked with the al-Qaida terror network.

The latest raid comes days ahead of President Bush’s visit to Pakistan, during which Bush and Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf will discuss the fight against al-Qaida and Taliban insurgents. Pakistan has denied in the past that arrests of militants are timed to coincide with events in the United States.

Wednesday’s early morning operation took place near Saidgi, a village about nine miles west of Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said. He said troops from a “special operation task force” had cordoned off the scene and were carrying out a search for bodies.

Last month, Pakistan protested to the U.S. military in Afghanistan over firing that hit the same village, killing eight people.