Peshawar, March 26: Pakistan’s military said Friday that five soldiers and at least 21 militants were killed in a heavy gun battle in the country’s northwestern tribal belt along the Afghan border.
The fight broke out overnight in the tribal district of Orakzai, where troops are hunting Taliban militants and their associates who fled a military operation in neighbouring South Waziristan tribal district.
“Last night at Kalaya in Orakzai agency terrorists attacked and captured a check post. Security forces counter attacked and recaptured that check post,” the military said in a statement.
In the process, 21 militants and five security force personnel, including a lieutenant colonel, were killed before the post was recaptured, it added.
The death tolls could not be verified independently as the area is under military supervision and access by reporters is limited.
Under US pressure, Pakistan has in the past year significantly increased operations against militants in its tribal belt, which Washington has called the most dangerous region on earth and a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda.
The rugged tribal terrain became a stronghold for hundreds of extremists who fled neighbouring Afghanistan after the US-led invasion in late 2001.
Washington says the militants use Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt to plot and stage attacks against NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan.
—Agencies