Re: Militants kill 30 troops in Pak fort capture
^^ Bhai I’m not making up the news. Here from Reuters…
http://in.reuters.com/article/southAsiaNews/idINIndia-31425720080116
Militants attack paramilitary camp in Pakistan
Wed Jan 16, 2008 2:06pm IST
By Hafiz Wazir
WANA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Hundreds of militants in northwest Pakistan attacked a paramilitary camp and up to 30 soldiers were missing, security officials said on Wednesday.
The militants attacked the camp in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border late on Tuesday, the officials said. A military official said there had been fighting in the area but he denied reports the militants had captured the camp.
“About 700 militants attacked the fort at Sara Rogha at about 9:30 p.m. and communication with the fort was cut at around 2 a.m.,” a security official said.
“There were about 37 paramilitary troops in the fort and seven of them were able to escape while the rest of them are missing and feared dead,” said the official, who declined to be identified.
Security forces have been battling al Qaeda-linked militants in South Waziristan for several years.
The Sara Rogha area is a stronghold of al Qaeda-linked militant leader Baitullah Mehsud, who the government said was behind the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi on Dec. 27.
Security forces were firing artillery in the area on Wednesday morning but it was not immediately clear what their target was, residents said.
Another security official said six militants had been killed in the overnight fighting.
Separately, a bomb exploded as a military patrol was passing along a road in the Swat valley in North West Frontier Province on Wednesday but there was no immediate word on casualties, police said.
Security forces have been trying to clear hundreds of militants from the Swat valley since November.
A wave of militant violence in recent months, including many suicide bomb attacks, has added to a sense of crisis in nuclear-armed Pakistan, where President Pervez Musharraf has been facing opposition to his rule.
Militants attack paramilitary camp in Pakistan
Posted 2 hours 14 minutes ago
Updated 9 minutes ago
Hundreds of Islamic militants have attacked a Pakistani paramilitary fort in a tribal region near the Afghan border.
A senior military official says there was a heavy exchange of fire between security forces and militants, who tried to enter the fort in South Waziristan district.
Seven Pakistani soldiers and 40 militants were killed, a military spokesman said.
“About 200 miscreants attacked from different directions,” said military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas.
“After an hour or so they were able to breach one of the walls of the fort. In the process, there were about 40 militants dead and seven FC personnel were reported killed,” he said, referring to the Frontier Corps paramilitary force.
A security official says the attack came after security forces shelled several suspected hideouts of militant leader Baitullah Mehsud in the district.
Security forces have been battling Al Qaeda-linked militants in South Waziristan for several years.
Separately, a bomb exploded as a military patrol was passing along a road in the Swat valley in North West Frontier Province on Wednesday but there was no immediate word on casualties, police said.
- AFP