Pakistan military claims seven militants dead in clash

Dec 2, 2011, 12:39 GMT

Islamabad - At least seven militants were killed and five paramilitary soldiers injured Friday in a clash on the Afghan border in a remote north-western region of Pakistan, a military spokesman said.

The fighting began in Chitral district when alleged Taliban militants targeted a border post of paramilitary Chitral Scouts with mortars shells from Kunar province of Afghanistan.

Colonel Nasir Jadoon, an army spokesman, said that soldiers immediately returned fire.

'Our information shows that at least seven attackers were killed by our retaliatory fire,' he said.

Jadoon said five soldiers were also injured and airlifted to a military hospital in Timergarah, in neighbouring Dir district.

Pakistan alleges that hundreds of Taliban had taken refuge in Afghanistan's Kunar and Nuristan provinces after 2009 military operation in Pakistan's Malakand region. They continue to launch attack on Pakistani border posts and villages from Afghanistan.

Their fugitive leader, Maulana Fazlullah, is also believed to be hiding on the Afghan side of the porous border and helping the Afghan Taliban in attacks on NATO forces as he plans raids on Pakistani soil.

In a similar cross border-raid in June, militants overran Shaltalo post in upper Dir region and killed 27 soldiers and eight civilians.

Thousands of Pakistani troops are deployed in the area, but are unable to control the cross-border activities of the militants, who use the mountainous terrain to their advantage.

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