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Pakistan kills 17 militants near Afghan border-TV

Posted on: Sunday, 17 July 2005, 01:21 CDT

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan security forces have killed 17 suspected foreign militants in a tribal region near the Afghan border, the private Geo television and witnesses said on Sunday.

Quoting unnamed government sources, Geo said a Pakistani soldier was also killed in the offensive on Saturday night.

Military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan told Reuters that an incident had taken place in the North Waziristan tribal region and details were being gathered.

Local residents said troops had cordoned off an area near Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, 300 km (180 miles) southwest of the Pakistani capital Islamabad, where the incident took place.

"I have seen some body limbs and blood scattered on earth," a Reuters reporter at the scene said.

The incident occurred two days after U.S. forces based in Afghanistan killed 24 suspected al Qaeda militants and their Taliban allies inside Pakistan in the same region.

Tension has been building for months in North Waziristan since the army completed a string of offensives against al Qaeda militants in neighboring South Waziristan.

Major-General Akram Sahi, military commander in North Waziristan, this week ordered tribesmen to hand over foreign militants hiding in the region or face an imminent offensive.

A senior U.S. administration official in Washington on Thursday said the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan needed to squeeze insurgents along the rugged border where al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden might be hiding.

Source: REUTERS

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