Three Pakistan troops killed in militant attacks

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) – Three Pakistani
paramilitary troops were killed and three injured in two
attacks by pro-Taliban militants in a restive tribal region
near the Afghan border, officials said on Wednesday.

The militants fired rockets late on Tuesday night on two
paramilitary Frontier Corps posts near Miranshah, the main town
in the North Waziristan region.

Tensions have been running high there since last month’s
fierce clashes in which around 200 tribesmen were killed. The
tribesmen were answering a call to arms by militant Muslim
clerics following a special forces attack on an al Qaeda camp.

Military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said a
firefight broke out after militants attacked a paramilitary
post in the Shawal area, some 50 km (30 miles) west of
Miranshah.

Intelligence officials said clashes erupted in Shawal after
35 to 40 militants attacked a paramilitary post, killing three
troops.

Sultan said troops were trying to clear the area of
militants.

“A firefight is still going on,” he told Reuters.

He said there had been unconfirmed reports that up to eight
militants were killed in the shootout.

Intelligence officials said three troopers were injured in
a separate attack in the nearby Datta Kheil area.

On Monday, five people were killed in a land mine explosion
and two militants died in a clash with security forces in the
area.

President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S.-led war
on terrorism, last month warned foreign militants hiding in the
tribal region to leave Pakistan or face annihilation.

A large number of al Qaeda remnants and Taliban fled to
Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt after U.S.-led forces
toppled the radical Taliban regime in Afghanistan following the
September 11, 2001 attacks on Washington and New York.

(Additional reporting by Simon Cameron-Moore)