Seven militants killed in Pakistan raid
Posted on: Thursday, 13 April 2006, 02:39 CDT
NAGAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - At least seven Islamist militants were killed in an overnight air raid by the Pakistan army on their hideout near the Afghan border, intelligence officials said on Thursday.
Cobra helicopter gunships attacked a compound in Nagar, six km (four miles) south of Miranshah, the main town of the restive North Waziristan region, after the army received information about the presence of foreign fighters there, military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said.
"At least seven militants have been killed," a senior intelligence official told Reuters, adding that five of them were buried immediately after the attack and were believed to be foreigners.
He said one of the slain foreigners was identified as Abdur Rehman alias Abu Mohajir, who was supplying weapons to local militants.
Wali Mohammad Khan, a commander of local militants in Nagar, however, denied that any foreigners were hiding in the compound or were killed in the attack.
"They were all local tribesmen and the five bodies were immediately buried because these were badly mutilated," he told Reuters.
The funeral of two others killed in the attack would be held later in the day, he added.
The intelligence official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said the attack was carried out on the basis of information gleaned from militants detained last month.
Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt has been infested with al Qaeda remnants and Taliban who fled Afghanistan after U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban regime in 2001.
A military campaign to rid the tribal areas of al Qaeda switched to North Waziristan from South Waziristan last year, and there have been a series of fierce clashes in the past month.
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.
Source: REUTERS
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