Militants kill 7 Pakistani troopers in ambush

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pro-Taliban militants killed
at least seven Pakistani paramilitary troopers and wounded 26
in an ambush on Thursday in a troubled tribal region bordering
Afghanistan, officials said.

Intelligence officials said five militants were believed to
have been killed in a counter-attack after the military convoy
the troopers were traveling in came under fire as it passed
through a village in the mountains near Miranshah, the main
town of the North Waziristan region bordering Afghanistan.

“Seven security personnel were martyred and 26 wounded,”
interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told Reuters.

Residents said they saw helicopter gunships in the area
after the ambush, and intelligence officials said five
militants were killed but the bodies were carried away by their
comrades.

Waziristan has been the scene of fierce battles between
Islamist militants and security forces over the past two years.
More than 250 people have been killed in clashes in recent
weeks.

Many al Qaeda militants and their Taliban allies fled to
Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt after they were chased
out of Afghanistan by U.S.-backed forces in 2001.