Clashes leave 14 Pakistani soldiers, 18 Taliban dead (2nd Roundup)

Jun 28, 2009, 17:16 GMT

Islamabad - At least 14 military and paramilitary troops were killed while 18 Taliban fighters died on Sunday in clashes and air raids in Pakistan's lawless tribal district bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

Three civilians also died in the clashes between the rebels and government forces.

Dozens of fighters ambushed an army convoy near the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan with rocket fire, destroying several vehicles.

An army official at the military's Inter Services Public Relations Department confirmed that 12 soldiers were killed and 10 were injured in the Sunday afternoon ambush.

'Following the attacks, army helicopters targeted the fleeing insurgents, killing 10 of them,' he added.

However, a local intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity said 20 soldiers died and 30 were injured in the terrorist attack. 'The dead and wounded have been evacuated to Peshawar by helicopters.'

A Taliban spokesman, Ahmadullah Ahmadi, accepted responsibility for the raid in a phone call to the German press Agency dpa. 'We will carry out more such actions unless the American drone attacks and aggression from Pakistani military is not stopped,' Ahmadi said.

The attack is the deadliest in North Waziristan since the government started aerial raids in adjoining South Waziristan three weeks ago to soften up targets before launching an all-out offensive there against Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

A string of deadly suicide attacks by Mehsud's men in recent months compelled the government to announce a decisive onslaught against the warlord, who is known for playing host to al-Qaeda fighters in his stronghold of South Waziristan.

Jet fighters pounded militant positions in the district's Kani Karam, Laddah and Makeen areas of South Waziristan early on Sunday and destroyed six Taliban hideouts.

'At least eight militants were killed and a dozen more were wounded,' a second intelligence official said on condition of anonymity.

Three people, including a woman, also died when their house was struck in Makeen.

The airstrikes came hours after Islamist insurgents mounted a rocket attack on two military camps near Wana, the main town of South Waziristan. Two paramilitary soldiers were killed and three others wounded, the official said.

However, the military confirmed only one casualty.

Fighting intensified in the remote tribal region as the authorities announced that the military was close to wrapping up its onslaught against the Taliban in the north-western Swat valley and its nearby districts, and will soon turn its focus to Mehsud's network.

More than 1,600 Taliban militants have been reported killed in the Swat operation since late April. But the death toll could not be verified independently because of restrictions on media from both the military and the Taliban.

Islamabad's unrelenting campaign against the militants has wide support at home and has also drawn appreciation from Western countries, including the United States, which heavily relies on the Pakistani counterinsurgency drive to win its war in Afghanistan.

The United States has already announced a five-million-dollar bounty on the head of Mehsud, describing him as 'a key al-Qaeda facilitator.'

The Taliban's retreat from the Swat region to adjoining tribal belt has fuelled sectarian clashes in at least one of the seven lawless districts.

At least 33 people were killed and 65 more were wounded as fighting raged Friday and continued through Saturday in Kurram, which adjoins the al-Qaeda and Taliban hotbed of North Waziristan region, the English-language Dawn newspaper reported on Sunday.

The clashes broke between Sunni and Shiites Muslims last week and had left around 89 people dead and 175 injured.

Shiite tribesmen, who are in the majority in Kurram, are calling for raising local militias, or Lashkars, to block the entry of mostly Sunni militants. They have been challenging the Taliban movement for the last two years.

'We have had over 700 young people martyred but have not allowed these militants to secure a toehold in Upper Kurram,' tribal leader Haji Rauf was quoted by Dawn as saying. 'Now the influx of Taliban from Swat, Dir and other areas is worsening the situation.'

Rauf said the government should launch a similar military operation in Kurram, adding that the tribesmen would 'fight alongside our soldiers.'

Separately, three Shiite Muslims and two Sunnis were killed in an ongoing wave of targeted sectarian killings in the north-western town of Dera Ismail Khan near South Waziristan, said Malik Ramzan, a spokesman for the local police chief.