Many dead in Pakistan clashes

At least 11 soldiers and 24 rebels killed in battles in northwestern Pakistani tribal region, officials say. Last Modified: 24 Dec 2010 05:26 GMT

Pakistani troops have killed at least 24 rebels after several security checkpoints were attacked in a northwestern tribal region on the Afghan border, military officials said. A statement from the Frontier Corps security force, a paramilitary division of the military, said that around 150 fighters staged simultaneous attacks using small and heavy weapons on five army checkposts in the Baizai area of the Mohmand tribal agency on the Afghan border on Friday. The Frontier Corps confirmed the death toll, and said 11 paramilitary troops were also killed and about a dozen wounded in clashes that continued for hours. The information is difficult to verify independently because access to the region is restricted. Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islambad, said the military "claims that they have inflicted heavy casualties on the attackers". "Mohmand is a strategically important area because this is at the confluence of at least two provinces on the Afghan side of the border," he said. Mounting pressure Pakistani troops have scored major gains against pro-Taliban fighters in military offensives and operations since last year, however, attacks against security forces and civilians still continue. More than 2,000 people have been killed in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan since the army stormed a mosque in capital Islamabad in 2007. The army says its offensives in the Swat valley, South Waziristan and other tribal regions have weakened the Taliban, although analysts question their effectiveness because rebels tend to establish strongholds elsewhere. Pakistani action against rebels on the border is seen as crucial to efforts to bring stability to Afghanistan, where US forces are spearheading one of NATO's biggest offensives against the Afghan Taliban. However, Pakistan has often been criticised for not doing enough. An intensifying uprising in Afghanistan has brought more pressure on Pakistan to go after rebels operating out of sanctuaries in remote enclaves on its side of the border.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies