Pakistan Army claims 34 militants killed in north-western region

Nov 27, 2009, 16:24 GMT

Islamabad - Some 34 Taliban militants were killed in two separate assaults in Pakistan's restive north-western region bordering Afghanistan, Pakistani security officials said Friday.

Nineteen of the Islamist militants were killed in the Khyber tribal district, where hundreds of Pakistani regular and paramilitary troops started an assault on Tuesday.

'After countering tough resistance from the militants, the security forces have taken control of the important militant stronghold Feroz Khel,' said Major Fazlur Rehman, spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps.

He said that three of the 19 militants killed were foreigners.

The militant force in the area were believed to be connected to Lashkar-e-Islam, a group thought responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people through suicide bomb attacks in the regional capital of Peshawar alone.

Pakistani officials say these suicide bombings are part of a Taliban campaign to retaliate against the ongoing military assault in another tribal district, South Waziristan.

Fifteen militants died as Pakistani troops cleared the Narakai area of South Waziristan after 'stiff resistance,' according to another military statement on Friday. One government soldier was injured in the fighting.

South Waziristan is believed to be the Islamist extremist Taliban's heartland, from which hundreds of operatives of another terrorist network, al-Qaeda, had once planned terrorists attacks abroad.

Most of the estimated 10,000 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in South Waziristan have fled the operation that started in mid-October. The militants however have vowed to come back in the coming months.

Pakistani military officials say they have killed over 600 rebels. The figures could not be independently verified.