Islamabad, July 7 – Up to 600 militants from Afghanistan attacked two Pakistani villages Wednesday, Pakistani officials said, the latest in a campaign of large-scale raids on civilians and security forces.
Militants stormed the border villages of Nusrat Dra and Kharo in the Upper Dir region, fighting soldiers and pro-government tribal militia.
“According to reports from the two villages, between 550-600 militants launched the attack at around 5 in the morning and the fighting continued for several hours,” police official Abdul Sattar told Reuters. Another official said four pro-government tribesmen who fought along with troops were wounded in the attack.
Pakistan says more than 55 soldiers have been killed in several attacks from across the border over the past month.
The raids have raised tension between the neighbours as they battle protracted insurgencies by Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants.
Pakistani Taliban fighters who fled to Afghanistan in the face of army offensives have joined allies in Afghanistan to regroup and threaten Pakistan’s border regions again, analysts say.
Plane crash kills 9
An Azerbaijani cargo plane with nine crew on board crashed into treacherous, the transport ministry said Wednesday.
The plane had taken off from Baku at 9:26 P.M. Tuesday (1626 GMT) with 18 tons of supplies for the US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan and crashed as it tried to land at Bagram air base to the north of Kabul, officials earlier said.
–— Agencies