Islamabad, November 11: At least 10 soldiers were killed and 10 more went missing in two separate attacks by Taliban militants in Pakistan’s restive tribal region, officials said Wednesday.
A spokesman for the country’s paramilitary Frontier Corps, Fazal-ur-Rehman, said a security vehicle hit a landmine in Mohmand Agency, a tribal district that borders Afghanistan.
‘Our eight soldiers were martyred and two were injured. The blast completely destroyed the vehicle,’ the spokesman said.
The explosion came hours after dozens of Taliban fighters ambushed a convoy of 52 paramilitary troops in the Baezai area of the same district.
‘Our two soldiers were martyred and two were injured in the attack,’ said local administration official Roshan Khan. ‘Ten soldiers are missing. We are trying to locate them.’
An intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the militants initially seized 12 soldiers. ‘They beheaded two of them and dumped their bodies, while they took the rest with them,’ he added.
Following the raid, Pakistani helicopter gunships pounded Taliban hideouts in the district, killing at least 10 militants, Khan said.
Bajaur is one of the eight districts of the mountainous tribal region, a stronghold for thousands of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters. Pakistani security forces are attempting to eliminate militant hideouts in some districts.
The biggest operation is underway in South Waziristan district, where 30,000 troops are pitted against an estimated 10,000 Taliban guerrilla fighters and hundreds of Uzbek rebels linked to Al Qaeda.
A military statement said Wednesday that seven ‘terrorists’ were killed during an ‘intense exchange of fire’ at a newly established check post in the Makeen area of the district. Two soldiers were also injured.
—Agencies